West Coast Park - Pay to enjoy it if you drive there

 I always say that my lifestyle and spending habits do not help the economy much. However, I make up for my lack of contribution to this earth in terms of monetary benefits with my ardent and fervent appreciation of nature in the parks and nature reserves in Singapore. I, like a good citizen, heed the government's call to senior citizens to take care of their health so as not to be a burden to the healthcare system in Singapore. I walk the parks of Singapore regularly and that has done wonders to my mental and physical health. Just looking at the flowers and greenery is enough to nourish the cells in my body. The blue skies with fluffy cotton clouds above and the surrounding lush green all contribute to my positive attitude towards each day as it comes. This form of enjoyment of life costs very little and the activity of spending time in the park, walking and taking photos, is to me and I am sure to others like me, one of life's simple pleasures. Yet, this simple pleasure is going to cost me at least $10 a week based on the average visits that I make to the parks here. The reason given for imposing charges for parking at our parks is that there are people who abuse the previously free carparks by parking their vehicles there for long periods of time without visiting the parks. Imagine that, we, the genuine park visitors are penalised because of people who abuse the free carparks. They should be punished, not us and a very simple solution is to let the public park their cars free for the first 2 or 3 hours and thereafter the parking is chargeable. So simple! Yet, no one whose job it is to think before making the decision to erect gantries to collect money from us has thought of it.