Phuket Business Owners At Karon Beach Win Reprieve From Street Clearing

[webfact]

Phuket business owners at Karon Beach win reprieve from street clearing

Phuket Gazette

Local business owner Adam Simone shows the thin red line, outside of which all will be cleared away.

A couple walk down the small soi, which is often so congested that vehicles cannot make their way through.

PHUKET: -- Business owners in the chaotic street of “Soi Centara”, formerly known for years as “Soi Islandia Resort”, in Phuket’s tourist-popular Karon Beach area, have won a reprieve from having structures on their street demolished.

Adam Simone, owner of Bershat Guesthouse and a resident in the area for more than 12 years, told the Phuket Gazette, “Two days ago we received a call from a company called JK Co Ltd saying that if we didn’t clear our belongings from the street they would bulldoze it all down on Saturday morning [today].

“Everyone will lose a lot of money if they proceed. For me, I will lose a sala [pavilion] that cost 150,000 baht to build. It’s been there for about one and a half years and I have never received a complaint about it.

“Everyone else in the street is in the same situation. Now we’ve had one guy come and tell our Thai staff to remove it or they’ll destroy it,” he said.

“There have been no negotiations and no deadline has been given to give us a chance to remove our things so they’re not destroyed. Given the chance, I would pay rent to keep it there,” he added.

However, Joy Orevich, owner of the Aussie Joy Tour & Guest House, who lives in a small alley that joins the two parts of Soi Centara, told the Gazette, “I agree with JK Co in clearing the street. Cars cannot get through because there are so many obstructions.

“Many times I have had to yell at staff at the restaurants to move their tables and chairs just so I can get to my house,” she said.

“Now imagine if something bad happened and an ambulance had to get in there. Clearing the street would make it much safer for everyone,” she added.

A representative of JK Co Ltd told the Gazette late yesterday afternoon that that was exactly the reason the company would like to clear the street.

However, she also confirmed that the last-minute reaction to the move to clear the street has won the shop owners a temporary reprieve.

“We will send a letter to the shop owners, probably on Monday, but we will not be clearing any structures from the street tomorrow,” she said.

Mr Simone said that Chalong Police had been notified of the situation and that he was told police would act as "mediators" in talks between shop owners and JK Co Ltd on Monday.

Police mediation is a highly controversial yet widespread practice in Thailand, in which a local police department, acting ostensibly from neutrality, attempts to broker a settlement between disputing parties.

With police corruption an ongoing threat in some jurisdictions of the country, the neutrality of mediation is often challenged, some pundits referring to it as a "business opportunity".

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2011/article11520.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2011-11-26

[PoorSucker]

Adam has been in Thailand to long.

I know it's illegal, but it should be allowed anyway because I'll loose money.

[Orac]

Who are JK Co Ltd - is it a private road???

[LivinginKata]

Who are JK Co Ltd - is it a private road???

Yes, it's my understanding that this is a private road. Over the years the roadway has slowly been encroached by table & chairs & plant pots as the business owners don't want anyone parking in front of their premises. I used to dine there frequently years ago. Once parking became impossible (even m/bike) I just gave up.

[keestha]

It is accepted everywhere in Thailand that businesses put tables&chairs, clothing racks or whatever on the road/pavement in front of their businesses. Don't think this is backed by a written rule of law, but in any legal system custom is also a source of law.

Maybe a rule should be made and enforced that they are only allowed to encroach on the road/pavement for maximally a certain distance from the premises. Oh well, I am dreaming, everybody knows expecting something like this to be really enforced would be unrealistic.

I used to be a frequent visitor to the soi this thread is about in 2005, it looks a lot more congested now indeed.

[stevenl]

It is accepted everywhere in Thailand that businesses put tables&chairs, clothing racks or whatever on the road/pavement in front of their businesses. Don't think this is backed by a written rule of law, but in any legal system custom is also a source of law.

Maybe a rule should be made and enforced that they are only allowed to encroach on the road/pavement for maximally a certain distance from the premises. Oh well, I am dreaming, everybody knows expecting something like this to be really enforced would be unrealistic.

I used to be a frequent visitor to the soi this thread is about in 2005, it looks a lot more congested now indeed.

If it were just pots and plants, even tables, it should be no problem to sort out. But now they have been building permanent structures on the road. So I'm with PoorSucker: you build on the road, in this case even other person's property, not a public road, so yes, you stand a chance of losing your investment. Adam knew it was illegal, accept the consequences.

[TAWP]

Build on someone else' land, and lose what you built when enough people have complaint.

So what is he upset about, that he was only allowed to encroach for 1.5 year?

Wonder if he think it is ok if I come and live at his place for free for 1.5 year...and complain when I have to move. Without cost.

[steelepulse]

Is this the soi behind Karon Cafe that runs into that Irish place? I've stopped going there for years as there are some hostile people about if you dared to try to park your car.

[thaikahuna]

As a pedestrian I deserve the right to walk a soi unencumbered by the obstuctions others erect as part of their business. I should not have to step over God knows what to avoid this and that just get from point A to point B. , tear that mess down. I care less what you put up because you are stupid enough to believe that my right of way is your property.

[silsburyhill]

As a pedestrian I deserve the right to walk a soi unencumbered by the obstuctions others erect as part of their business. I should not have to step over God knows what to avoid this and that just get from point A to point B. , tear that mess down. I care less what you put up because you are stupid enough to believe that my right of way is your property.

So you not too keen on the many motorbikes/cars parked on pavements everywhere here then. "I deserve the right'. Yeah. Who and where do you think you are?

By the way, Sathorn and Silom boring as f*** now the vendors've been given the boot from the lower ends of both roads. If I'd want pristine I'd've moved to Austria, or Switzerland.

[madmitch]

Along Patak Road when it was widened, many businesses that had knowingly or unknowingly encroached onto the public land lost these illegal structures, many of which were "permanent".

There was no option in this case as the road was going through there whether the building owners liked it or not.

This doesn't sound much different, just a private and not a public road.