Saving the planet

A reader applauds funding for research into endangered species. Other letters topics include the call for a federal dress code, vocational training and car parking.

The northern bald ibis will benefit from funding./ Courtesy of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund

Regarding Parking is such sweet sorrow (June 12), I live in the Tourist Club area and I have no issue with paid parking. The issue I have is with not having somewhere to park at the end of a long day at work.

I couldn't care less if the "number of those spaces was based on a tally of legal residents, and because the area is notorious for illegally overcrowded shared flats, demand far outweighs supply", as the article states.

There are far too many cars for the number of spaces allocated; people like me will be forced to move, instead of the people who are sharing illegally.

Expecting people to apply for a resident parking permit when there is no place to park is ridiculous. I regularly have to park my car and get a cab home.

Furthermore, Mawaqif is so eager to make money from fines and towing, but they don't draw the lines properly, so in our car park one car takes up two spaces.

I wish someone would help us in this situation.

Neusha Farley, Abu Dhabi

Those of us affected by this issue are obsessed with Mawaqif and the way it is making life so much harder. Please keep covering this arbitrary policy, which is the opposite of user-friendly.

I counted the cars in the before and after photos with that story: 48 cars before Mawaqif and 30 after. The other 18 cars and their drivers are, I suppose, still circling looking for a place to park.

It's hard to think of anything else that could be called an improvement that is so much the opposite.

Bill Skowron, Abu Dhabi

Dress code must be 'sold' to tourists

I am writing in response to Call for federal dress-code law (June 12). UAE malls would not survive without the tourist trade, so care needs to be taken that tourists are not frightened away.

I agree that some people dress inappropriately. Perhaps leaflets produced to inform them could advise them to cover up because of how cold it is inside the mall, and add that, by doing so, they will not be upsetting families who find their way of dressing offensive.

Alan Godfrey, Dubai

The solution to the dress-code situation is simple and wrapped up in an old saying: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. J Johannson, Abu Dhabi

HCT best placed for training role

Among the recent stories on the issue of vocational training, Dr Naji Al Madhi is on target in Call for national strategy to boost technical training (May 17).

The Higher Colleges of Technology would serve the UAE better by revisiting its initial mission focusing on two-year vocational and technical degrees.

With 17 campuses located across the country, it is in a position to meet this need rather then try to compete with Zayed University and UAE University in graduating bachelor-level graduates.

This return to HCT's former identity would need to be complemented at the secondary level and early college admission period with quality career guidance to facilitate placements in high-need vocational areas.

Coupled with this mission, HCT could serve as the primary provider of foundation/developmental courses for the country. This would reduce such need at Zayed University and UAEU. Admission standards could then be set to admit those immediately ready for college/university study to Zayed University and UAEU.

Those candidates not making the initial admission standards could qualify for foundation work at HCT, or direct admission into a prescribed vocational/technical programme.

This system would not preclude HCT students from eventually achieving a bachelor's degree. Based on two or three years of performance at an HCT campus, they could transfer to Zayed University or UAEU.

Those satisfied with the associate degree would move directly into the labour market.

Jerry McDonald, US

Price controls a help to families

Prices of 1,600 food staples frozen until end of the year (June 10) is good news for people in the UAE, and a model initiative for the rest of the world.

With so many uncertainties on the financial horizon, it must be a great relief for householders to know that they can safely budget for the cost of essential items.

Paul Gregory, UK

A precious gift for our planet's future

I applaud the work of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (Fund gives Dh2m to study rare species, June 12).

This generous gift, supporting 40 projects around the world, is not just an investment in preserving individual species but in the future of the planet our children, and their children, will inherit.

Margaret Smith, Dubai