Chinatown cleaner, but it's lost its charm

Letter from Jayandran Sandra Alison, Today Online 20 Feb 08;

Chinatown's a good example of why 'smelly' Jalan Kayu doesn't need a makeover

I READ the letter, "Jalan Kayu needs a makeover" (Feb 18), with much alarm and trepidation. I feel that to clean up this quaint, quirky and, yes, dirty and somewhat smelly corner of Singapore would be to rob it of its very essence.

Like Mr George Pasqual wrote, Jalan Kayu has always been a bit of a backwater, a small "ulu" village full of character.

Because of the Tampines Expressway, the demolishment of several old shophouses, the old Jalan Kayu Primary school, et cetera, and the subsequent construction of the nearby Sengkang/Fernvale estate, it can never go back to what it used to be.

Can I suggest that the authorities refrain from being too heavyhanded with "cleaning up" efforts in that part of Singapore?

Although traffic congestion does occur, especially on weekends (because of its "famous" roti prata), I feel that to widen the road would be to change Jalan Kayu too drastically. Somehow, through all the chaos, the residents are happy, the visitors are happy and life goes on in this far corner of our country.

Let's not go the way of other makeover disasters, such as Chinatown, which has been scrubbed clean of all its charm and quaintness. Just because something isn't clean and perfect does not make it any less desirable. The charm of Jalan Kayu lies in its haphazard and chaotic nature.

Would the Urban Redevelopment Authority or Heritage Board care to comment on plans for those shophouses Mr Pasqual described as "seemingly deserted two-storey houses with some unshuttered windows"? They are in a unique style that I have not seen in other parts of Singapore.

Jalan Kayu needs a makeover
Letter from George Pasqual, Today Online 18 Feb 08;

IT USED to be a quaint country "precinct" with many sundry shops, eateries and service enterprises, during the 1950s and 1960s, catering mainly to British personnel who were stationed at the air force base in Seletar.

Now, Jalan Kayu is a hodgepodge of eateries (some clean and others not so), sundry shops and an assortment of commercial enterprises, with haphazardly-parked vehicles, rubbish bins and heaps of rubbish. There is also a block of seemingly deserted two-storey houses with some unshuttered windows.

The traffic is constant and noisy, as it negotiates the congested two-lane road. Cars are parked at right angles to the road and pedestrians are often forced to walk on the road itself to negotiate around obstacles such as pots and dustbins that have been placed on the sidewalk by some shop owners. Others have erected canopies, which prevent pedestrians from walking freely.

With such chaotic conditions, accidents are just waiting to happen.

A facelift or makeover should be imminent to initiate a greener, cleaner and more orderly Jalan Kayu to match other Clean and Green precincts that give us so much pleasure and pride to be living in Singapore.