Businessmen seek solutions to parking problems in Paceville area

The parking problem in St Julians is bound to get worse when the Pender Place car park is sold after summer and replaced by another type of development, Vince Farrugia, director general of the Malta Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, warned yesterday.

Pender Place, which can accommodate about 450 cars, is a safety valve for the crowds that invade Paceville at night, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

In order to try to find a solution to the acute parking problem, particularly in Paceville, the GRTU has asked for an urgent meeting with the local council, which will be held today.

Mr Farrugia was speaking during a meeting for the business community in St Julians and Paceville at the Vivaldi Hotel, in Paceville.

The council's recent decision to reserve most of the parking spaces in St Julians for residents has resulted in a tug of war between the GRTU and the council.

The council had intended to have a trial period during which people violating the parking rules would only receive a warning. But the scheme is now on hold after the Malta Transport Authority (ADT) ordered the council not to go ahead with it following furious comments by business people operating in the locality and pending consultations with the business community.

To show it meant business, the council had even put up signs informing drivers where and for how long they could park. These were eventually removed after the ADT intervened but Mr Farrugia said some remained and were scaring people away from Paceville.

Kevin Decesare, one of the co-owners of several businesses in Paceville including the Eden Century Cinema, said there was no way business would be attracted to Paceville with such parking restrictions. "What would patrons at the cinema do? Go out to move their car and then come back to watch the film?" he asked.

The intermission could always be extended to half an hour, a person attending the meeting said tongue-in-cheek.

Mr Decesare said it did not make any sense for the authorities first to make it easier for business people to get permits to open new establishments and then prohibit the building of car parks.

Philip Fenech, president of the GRTU's leisure and hospitality section, described the attitude of the council in this matter as "not positive at all".

Peter Darmanin, a restaurateur and a resident of Spinola area, said he had repeatedly appealed to successive governments to build car parks but to no avail.