'+data.XMPS_USERNAME+'，Welcome to log in Log out
You have 0 new messages
Register for the new Min e conference and get points immediately!
Parking difficulties, Yingde 97 gasoline prices, are common headaches for old residential neighborhoods in Shanghai. Under the initiative of the Linfen Garden neighborhood's General Party Branch, 228 party member residents delivered the revised plan to more than 2000 households again, ultimately receiving approval from over 90% of the residents." Because of solid work and evident results, Linfen Garden was rated as the only municipal resident self-governance demonstration point in Zhabei District.
Old residential areas didn't even consider that cars would enter households when they were originally designed and built, so only bicycle parking areas were planned. Nowadays, not only is it difficult to find a parking space, but also the contradiction between narrow neighborhood roads and car traffic is becoming increasingly prominent.
Linfen Garden was delivered for use in 1996, with 172 building groups and 2150 households. Previously, apart from the main road, the other 12 branch roads in the neighborhood could only accommodate one car at a time; combining all available corners, at most 150 cars could be parked. In recent years, with the increase in private cars, residents had to scramble for parking spaces, often blocking the passage when they couldn't find a spot. Even pedestrians had to "find gaps" to walk, and ambulances couldn't enter the neighborhood, leading to many disputes and conflicts.
The head of the Residents' Committee, Chen Jingzhu, said that the difficulty in parking in the neighborhood also affected the external roads. Due to the lack of smooth internal roads, cars frequently lined up at the entrance forming long queues, causing traffic congestion on Changzhong Road; some residents illegally parked their cars by the roadside or on pedestrian paths which weren't very wide.
Residents' demands to solve the parking problem kept coming in. If this issue wasn't resolved, the neighborhood would be hard to maintain peace. For this reason, the Residents' Committee, the Owners' Committee, and the property management company held specialized joint meetings, after several discussions, they decided to renovate the green belts and widen the neighborhood roads to accommodate two lanes, thus allowing roadside parking as well. After calculations, widening the 12 branch roads could increase the original 150 parking spaces to nearly 400, basically meeting current needs. According to the principle of fairness and reasonableness, each parking space would cost 120 yuan per month, this money would be used to pay for the road-widening project costs; later, the hundreds of thousands of yuan received annually from parking fees would establish a public welfare fund, used for public facilities construction and maintenance.
The parking difficulty solution plan was discussed and passed at the owners' representative meeting. However, adjusting the neighborhood layout involved the interests of all residents, according to the principle of resident autonomy, opinions needed to be sought from each household. Some residents without cars reacted strongly, some saying: "Green spaces cannot be reduced just because someone needs to park, affecting the neighborhood environment." Others said: "Car owners shouldn't be treated specially, non-motorized vehicles also need parking spots."
Listening to various opinions and balancing the interests of all parties, the plan was continuously improved during the "negotiation": to maintain the neighborhood's green area, the plan added content such as "replanting greenery on vacant land," "building vertical greenery," "implementing green exposure projects"; to facilitate non-motorized vehicle parking, the plan included constructing free port-style non-motorized vehicle parking sheds between every two buildings; to benefit elderly residents, the plan decided to use parking fees to build an elderly activity room, three fitness stations, two leisure paths, and a leisure square.
Under the initiative of the Linfen Garden neighborhood's General Party Branch, 228 party member residents delivered the revised plan to more than 2000 households again, ultimately receiving approval from over 90% of the residents. Following the principle of the minority obeying the majority, the parking difficulty solution plan was officially implemented. Over the past two years, the appearance of this neighborhood has greatly changed, the greenery has increased, road traffic is smooth, parking order is well maintained, and there is now a nearly thousand-square-meter leisure square and a more-than-hundred-square-meter elderly activity room. All these were funded by parking revenue, without touching the house repair fund.
Property management fees in old residential areas are generally low, and Linfen Garden is no exception, charging 0.75 yuan per square meter monthly. With rising costs, Yafang Company, which provides property management services for the neighborhood, faces financial difficulties and significant pressure.
With the establishment of the community welfare fund created by parking fees, this problem has also been solved. With the agreement of all residents, the Linfen Garden Residents' Committee and the Owners' Committee decided to extract 30% from the welfare fund to subsidize the property management company. Recently, considering the rising labor costs of property management, the neighborhood's Party Branch convened a multi-party joint meeting, deciding that starting from July this year, another 50,000 yuan would be allocated annually from the welfare fund for corridor public lights, road streetlights maintenance, and cleaning of the neighborhood water tanks.
Because of solid work and evident results, Linfen Garden was rated as the only municipal resident self-governance demonstration point in Zhabei District.