THE daily traffic being experienced by Baguio residents is no doubt an effect of being a highly urbanized and densely populated city. With no means of expanding the width of narrow roads developed during the American occupation, Baguio has become a traffic Mecca of too many vehicles next to Metro Manila.
The population boom in Baguio may have been due to the increasing number of schools that made the city a Center of Education in the North as well as employment opportunities that magnet people from the provinces to stay for good. Add to the burgeoning population boom is the fact that Baguio is a tourism destination and is in fact catering to visitors all year round.
With a lot of visitors coming up to Baguio, the city government has resorted into off-street parking in recreational areas such as Burnham Park, Botanical Garden, Mines View Park and the Wright Park. The collection of parking fees was necessary for the city to earn funds for the operation and maintenance of these parks.
However, this off-street parking tends to encourage building owners not to include parking in their engineering designs making it more difficult to contain vehicular traffic since car owners would own certain parts of the road as their private parking site.
Instead of parking vehicles in limited times, car owners would be parking all day long making the narrow roads narrower. The two-way road now becomes a one-way passage since the other lane was designated for parking.
City Government officials should realize that if only the City Land Use Plan and Zoning Ordinance are being followed strictly, the problem on traffic and the lack of parking areas will not become a century-old predicament in the Summer Capital.
If the City Government have the guts to impose fees on street parking, they should also have the balls to impose penalties on establishments without designated parking areas within their buildings. Building a house without a parking area should already be penalized in the amended provisions of the CLUP.
Even old buildings once rehabilitated should already include the development of a parking area if only to de-clog the city streets of too much vehicles.