El Siglo newspaper publishes today an article signed by former President Joaquín Balaguer (http://www.elsiglo.net/portada.htm) that advocates that the new government discontinue the practice of the Fernández government of giving preference to cars over people. In the article, that obviously by its style was not written in its entirety by the former President, Balaguer endorses the view that the construction of overpasses and second level expressways has turned Santo Domingo into a "mechanical city." Balaguer administrations were known for hiring some of the best landscapers in the Americas, from Valverde Podestá, Benjamín Paiewonsky, among others. He left behind the Parque Mirador del Sur, the Parque Mirador del Este, the Parque Mirador del Norte, Botanical Gardens, the Santo Domingo Zoo and the Plaza de la Cultura, as well as the lovely tree-lined Las Americas, John F. Kennedy and 27 de Febrero Avenues. These were turned into concrete expressways as a solution to traffic jams. Hundreds of stores along those expressways have gone out of business. In the article, Balaguer urges the new authorities to re-orient the growth of the metropolis. He is critical of the construction of high-rises that in the name of profit-seeking engineering companies forget that they are creating congestioned city spaces. Balaguer asks the new authorities to take a look at the teachings of architect Frank Lloyd Wright and design the city from the inside to the outside giving priority to green areas and space. He praises the Plaza de la Concordia in Paris, Park Avenue and Fifth Avenue in New York. He says there are other solutions to traffic jams, such as building expressways on the outskirts of the city and not within. In his opinion, the inner areas of a city should be reserved to avenues.
