Regards,
Hannah Yeoh
Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor
State Assemblyman
N.31 Subang Jaya
http://www.hannahyeoh.com
DAP Candidate for Bukit Gasing (N34)
Tackling Parking and Traffic Problems |
| by Rajiv Rishyakaran
First of all, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all Subang Jaya residents a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, and to our Muslim brothers and sisters, Selamat Hari Raya Haji. This year we have seen among the many neighbourhood celebrations, one jointly organized by the Bomba, Police, Subang Jaya Community Fire Brigade, Summit USJ & MPSJ.
This is certainly something new, and with a good turnout and community support, we hope to see it return next year. Another thing we can all be proud of, that in all these Tanglung celebrations, we see a gathering of all races, coming together to celebrate and fellowship with one another.
Grand Dorsett Development
As an update to development & sales of the Grand Dorsett Waterfront Hotel Suites (or service apartments), MPSJ has filed a case in court, seeking a declaration that the development was approved solely for the expansion of hotel facilities, and not to be sold as residential units. This move was made after consulting 2 legal firms, to ensure that MPSJ positions the case right, to uphold the spirit of the approval that was initially granted in October 2010.
A Challenging Parking Problem
Parking problems within the commercial areas are somewhat straightforward to resolve. In most cases, continuous enforcement is all that is needed. But what is truly challenging, is the spillover of commercial parking into adjacent housing areas.
A number of our commercial areas are adjacent to housing areas, especially in SS15. Often, this would tempt visitors to the commercial centers to park in front of houses, causing inconvenience to the residents. Not only do they make it difficult for the residents to park their own car (as we know most houses can’t fit all their cars within the gate), sometimes these visitors park irresponsibly, blocking gates, or narrowing the road, making it difficult for others to pass through.
One solution for this problem is for each resident to apply for the MPSJ sticker. This MPSJ sticker that cost RM3, is used to identify local residents, and makes it possible for MPSJ to take enforcement action on those causing inconvenience. The challenge with this, however, is getting the cooperation of all local residents to apply for the sticker. One area that I’m working with closely on this is the SS15 Hexagon area (SS15/6), which is nearest to Taylors University.
Tackling Sri KL Traffic Congestion
I have recently met with Sri KL’s CEO, En Hanif Othman Merican with some of my JKP members to look into resolving the traffic problem we have on Persiaran Kewajipan every afternoon (on school days). Some misunderstandings between them and MPSJ in the past have been clarified, and I’m glad we were able to brainstorm a few alternatives, that would enable parents to pick up their children, as well as not congest Persiaran Kewajipan.
These ideas require a little bit of further study, and we will be meeting Sri KL again in a few weeks time to see what might be feasible in moving forward. I look forward to sharing more on this soon.
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SUBANG JAYA
TWENTY months after 'successfully introducing the onehour parking limit system in the Taipan commercial zone at USJ 10 here, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) has extended the system to heavy traffic areas, such as USJ 15, USJ 16 and USJ 17, and next to be covered could be Puchong Jaya and Bandar Kinrara.
"We plan to amend our bylaws under the Road Transport Act 1987 so we could extend the hour long parking system to new areas," said council deputy president Abdullah Marjunid yesterday.
"Since we launched the onehour parking system on a three-month trial basis in USJ Taipan from January 2010, we have found it to be effective as motorists have to vacate their parking spots within an hour or risk having their vehicles clamped."
He said those who needed to park longer could use the multi-storey car park in the Taipan commercial zone.
The council's public relations officer Asfarizal Abdul Rashid said once the hour-long parking system is implemented in heavy traffic areas, parking should be less of a headache.
Council enforcement officer Ainul Sani said there were 1,800 parking bays at USJ Taipan and illegal double-parking is at its worst from 11am to 2pm during working days.
"Our tow trucks roam this area. Motorists who frequent this area are well aware of the risk of having their vehicles towed away if they doubleparked," he said.
"USJ Taipan is meant to be a pedestrian boulevard where double-parking inconveniences other motorists and pedestrians alike."
In a random survey at USJ Taipan yesterday, The Malay Mail found motorists generally supportive of the one-hour parking system.
Kevin Nam, 35, a USJ 15 resident, applauded the council's enforcement for the one-hour parking system.
"Those who do quick errands will find paying 50 sen for an hour of parking reasonable rather than paying RM2 to RM3 per hour at private car parks," he said.
"However, double-parking remains a constant problem due to inconsiderate motorists."
To encourage offenders pay their current and outstanding summonses, MPSJ extended its RM10 discount period, which began earlier this year.
This grace period ends later this month.
MPSJ legal department director Anita Abd Jalil said the Draft Order Amendment for the Road Transport (Provision for Parking) MPSJ 2011 had been approved and would be gazetted in about two months’ time.
Once it has been gazetted, MPSJ president Datuk Asmawi Kasbi said the one-hour parking rule would be implemented fully in Taipan and possibly be extended to other areas where parking is a problem.
Anita said the council would also be provided with the legal authority to fully enforce the ruling.
The MPSJ had introduced the one-hour parking limit in Taipan as a pilot project in January last year to deal with traffic congestion and double-parking motorists.
“Besides improving the parking problem in Taipan, the traders have also responded well to the ruling as it promotes better traffic flow,” said Asmawi.
Meanwhile, Asmawi announced at yesterday’s full board meeting that the MPSJ would be extending the deadline for the Flat Rate Campaign for another month till Sept 30. The campaign offers a special rate of RM10 per offence to all traffic offenders.
“The MPSJ has collected about RM866,000 up till Aug 23, which amounts to only 11% of the overall RM100mil total arrears (before discount) or 1.2 million compound notices issued,” he said.
“We are targeting to collect fines from about 60% of the summons issued by the council, and urge the public to use this opportunity to settle their outstanding traffic summonses.”
All compounds that are not paid after Oct 1 will be charged a maximum rate of RM80 and no appeals will be entertained.
