New Pattaya Mayor

[Humphrey Bear]

would it be so hard to put in some drop kerbs for wheel chair user's and mums with prams

Ps i also think pattaya could do with cleaning up its image .

i best stop there i feel a short holiday coming on

There are - all over the place.

Used by mums on motorbikes for taking their kids up on the pavement to knock down a few farangs.

[wileycoyote]

I think he will try for one week then give up to bribery

Wiley Coyote

[popshirt]

<snip>As long as the sand is clean <snip>

but the sand is NOT clean........I have known a number of people who contract bacterial infections from the sand at beaches in Pattaya/Jomtien. The reason I feel confident in asserting this is because local doctors have advised them NOT to go barefoot on the beaches. One friend still goes to the beach but always wears socks.

[raro]

One friend still goes to the beach but always wears socks.

a fellow German, methinks...

[Heng]

My point is, the people who run (often in conjunction with local Pattaya folks), develop, and invest on a truly significant scale in Pattaya are those from nearby Bangkok. You know, the folks who don't have their hands tied behind their backs by the local legal system. Of course, that's not to say that tourists and foreigners aren't investing a fair amount either. But it's really no contest.

Definitely true, especially everything on the grander scale. But they do mainly invest in projects where their potential revenue/profit comes from foreigners! So in the end I still feel that they are aiming on extracting money out of Pattaya rather then keep it in Pattaya (not to say they don't spend a large chunk of their capital in the city, they definitely do!)

I'm thinking the SP village projects (Khun Saksit, who I thinks spent a large part of his life in Australia), Rattanakorn asset group (all the T.W. condo's and housing projects), and in the middle of Pattaya you can't fail to notice the Lengkee group (or family) taking over or building complete new blocks and sois.

However, taking a good look at their target market,I guess I'm not far off saying that it probably exists over 50% of foreigners, in the case of the Lengkee investments I would say they are firmly aimed at the medium low to medium high spending foreigner.

I'm positively sure the Lengkee family doesn't want to see much change happening in the nightlife scene as it exists currently. If you take a good look at the Lengkee owned properties, a large chunk is rented/leased directly to foreigners, while another large chunk is aimed at the secondary market created by those foreign business, i.e. low cost rooms for low wage earners, beauty salons, low cost Thai style restaurants etc...

The truly well of Thai investor owned part is not that big, and mainly consists of motorbike shops (Mityon group), law offices and travel agencies. Which, apart from the motorbike shops, are again firmly aimed at foreigners.

Me personally, I don't see Pattaya ever successfully transforming in a family oriented resort, and if it does it will be a very low cost resort atracting a customer base spending probably a lot less then the tourists we have now.

The infrastructure is not there, the proper accommodation is not there, we either have overpriced 5 star hotels (not aimed at budget travelers at 5000 Baht +/night) or we have sub 1000 Baht/night rooms of which most places are dumps. You can get lucky with newly opened places, but they tend to deteriorate so fast that they are only good value in the first 2 years of their existence!

Pattaya has a long long way to go...

My bad, Monty. Just noticed your reply. Myself I think it's difficult to generalize one way or the other because it all depends on one's point of view. And I think a lot of folks (both foreigners and well to do Bangkokians and Pattaya natives) like to think they are propping up the economy, it's an ego trip kinda thing. I do disagree on the "extracting" from Pattaya bit. Developing Pattaya is inherently investing in Pattaya.

As per the folks at LK group, it's my understanding that the sales/lease demographics are opposite of what you are suggesting. I'm assuming you know the family: starting with one restaurant, also were involved in the early days of the underground lottery in Pattaya, invested said funds in real estate, the rest is history... The folks at LK usually develop shophouse blocks and sell most of the units to locals (whether based in Pattaya or Bangkok) and some foreigners (through companies or their local spouses). And yes, there are plenty of foreigners in the next tier who lease these units... but there are also plenty of locals doing so as well. Again, I'm not saying foreigners aren't a key component of the economy. It's just that IMO they (along with newly middle class Thais) are getting very little value for their investment. They are buying up mostly residential property and some commercial property that was chopped up from huge lots of property (often with the sale of 150 talang wah 5 million baht home + lot = to the cost of buying the entire 50-100 rai project site 30-40 years ago) owned by old school local families (who are still around; and I use that term in a general sense, as even that's relative... there are families of all different levels of wealth and importance) who use said revenue to buy up more large lots of property down the road to repeat the cycle again and again. That's an extreme example, and it's all relative of course, but that's pretty much what the formula is.

Remove some or most of those customers (whether foreign or local) and IMO you simply make the cycle longer. I don't think any one extreme action (shutting down walking street, building a tram, outlawing drinking before noon, or installing loud speakers to wake up Pattaya folks before 10am) has the ability to make or break that cycle. And the folks who own Pattaya have always known this... that why it's not really a big deal who the mayor is: Ittiphon, Surat Mike, or Alisa. There's nothing that any of them can do to really rock the boat either way. The same folks who have always owned the various parts of the boat will continue to plot its course.

Edited May 10, 2008 by Heng

[edwardandtubs]

I'm looking forward to the new tram. It will be great! Hopefully it will run right in the middle of Beach Road. Do you think it will be ready for the high season? God bless the new mayor!

[raro]

I'm looking forward to the new tram. It will be great! Hopefully it will run right in the middle of Beach Road. Do you think it will be ready for the high season? God bless the new mayor!

If they will ever build it, I can assure you it will happen during high season...

[NanLaew]

I'm looking forward to the new tram. It will be great! Hopefully it will run right in the middle of Beach Road. Do you think it will be ready for the high season? God bless the new mayor!

And the tram, like the taxi-meter's will be run by the mayors buddies at the baht bus cooperative (but don't tell Jingthing, OK?)

Is this the same mayor that when asked during the election what 10 things he would do to improve Pattaya, listed 'cutting down trees so that more people can have a view of the sea.' Well, is it?

Fair comments re- cleaning up the beach. There's thousands of people go to the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches in Rio every day but only a small percentage actually swim. The sand is kept clean and that is the main attraction, not the sea itself.

And f**koff those bloody jetski things as well.

And a park, a real park with a lake or two in it like Udon has. It's a bit of a silliness to be bussed 30 minutes south to Nong Nuch garden to get some nice green scenery now isn't it? I think Singapore has a regulation that any development, be it commercial or residential, has to ensure a 20% 'green' content. That's why for all the concrete and high-rises, there's loads of nice, cooling, shady trees around.

[BugJackBaron]

You guys might want to read the latest issue of Pattaya People(or maybe it was Pattaya News).

There is an article about the mayor's plans . The last sentence or thereabouts reads

"the mayor claims he was misquoted when they said he plans to shut down the bars"

That is the entire mention of the issue. The rest deals with trams and stuff.

Case closed

[innovator]

The new mayor was shown on TV visiting the new Star Bar and having a great time. So, I don't think there is any reason to worry about closing down the cash cow.

[Pushit]

One of the new policies to be implemented by Khun ittipon:

· environmental improvement

· the implementation of an effective water supply for the city and Kho Larn (Coral Island)

· a 12-year free education system

· low-cost housing for low income groups

· a new, improved traffic system

· a tramline transportation system

· flood prevention

· job opportunities to decrease poverty

· the eradication of Pattaya's red-light venue – Walking Street

· the establishment of a drug-observation and prevention centre

· the encouragement of ecotourism

· the construction of a sports centre

· the establishment of a tourism festival

· the encouragement of world-class entertainment

Source:

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000005878

Another pig in the pool!