The design proposal for the Armenian Street facelift is on display at the George Town World Heritage Inc office until today.
Why do they have this itch to pave every open space with concrete, tar and tiling – even a park…?
Why do they hate the sight of open space and grass? We have such limited green spaces and then they want to pave a whole chunk of this park. Could it be that pavements mean contracts to be awarded out?
Wouldn’t a lovely lawn, some flowers and trees look a lot prettier and more natural?
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Well, laying down grassy lawns and planting border plants is also another contract that can be put out for tender, so it doesn’t rule out crony contracts. I would certainly prefer the natural garden path to concrete, tar or tiles. It may merely be a matter of convenience i.e. lower maintainance. Perhaps the local authorities should be referred to books on garden design. There are hundreds of books from all over the world that show how to create an ‘oasis’ in the center of a busy city. people in large cities have roof top gardens or courtyard gardens – their… Read more »
Armenia street is heritage. It should be Heritage listed. Penang has a number of places and buildings that are worthy of being preserved under world heritage listing before Towkay comes along and paves it. or as Joni Mitchel snag all those years ago, they ‘ don’t it always seem to go they don’t know what they’ve got till its gone, they pave paradise put up a parking lot’. Armenians played a critical role along with the Indians, the British, the Jews the Chinese in giving Penang its unique Character in a Malay backdrop. There is a form of chauvanism that… Read more »
I think the aesthetic is the obvious concern. Can’t really tell from the pictures but looks like there is too much concrete. What I’m more interested is how do they foresee people using the park and how has the design enhanced this? Is it meant to be communal outdoor space for local residents where they are encouraged to come in the evenings and mornings to meet and have some recreation? Its nice to see little parks all around European cities and how people do utilise the space. We should encourage a bit of this and people take collective pride in… Read more »
The community in the area should take better care of the park and its surrounding and participate in its improvement. There’s rubbish on the pavements especially in nearby Lebuh Acheh. It’s a disgrace for such a highly publicized area.
wow, i enjoy seeing those you tubes.
I hope my present penang government can learn from Singapore. Under Gerakan we truly “decay” in ideas to make heritage penang a pleasant attractions to tourists. Present refreshing change (like a new coating of colourful paint over gelakan decay) under Pakatan/DAP hopefully can slow down brain/food drain.
No more gelakan bumpy road at Pitt Street from today thanks to new improved tar road – and remove former silly gelakan road construction as if we were riding horses not driving vehicles !!!!!
when one day penang island truly run out of vacant land for development, the Bayan Lepas FTZ area may be converted into residential/recreational use after the industries are shifted to mainland.
Penang gomen can work out the masterplan for penang in 25-30 years into the future. Just like Singapore has done for their Jurong area called Jurong Lake District.
Peang gomen can go “lawatan sambil belajar” via KTM train and don’t need to go Australia to cut rakyat’s expenses.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYJFyxZAAnY
My brother used to work in a factory in Jurong area (Boon Lay is a place for many malaysian workers) in the 80s.
He visited his old friends in Jurong recently and is totally amazed by its transformation as the western hub of Singapore.
His boss was formerly a Penangite, now Singaporean told him that Penang is a place where time stood still during the Gerakan era, how appropriate.
Y, time stood still during gelakan era and yet ininformed folks kena conned to believe we are developing fast (actually more pocketful for cronies ex the expense of less priviledged ordinary people on the streets!). The aftermath of “under table u help me i help you” regime has been magnifested uglily until after 308 for Pakatan to unwind (not easy task) to truly transform Penang back to be the Pearl of The Orient (not that apanama enforced free port island u i know) !!! My father generation can savour beautiful serene Penang. My generation suffers the mismanagement of gelakan. My… Read more »
Let’s look forward.
Penang leads the way, an exemplary state of responsible, progressive and green development for everyone, skin-color-blind. And prosperity regardless of creed or status.
The old ostrich way of doing things Boh Lan Hoot is now history. So much so it is gelak-gelakan topics at kopitiams comes GE time.
I am looking forward to a duty-free Penang one fine day. A duty-free status robbed by ApaNama Jealousy & Feardom.
JB is trying to revamped its Jalan Segget longkang with a RM1.6b project (after spending $1bil covering it up in 2003!) to rival Korea’s Cheonggyechon:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2012/3/29/southneast/10991738&sec=southneast
Clearly it is an excuse for BN contractors to make quick bucks again as the Legaran Segget is in a very sorry state due to no maintenance culture:
http://super325.com/2011/10/22/legaran-segget-johor-bahru-is-improving-but-further-improvement-needed-13-photos/
Johor is a rich state (although JCorp is in deep debt) but plenty of wastage is evident.
The photos show patches of botak. The grass are not growing adjacent to the kapcai parking. Maybe the ground is harden clay. This part can be paved but not the whole area.
The portion that is botak is probably due to lack of sunlight. It is very difficult to grow grass especially those Taiwan or Japanese grass in the shade.
Then pave these parts rather than let them look ugly with the botaks!
So, what’s the problem with the paving!
The authority concerned should be smart to decide which is the best to make the area look nice and at the same try as much as possible the area remain green!
tuakee and Aaron, thanks for videos. After having had a look of Sg Botanical Garden and My Botanical Garden, malu la… No wonder Sg looks down on My, cant blame people actually. Sg is really, betul betul boleh, but they didnt have the slogan to shout they boleh whereas My tak boleh but we said we banyak boleh. Boleh apa? The answer is banyak betul betul boleh corruption, kolek kolek kolek but never mind la as the minister said 2% lagi to consider our debt at critical level, so meanwhile, let’s party and be merry lor !!! Really, Sg government… Read more »
Haven’t you noticed how much LKY affects our good friend? As they say, there’s a thin line between love and hate…reminds me of ” The Gherk and I.” :-p
Saudara Kee, Dr. M is leagues behind LKY, so do not compare the two. You see, Dr. M started Proton, then blew his trumpet that we are one of the few car makers in the world. Today, it is back to rebadging again, after Inspira, the VW Polo will soon be rebadged and made a Proton. LOL! Can Malaysia really produce reasonably good cars? With all the corruptions in every sector of the society, can it just do something good for the Rakyat to feel proud about? Every few years, MAS will be sold and resold and then incur massive… Read more »
ya, Ahmad Sobri, i have been doing my part, still telling the Chinese BN is the monster not PAS.
My neighbour was very impressed with Nizar, and she didnt know that Nizar was from PAS, and when i told her, she got a shock. She thought Nizar was from Keadilan. So, i said to her, PAS has many good people.
Just said to her if we cant make this time, 13th GE, then, we will never make it, then, i shall give up forever too.
All the best to all of us that our dream will come true !!!
A good presentation on the making of Gardens by The Bay Singapore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGyeqIhFqnQ&feature=related&w=400
Do visit it the next time you are in Singapore.
This is fascinating beyond words!
SingLand may one day recreate our Belum Rainforest in Sentosa extended island with fresh water lakes teeming with Hornbills & even living dinosaurs!
With these eco+bio technologies & hitech horticulture practices, nothing is impossible.
Now I know why LGE would love to transform Penang into a Cosmopolitan City island.
Nothing is impossible with a creative leadership.
Look at the picture of the present Armenian Street, I believe many will agree with me it’s not what we want the turf or the grass of the area to be looked like that. Perhaps for this reason the authority come up with the idea to pave most of the park. However, I also agree with Anil, the park should not be paved too much. But it’s the attitude of the people who frequent to the area to maintain the beauty of the turf, thus the park. Yes definately, the new Penang people’s government should look to Singapore on how… Read more »
yes, nkl, fully agree of what you said about Sg and Malaysia. The present Armenian St is ugly, definitely needs to be attended to and improved with a smaller pavement. After seeing the Sg Garden, the proposed Armenian St Garden needs to be improved a lot more, please add more greens. Compare with Sg, we are like still swinging from one tree to another. What we are good at is framing and filming main belakang and main belakang got problem, main depan pun boleh, what a bl$%country, the BN leaders of Malaysia since Dr M’s time till now, really know… Read more »
Planning, executing, monitoring, maintaining and then constant improving.
Can Penang gomen emulate the success story of green Singapore ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pO6izugDME&w=400
Gardens by the Bay consists of three distinctive waterfront gardens. They are set in the heart of Singapore’s new downtown Marina Bay. This 101-hectare park development aims to fuse nature and technology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BebMVsYMvPQ
Penang Botanic Garden can benchmark this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9O2EU9RH5Q&feature=related&w=400
WoW is the word. God would be pleased to walk in this Garden of Nature & Technology. A different perspective of garden re-creation by nature lovers for nature lovers and by a caring green gomen with only an island.
Syabas Singapore.
In the 80’s it was Singapore Girl (of Singapore Airlines).
In the new millennium, it is the world-class Garden City.
How the SingLand do it? Using the best talents & technology, local & foreign. Spending wisely with ROI. It is that simple without color phobia or short-sightedness of planning.
With LGE, we can do it also.
can penang learn from the neighbour and turn its own heritage zone into a garden enclave as well ?
i think possible if and only there is no corruption and more dedicated professional staff !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLRROkGGBfM&w=400
Wow! Truly a model tropical garden city for all the world to see and learn from. So much lively greenery juxtaposed with practical concrete design, so many dragonflies, an eco symbol of healthy environment and pristine water source. One can experience rainforest within distance from cosmopolitan city, breathe fresh flora in morning walks or Tai Chi in public gardens. No doubt our CM LGE would like Penang to develop likewise. Seeing this video is very convincing, going there will be a true green experience of what it takes to be a world class garden city. I can’t wait (till next… Read more »
Moral of the story: We all must visit Singapore to see how public fund are well-utilized to build public amenities and receation facilities for the use of the general public. Also see for ourselves how maintenance work is carried out in the red dot.
This park is so pretty. I like it so much. The Current park is so ugly man… The new design is so much better,
They should put online feedback, but I think the government not ready for online feedback yet, not much IT and tech guy in the department.
Why indeed. Why this aversion to open spaces and greenery? So much for Cleaner, GREENER, Penang.
Learn from Spore to have nice park in the city. We hope LGE can pick up some tips during his private conversation with Ho Ching during her visit to Penang not long ago .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZbndLmWqMg&w=400
Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄
🙄 During Kow Tow Koon yes man time…..Armenian St till Chulia street trafic-light area the main road was built with ‘kling kong’ hard stone road for the local to call….until many vehicles absorbers spoil faster!!! that’s why KTK finish in PG faster!!! n i believe many Penangites won’t mind if the trees around the whatever new park still maintain to keep PG ….GREENS,FRESH n CLEAN!!! 🙄
Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄 Ho 🙄
Sigh sigh sigh !!!
Penang people have themselves to blame. And they think they are very smart by saying one vote for DAP in parliament and one vote for Gerakan, to rule the state for DEVELOPMENT !!!
And I have to say, the time given for public feedback is way too short. They should be more reasonable. 9th March to 23rd March is less than 3 weeks. I’ll only be back in Penang on the 31st. GTWHI should consider extending it to at least a month or post the interactive display online for all to comment. Makes life much easier.
Yes, I don’t know why our local government and their offices don’t put all these draft plans online for public feedback via email, facebook, etc.
Could it be they want to limit public feedback?
Somebody in the govt or top civil servants must have vested interest in those pavers, no? I remember Perak once had pink flowerpots all over the state and rumour had it that the MB’s wife was earning big bucks in govt tender supplying those pink flower pots with the color discarded by some paint company and she got it for free!
It is a custom in Boleh Land, if you join BN, these are the perks.
Get rich scheme by joining UMNO/MCA/MIC, etc !!!
Anil, we can’t really tell from that the picture the extent or magnitude of the pavement. Pavements are essential to give pedestrians unhampered and safe walkways which are currently lacking around the whole of Penang, not just in George town. Paving the entire space would be bad of course, but we cannot deny that some pavement is still necessary. Hard to tell from that picture the width and dimensions to be paved onto existing green areas. Will have to check out the full plans. Singapore has done a good job of ensuring very pedestrian friendly (and sometimes disabled friendly) roads… Read more »
In this case, why do we need such a broad pavement in such a small park?
Anil, from the pic it looks nice, lots of green !
Hi everyone, I do agree with Anil that there is no need for such broad walkways! Narrower pathways which facilitate easy walkabout even after a heavy shower would suffice. Increase areas of greenery with well-kept grass lawns and shrubs and canopy-providing trees to enhance the small park would be better than that shown in the first picture! Since today is the last day for proposals, I sincerely hope someone has already given such suggestions to the authorities! Anyway, hopefully the authorities would take heed of comments in Anil’s blogs or other blogs so that an improved version of the park… Read more »