dumbest.idea.ever
Teodoro, Marcelino
Representative
Marikina City, 1st District
Party: LAKAS-CMD
Term: 1
Representative
Marikina City, 1st District
Party: LAKAS-CMD
Term: 1
WARNING: This is a rant
Freshman congressman Rep. Marcelino Teodoro (Lakas-CMD, 1st District, Marikina) wins this year's award for the dumbest urban management idea EVER.
House Bill No. 2938 would allow free parking in shopping malls, hotels and other commercial establishments.
How stupid is that? Talk about auto-elitism. And this guy is one of the vice-chairs of the Metro Manila Development committee in congress.
"In the interest of upholding the rights of consumers, these centers of leisure and other related activities should provide free parking spaces and amenities to their patrons," Teodoro said.It's so stupid I won't even bother to explain why I think it's stupid. (Can someone please explain the idea of externalities to the good congressman?)
Teodoro said owners of commercial establishments should not profit from their customers through the collection of parking fees since it has negligible effect on their revenues. "Anyway, any income derived from parking fees are mitigated by the influx of customers once the prohibitive costs of parking fees are eliminated," Teodoro said.
And runner ups in stupidity goes to Pacific News Center and their reporter Mike Cohen. Read the totally unenlightened and uneducated article which begins with this gem of a bullet under the photo:
Metro Manila's increasing transportation and parking problems led to alternatives like the MRT and LRT train systemsReally now? Parking problems led to alternatives like the MRT?
Cohen continues:
In some parts of Metro Manila, even public spaces on streets and sidewalks often attempt to restrict parking.When did parking become a right?
Ah, kids, the road ahead is a long one. There are so many we need to educate and enlighten.
So many.
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What floors me is Teodoro's legislative record doesn't seem to be that bad. He has
- HB02230. AN ACT REGULATING THE USE AND MAINTENANCE OF SIDEWALKS, STREETS AND SIMILAR PUBLIC PLACES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, and
- HB00715. AN ACT REGULATING THE CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF BILLBOARDS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
- HB02196. AN ACT PROHIBITING CYBER SEX AND OTHER RELATED ACTIVITIES IN THE INTERNET, PROVIDING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
6 comments:
brilliant! now everyone in m. manila can drive to work.
do you by any chance own a mall or a business establishment that entails hourly fees from your customers or better, you're probably one of those filthy (feeling) rich individuals who sees himself as a gold mine? Talk about dumb, Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano had peviously proposed this bill in Congress, why don't you point fingers at him as well?I have a car and I park in malls, gone were the days when parking was for free, it has turned into an enterprise for mall owners. Your blog is very lop-sided. the only cause for your alarm could either be, you own a mall or you simply have a personal vendetta against the person. Either way, you clearly show guilt in your blog.
Hi Eva,
thanks for your comments. obviously, you are new to this blog and to the topics I discuss here.
no, i do not own a mall. I do not even own a car.
no, I did not know that Sen. Cayetano had filed the same bill. Had I known, I would have called him stupid, too.
yes, my blog is very lopsided. I believe we should discourage cars and encourage efficient public transport.
Here's one reason.
Here's another.
If you bother to read through my old posts, you'll see where I am coming from.
Yes, I am biased. I believe we should be building cities for people, not for cars.
It's economics 101 - you encourage something when you give it subsidies.
Our urban policies (Teodoro's idea included) subsidize driving. and in effect, subsidizes:
1) congestion
2) air pollution
3) elitism
4) global warming
I'm fine with the mall owners not earning from the parking lots. (i'd rather they didn't have parking lots in the first place -but that may be unrealistic).
Just don't make parking free. We can charge the parking fee and make sure all the proceeds go into subsidizing public transport. Will that work for you?
(btw, here's an interesting book by Donald Shoup. if you're on Teodoro's staff, get a copy, read up on it and give him the low down.)
UDC
here's a good article on the environmental and social costs of parking your car: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/01/parking/
thanks for the link, domokun.
that was a great summary of Shoup's ideas.
UDC
eva,
if you dont like paying for parking in malls, how about SM giving you a coupon that will make the parking free? you'll get this coupon of course only if you shop at their stores. other users of parkig space would have to pay. nothing is free. somebody needs to pay in the end. if the govt starts requiring free parking, the mall operators have to jack up rental rates anyway. you end up paying for it when stores pass on to you these higher rental fees.
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