Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1426475
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 NOVEMBER 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications Annunciation paving ALTHOUGH in principle, I am in agreement that there should be a residents' parking scheme in Sliema, I'm not sure whether the timescales of achieving that goal match that of Annunciation Square. Residents are under the false im- pression that residents' parking will solve the parking issue in Sliema. Similar to the national strategy of widening roads, this is merely going to buy time and shift the problem for future generations to deal with. Despite the huge backing for the square becoming a fully pedestri- anised area, at the moment it seems that it once again will become a car park to please some residents who are fully car-dependent and not will- ing to compromise. I wonder what they've been doing all this time while the square was being worked on. Can't they continue doing the same? I can't understand how one can be classified a greedy person for want- ing pedestrianisation when already so much area is allocated to cars. It's not like Sliema is rammed with pe- destrianised spaces; how is it possible that making the square fully pedes- trianised can't be justified? This is not something radical, like making Dingli Street and Dingli Circus pe- destrianised – this is one of the only two squares in Sliema! At the end of the day, Annun- ciation Square is to hold about 20 cars. Why not encourage 20 people to ditch their car to safeguard the square? My brother and I sold our cars and didn't replace them and my parents now have a garage so they don't park on the street anymore. That's a net reduction of three cars (one space is for the garage opening). The tenants in our flats don't have cars and if they did, we can accomodate them in the garage. Like us I'm sure that there are oth- ers. I didn't receive a pat on the back for not replacing my car but instead I'm slated for wanting cycle racks, cycle lanes and better pavements. I'm then expected to cycle around Sliema as if I'm a car, taking all manner of hills and detours when contraflow should be implemented to not only make it physically easier to get about Sliema's topography but to also avoid major junctions that put cyclists and scooter users' lives at risk. Isn't it ironic that the same peo- ple who tried stopping the use of scooters are now saying they want parking? I used to believe people don't want change but now I am a firm believer that they are not willing for other people to change either. Why is it so implausible that peo- ple would like to have an urban sanc- tuary like so many other European cities like in Sicily, where Sliema residents visit and share photos on social media having a coffee? Somehow it's ok when they're on holiday but unacceptable at home. How many of these residents who opposed this idea have a nice garden, roof terrace or similar that they enjoy while so many others are limited to their apartment? For a moment I had hoped the right move would be taken and that this would be a great first step in the right direction since Bizazza Street. I guess I was wrong. Andrea Grech La Rosa Sliema Church's role in history I read your paper as it gives a different perspective on what is transpiring. Josianne Cassar's swipe at the some- times-poor health service (17 October, 2021) echoes the experience of many of us who had loved ones in care. On the other hand, Michael Falzon's column (31 October) seemed aimed at scoring a point or two. He penned a very well-rea- soned two, three columns about the travails of a young democracy, only to pen a non-sequitur when he attacked the Church, which was a greater player in national affairs when civil society voices were next to inexistent prior and imme- diately after Independence. Malta was not erased as a nation as it adhered staunchly to its religion and even though aristo-cratically and monar- chically ruled, still preserved its identity. Today the tech giants are heavily pres- surised to exert some form of censor- ship... so why could not the Church, true to its calling, seek to limit the damage which some representations sow in a people new to the idea of sovereignty? J. Bonett Balzan St Julian's