Editorial, Bicol Mail
Naga City, the rising city of malls is facing a serious disease – a vehicle parking paralysis. The fact that Naga City is not alone in this predicament does not give us the remedy and the hope that the malady will just pass away without treatment.
There are vital areas in the city that are suffering from the disorder. For one, the most recent the construction of three important edifices at the center of Naga, the Bicol Medical Center do not provide enough parking space for Doctors and medical staff much more for families of patients. Despite three buildings one of which is eight stories high, there is not a single floor intended for vehicle parking. The medical infrastructure seemed to have been planned without foresight and consideration of the peripheral effects on their users. The case of the BMC is a repetition of the case of the Jesse M. Robredo Coliseum, a sports and public events center that does not have an adequate parking space. Provisionally the adjacent SM Mall which was constructed later than the coliseum has been acting as the suppository for people going to the dome during public activities.
The Naga City central business district extending to the long stretch of Elias Angeles down to Bagumbayan has clogged arteries caused by parked cars and motorbikes. Magsaysay Avenue widened and cleared from its historically majestic Acacia trees is not spared by the variety of vehicles parked at both sides of the road. The recent road clearing campaign of the City Hall in the backstreets is not expected to solve the physical problem permanently.
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