THE recent declaration by City Mayor Benjamin Magalong for a carless Tuesday at the City Hall grounds is literally a breath of fresh air.
Some of those who saw the wide vacant spaces along City Hall drive commented that they finally see more of City Hall than before when all areas along the grounds of the government facility seemed to be filled with cars and other vehicles.
The move by the mayor is in accordance with one of his core agendas which is to revitalize the environment. If the carless Tuesday at City Hall can be made into an official policy backed up by the appropriate local law then the center of the city is finally getting the much needed resuscitation it deserves after a long time of enduring air and noise pollution.
If the health services report is accurate, and I have no doubt as to its veracity, more than two thousand citizens of Baguio on the average have already passed away due to pollution-related sicknesses. This is alarming considering that as a mountain resort the city should have cleaner air than say other metropolitan areas in the lowlands. But statistics do not lie they merely reflect what is actually happening on the ground and in so far as air pollution is concerned something drastic must be done if we are to reduce pollution related sickness or death in the city.
With this in mind and with the carless Tuesday of the Mayor in hindsight the suggestion to relieve the center of the city from all private motor vehicles should deserve careful consideration if only to augment efforts in lessening the pollution affecting the Central business District (CBD)Area. The idea is to limit private motor vehicles from traversing roads within the immediate area of the Central Business District except in the direst of emergencies. To implement this suggestion all private motor vehicles coming from outside the CBD area should stop at a certain point or junction along roads leading to the center of the city and from there either park at designated areas or return to their point of origin. The motorists will then have to ride in jeepneys or taxicabs, or buses as suggested by my superior Mr. Noel Mabutas, in going to the CBD area.
The suggestion of prohibiting private vehicles from entering the CDB area is one way to not only decongest and ease the flow of traffic but also to lessen pollution in the center of the city. Necessarily if this suggestion is to be seriously considered then it follows that jeepneys or other public utility vehicles will no longer be allowed to maintain loading terminals within the CBD area, instead they will have designated express lanes where they can pick up passengers into and out of the CBD area. A particular time frame and schedule at night will also have to be worked out for small trucks and delivery vans that unload products for the various commercial establishments in the CBD. Also passenger waiting areas will be put up all around the CBD where PUVs can pick them up and transport them to destinations.
Finally, this suggestion is actually all about discouraging the use of private vehicles when entering and going about in the CBD area and encouraging the public to walk within the center of the city.
Of course this is just a suggestion but anything’s possible when our very health is at stake and we want a better environment for Baguio that is free from pollution.