There are so many flaws in the argument that Malls are fleecing vehicle users. Yes, malls are semi-public spaces. But they are privately owned. No one is asking you to go there. No one is asking you to take your vehicle there. There are many logic to the price of parking or store rentals or advertisements or anything else in a mall. The mall owners should have the right to set whatever fees he wants. Should local bodies set rents for apartments? Or tomatoes or potatoes? Come to think of it, poor live on the streets. Rentals are pretty high in any of our cities - for all kinds of reasons. Yet we are concerned about some vehicle owners right to park at a cheap rate. No one is forced to go to a mall. You can take a auto, bus, train, walk, cycle etc. to go to a mall if you must. I take auto all the time. I pay a lot of money to go to these malls. Plus these malls have spent crores to build these parking structures. They have not provided A/C and other facilities for anyone to use it like a public park. They are there to make money, not to run a charity. So mall owners should be free to set whatever parking fees they want. Now regarding people parking on the street. That is the problem of the city administration. Not the mall owner. City should have strict parking management systems, dynamic parking, efficient towing etc. Irrespective of the state of public transport, parking is not a birth right. You park in the wrong place - as determined by the city - you should get towed - since public space belongs to the city. The city owns the public space and should be free to - like the mall owner - decide how to use that space as it sees fit. It is amazing how much our society has been skewed to favour middle and rich classes imaginary rights. Subsidised fuel is a right. Subsidied electricity is a right. Subsidised parking is a right. Give us all these and more for free or at someone else expense or else we will throw a tantrum. And media will go to town with our pain and sufferings. Respect private property as much as you can. When govt is able to manage public property very, very well, then we can worry about what to do with malls parking lots. Let all these private vehicle owners who feel fleeced by mall owners get out of their cars and bikes and demand better public transport.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 10:45:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015