How Would You Like To See Chiang Mai Look In The Future?

[maipenrai2010]

Greetings from your neighbor in crazy Pattaya.

When expats are burnt out from here or Bangkok, they seem to favor living in CM. From the expat/tourist perspective,

How Would You Like To See Chiang Mai Look In The Future?

[Ulysses G.]

More wimmin.. less clothes

Totster

You can't go wrong agreeing with moderators!

[BlackArtemis]

Underground wires and less burning.

[searcher22]

Scheduled bus routes, bike paths, more sidewalks. Give the streets back to the people by discouraging car use.

[gotlost]

Scheduled bus routes, bike paths, more sidewalks. Give the streets back to the people by discouraging car use.

Give the streets back to the people by discouraging push bikes and motor bikes.

[rob69]

Scheduled bus routes, bike paths, more sidewalks. Give the streets back to the people by discouraging car use.

Give the streets back to the people by discouraging push bikes and motor bikes.

Limit the number of songtaews on the road, most the drivers have no idea how to drive safely, and most of them always seem empty!!

[Rice_King]

I would like to see Chiang Mai city crews doing more road maintenance and service during night time hours. Currently, the flowers and vegetation receive a daily watering from the water truck during heavy daytime traffic. This causes congestion and inconvenience for all drivers and a major hazard for motorcyclists when the spilled water mixes with the oil on the road.

[millwall_fan]

Many of the improvements I would make relate to public transport

1. Two tram/light rail lines one from Mae Jo to Hang Dong and the other from The University to somewhere on the way to Lamphun

2. A decent bus service

3. Tuk-tuks to have silencers and clean fuel

4. Ban Songthaew

5. Upgrade the railway line to Bangkok (under current proposals it could cut the journey time to something over 4 hours)

[uptheos]

Many of the improvements I would make relate to public transport

1. Two tram/light rail lines one from Mae Jo to Hang Dong and the other from The University to somewhere on the way to Lamphun

2. A decent bus service

3. Tuk-tuks to have silencers and clean fuel

4. Ban Songthaew

5. Upgrade the railway line to Bangkok (under current proposals it could cut the journey time to something over 4 hours)

I'd like to see Songthaew's clean up ther act, but they are a great way of moving around town at low cost.

I can't see the Thai's ever getting rid of them and queuing for buses.

A decent, consistent and speedy Internet connection wouldn't be bad.

[Ricardo]

I'd simply like to be able to see Chiang Mai, rather than have it obscured & lost from view, in a cloud of smoke !

[BlackArtemis]

I don't think we need more bike paths, they cramped the already cramped roads around the moat as is.

Simple adherence to already existing laws about cars putting out too much smog would save a lot of the problems.

I have not used the bus service, but I have noticed I rarely see it.

A tram service would be nice, but I don't think CM has the need for it yet.

Also since there is so little tax on pickups everyone buys them, you can get a decent pickup for the price of a Yaris, which is not helping the congestion.

A tax credit or something similar for smaller cars would encourage people to buy them who really don't need a pick up. Or reversely up the price on pickups similarly to the gas guzzler tax we have in the US.

Though the tax would hurt the people who actually need the pickup, so my idea is still rough around the edges.

[jackr]

Scheduled bus routes, bike paths, more sidewalks. Give the streets back to the people by discouraging car use.

Sounds nice but wouldn't want it to go too far towards looking like the West.

Less smoke and farangs with big bikes thinking they're the sh1t would be a nice start. No problem with farangs on big bikes who don't act lie they own the place.

[db1tau]

I want to see the new central shopping mall built as soon as possible ;-)

And CNX could be less dependant of Bangkok. Everything here has to be done in Bangkok, like buying furniture from index or homepro, glass for the shower cabin, spare parts for the elevator (and the crew installing them), fixing notebooks and videogames, antenna cables for WIFI, even spare parts for a honda wave have to be ordered in BKK.

Seems like nothing can be done here without the help of Bangkok...

[maipenrai2010]

Seems like nothing can be done here without the help of Bangkok...

I was waiting for that. So CM residents feel cut off and/or not independent?

[db1tau]

It depends what you want to do. Things that can't be done here will take at least a week if they have to be done in BKK. having to walk to your condo in the 12th floor for nearly 2 weeks because the lift can't be fixed by a local company can be quite annoying.

For personal shopping you can spend a weekend in BKK though, it's only 1 hour by plane. But this is usually only necessary every second month.

[chiangmaiexpat]

Easy to answer.

1. Get serious about combating air pollution.

2. Build a decent public transportation network.

3. Increase number of libraries, concert halls, and events to bring some culture here.

Like it or not, Chiang Mai has stopped to be a village sometime in the 90s, but it is still run like one.

Cheers, CMX

[whiterussian]

A city wide water works and sewer system would be nice! (clean klongs and river)

Green belt enforced.

Subway system.

Farang library.

A ban on farang wives.

A ban on farang wives driving.

A ban on farang wives driving 4 x 4's.

Trains up to China (sod Bangkok). Trains to the Burmese seaside! whoopie!

Water park!

Mandatory lessons for men over 50 on concept of 'status' and 'face', and what it means to your bank account!

Edited February 20, 2010 by whiterussian

[tigerbeer]

more driving schools for the residents of chiang mai. they surely need it! not that i am a super driver but they really need to work on some better motoring skills.

no more open burning!

[RoastLamb]

Seems like nothing can be done here without the help of Bangkok...

I was waiting for that. So CM residents feel cut off and/or not independent?

I don't know what that guy is talking about. I've never failed to find anything I've wanted in Chiang Mai. It doesn't feel cut off in the slightest.

Then again, I have never shopped for spare parts for an elevator.

[millwall_fan]

Indendence for Lanna!

Interesting idea!

[whiterussian]

Indendence for Lanna!

Interesting idea!

With xx% of the gas (and oil) coming from Burma, that's scary talk!

No thanks!

[jackr]

A city wide water works and sewer system would be nice! (clean klongs and river)

Green belt enforced.

Subway system.

Farang library.

A ban on farang wives.

A ban on farang wives driving.

A ban on farang wives driving 4 x 4's.

Trains up to China (sod Bangkok). Trains to the Burmese seaside! whoopie!

Water park!

Mandatory lessons for men over 50 on concept of 'status' and 'face', and what it means to your bank account!

I like all of those, especially the Burma beaches and a ban on those birds

[lannarebirth]

Indendence for Lanna!

Interesting idea!

Visit Laos to see what that might look like.

[ManilaLover]

Exactly like this.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I wouldn't change a goddamned thing.

Seeing that's unrealistic, I'm however encouraged by the path Chiang Mai seems to be on. The future will be better!

Ok, one thing, I'd like parts of the city to be made more pedestrian-friendly and that includes pedestrians in a wheelchair or with baby pushcarts. With lots of nice, flat, shady walkways.

Also I'd like a beach, and wintersports on a nearby mountain. (As none of the things anyone is saying in this topic has the slightest chance of being heard or acted on, I guess realism is not a factor in this discussion so might as well wish for something good. )

Edited February 21, 2010 by WinnieTheKhwai

[MESmith]

A few more 7-11s would be nice 

On a more serious note, CM residents need to STOP THE BURNING and MORE ROAD SAFETY!!!!!

Not for us moaning expats, but for the local people who don't necessarily realise that they need it.  

A functioning police force would be nice, but that is unachievable, so let's scratch that request.

Most of us could leave to live elsewhere, but the CM people deserve better.

Edited February 21, 2010 by MESmith

[whiterussian]

I like all of those, especially the Burma beaches and a ban on those birds

The link to China will happen, im sure of it.

As for Burma, probably, although they could probably move the oil up by the Friendship Bridges at Mae Sai instead...

but then again these 'proposed' land routes all hinge on what the mad yanks do over in Afghanistan,Pakistan and Iran. (far left of diagram)

At a wild guess, we might see a ruddy great oil pipeline/train/highway coming this way... a great big oily Chinese octopus.

Edited February 21, 2010 by whiterussian

[mogoso]

I wouldn't change a goddamned thing.

Seeing that's unrealistic, I'm however encouraged by the path Chiang Mai seems to be on. The future will be better!

Ok, one thing, I'd like parts of the city to be made more pedestrian-friendly and that includes pedestrians in a wheelchair or with baby pushcarts. With lots of nice, flat, shady walkways.

Also I'd like a beach, and wintersports on a nearby mountain. (As none of the things anyone is saying in this topic has the slightest chance of being heard or acted on, I guess realism is not a factor in this discussion so might as well wish for something good. )

Winter sports, my wife loves the snow. Her first snowman that she built last week after a rare decent snowfall.

[Ricardo]

Perhaps a dry ski-slope, on the side of Doi Suthep, so that C.M. can become the hub, of Thai snow-sports ?

[orang37]

Would like to see the future of Chiang Mai looking through the eyes of children born here, Thai children, Shan children, Tai Yai children, Thai-Chinese children, Sikh children, Indian children, Burmese children, Tai Lue children, Look Kreung children, mixes-of-everything children ...

Through their eyes as :

A place of wonder and merriment, as well as natural beauty, but with respect for laws, a place of smiles, but with clean roads, and sidewalks that are sidewalks, a place of clean air and natural beauty, and, most of all, a place with an educational system that allowed every child to explore, discover, and develop their human potential.

best, ~o:37;

"you may say, I'm a dreamer ... oh yes,

But I'm not the only one." John Lennon, "Imagine"