Pay-parking system eyed at Burnham Park roads

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – The city government is eyeing the operation of a “spill over pay parking” along the roadsides of certain areas within Burnham Park on an experimental basis.

            

In Administrative Order No. 128, Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the city will explore the possibility of using Jose Abad Santos Drive, the Lake Drive and the side street near the picnic groove including the area adjacent to the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO) Children’s and Women’s Desk Office as “spillover pay parking areas.”

            

The mayor said that at present these areas are being used as free parking spaces for vehicles but it is high time for the city to start collecting parking fees to be used for maintenance of the park.

            

At present, the city is using the site of the old auditorium as pay parking space for park goers but the area is not enough to accommodate the volume of vehicles.

            

In his order, the mayor decreed that the city through the city environment and parks management office- Burnham Park office (CEPMO-BPO) will have “full control, supervision and jurisdiction over the experimental parking operations and maintenance at the three selected roads inside Burnham Park.”

            

He said the parking rates and other policies to be enforced will be in consonance with Ordinance No. 3 series of 2008 with the operating policies to implement the experimental roadside pay parking to be formulated by the CEPMO-BPO.

            

The mayor said all of the private traffic volunteers manning the said roadside parking areas should leave the sites as the CEPMO-BPO will assign regular personnel to man the parking areas.

            

He also tasked the city police to assist in the implementation of the parking policies and the city engineering office to layout the parking spaces and provide adequate road signs to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in the area at all times.