OFF THE CUFF Double Jeopardy Parking, Citizen Victories and Pirate Clamp Down

PARKING DINGS –Businesses from hotels to shopping malls are flocking to charge customers for parking while they are inside spending money, but they turn away from complaints of damage or thefts. Under consideration is a law that would make the owners of businesses that charge a parking fee to customers responsible for any damage done to a vehicle. 

The law, which will be discussed shortly, by the National Assembly’s Committee on Trade and Economic Affairs, establishes that businesses can install checkpoints, cameras and other security measures in their parking facilities. However, they will not be able to claim zero liability for losses due to thefts or accidents. Currently, the law regulating parking lots allows the establishment to post signs saying that they are not liable for vehicles that are parked there.

In recent months, consumers have reported thefts of personal items from their vehicles despite the fact that they pay a fee of up to five cents a minute.

The proposal also establishes that large-scale private and public businesses dedicated to trade must give their customers up to three free hours as long as the customer can prove they made purchases at the facility.

Smaller establishments should give their customers 30 minutes for free.

Currently, retailers charge between two cents and five cents a minute, and some large shopping centers give one hour free.

CITIZEN FIGHTBACK –Panama abounds in rules and regulations covering everything from driving to noise, In The problem has always been lack of enforcement or changing the game plan, which means that the voices of “the people”, folks who pay the taxes, get lost in the fog of officialdom or entrenched interests. Recently the fog seems to have been lifting and residents have fought back and won. In Ancon they managed to stop a garbage dumping project, and in Paitilla construction on a new apartment block that skipped around earlier zoning regulations, was stopped. Residents of San Francisco are now complaining that the lack of enforcement of zoning regulations has made the area chaotic. They say it has been invaded by bars and restaurants and that the expansion of commercial establishments is eliminating green areas and the residential feel of the neighborhood. Panama City Mayor José Blandón said he was focusing on addressing the situation in San Francisco as well as in other neighborhoods such as Punta Paitilla and El Carmen

PIRATES WALK THE PLANK– President Juan Carlos Varela says that “pirate buses” that do not register with the transit agency ATTT will not be allowed to operate. The ATTT has registered some 403 mini-buses that operate in Panama City and San Miguelito.

“The registry is to ensure that citizens who are using informal transport feel that the state is monitoring the system hey are using,” says Varela. Transportation union leader Milton Prescott does not agree, saying the buses should be regulated by concession.