Letters to the editor - March 25, 2025

Siġġiewi square parking

Allow me to expose the absolute mayhem caused by the new local council and the police with regard to parking arrangements in St Nicholas Square, Siġġiewi.

For years, this square has been the focal point for various activities organised by local and national organisations. The square’s footprint is substantial and served as a public parking space, including public transport buses that are parked in various sections of the square since there is no defined terminus section. This became the norm and the square served as a major parking area serving the local council itself, the police station, banks and the several business outlets scattered around it.

Siġġiewi square. Photo: Shutterstock.com

A couple of signs indicate that parking is permissible around the periphery of the square but these slots have been regularly trimmed through reserved parking in front of garages, electrical charging point etc., leaving ever less space for parking by the public.

Recently, the powers that be decided to abolish parking in the square and a multitude of citations were issued. A recent Sunday morning, further citations were issued, including to the undersigned.

By Sunday afternoon, somebody decided that the public ought to be informed. So, a police constable was seen going round the 40-odd vehicles parked in the square at the time affixing a warning notice, printed in full colour and issued conjointly by the local council and the police, to the windscreens and also distributing them manually to drivers who were passing by at the time.

I pointed out that people like myself were booked while others got the benefit of a warning/advice, an obvious case of two weights and two measures. His reply was: well, you either pay up or contest it.

Sincerely, either the local council administration or the police or both have got their bearings all mixed up. As things stand, people who need to attend to matters at the council, the bank or elsewhere are at a loss as how to go about it since finding a parking space in the allocated peripheral slots is a next to impossible task.

I have requested the authorities to reconsider their decision and instal set parking slots, clearly marked, spread over the square’s footprint.

Thus, such a valuable space can get utilised to the benefit of the public.

Joe Vella – Siġġiewi

Non-declaration of assets

Cynics believe that many Labour supporters would drop down dead in shock if they came to know of the enormous gulf that has been created between their wealth and that of their socialist leadership.

Carmel Sciberras – Naxxar