The Tale of An Old Bicycle and The Tyrannical Glutton

Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual, the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.
Karl Kraus 

If there would be a single word to describe the Elected heads of Baguio City, the perfect term would be "tyrants". As I was going about the business in the City market, A man who happens to work in the city hall approached the announcement area and spoke through the microphone talking about another Bullsh!t that our incredible City mayor came up with about the use of public streets and access roads. Apparently, the street surrounding the market (All streets within the area actually), which the buyers, dealers, and business owners park at form time to time to load and unload goods have become a pricey commodity. Cars, both public utility and private, that park along the streets are now to be charged with a certain amount. 
Prices:

• PHP 35.00 for the first 2 hours

• PHP 10.00 for the succeeding hours

It has come to our attention that a city ordinance was abruptly implemented without us, the public, which makes up the city, knowing about it. There was neither consultation, nor any discussion that took place that the citizens heard of. How did this come to be? After the fight against "Jadewell Parking", now we are addressing this issue once again. Ironic that both cases have the same mastermind, The Mayor who is selling Baguio city like hot pancakes.
The streets within and surrounding areas of the market were recently cleared of illegal vendors and businesses to make way for vehicles and pedestrians to park and move freely which should really have been done ever since the Public market have started operating. These peddlers should not be tolerated to sell their products anywhere in the vicinity since they are not paying taxes and other fees that licensed sellers come across to in a daily basis (Business registration fee, Mayor's fee, Sanitary fee, Separate fees for Wholesale and Retail, daily collection of fees for the accumulated goods that enter the businesses [in ilocano, it is called kortais which can then be loosely translated to inventory], etc.). You name it, we have it. Without any benefits from the government since we maintain the buildings and premises out of our own wallets if we ever own one.

Charging fees is somewhat a way to collect more funds that taxes from business entities in the city can barely/cannot provide. However, it's worse that the citizens cannot reap the benefits of the taxes that they are paying for. Worst, A large business that stands on a property owned by the city, Luneta Hill (It has been leased to them but they are claiming that they own it) To be particular, I am talking about SM (Shoe Mart), a rather large mall at the heart of the city who happen to pay their taxes, guess where, Makati City. By the way we look at it, The operation takes place within Baguio City on a land within the summer capital itself and where do those taxes got to? Obviously not Baguio. Think of the City as an old bicycle that you can be able to rent for rides in the biking area within Burnham park. The two-wheeled mechanism can be rode after paying a certain amount for an hour or two. The accumulated money then goes to the owner and partners and some for the business taxes. The bicycle on the other hand gets dusted off, however, it is not maintained with the money that it earned during the day. Now compare that to yourself as a citizen who works his/her butt off, but do not reap the benefits after paying his/her taxes. I would be more than happy to put the city officials in that position to turn the tables. The mayor should grow a pair and sort this out if he wants more funds for his unending projects which are actually deemed nonessential. 

Speaking of projects, where most of it contributes to the heavy flow of traffic, It seems unnecessary to fix what is not broken just to make it look good or rather to show the public that the collected taxes are being used wisely (pork barrel....*clears throat* that is indeed an epic masking- truly genius that I almost bought your shyt). Instead of spending public money on something useless (for show) how about sorting out the smelly area along Malcom square that reeks through Tiong San Bazaar along Magsaysay Rd. and Lower Session Rd. How about the broken sidewalks along the Central business district specially the one surrounding Burnham Park and Melvin Jones. Someone might trip and die and I'm speaking through experience about something I actually witnessed a person who flew from his wheelchair after hitting a ridge on the broken sidewalk. Bless that poor soul.

• A question still lingers: Will they be collecting a parking fee from the Garbage Collection Dump Truck since they need to park along the Hangar market when they collect rubbish? If yes, then someone should give the geniuses a pat on the back to fix their crookedness.