Pattaya sees rise in independent Chinese tourists amid decline in group tours

[toenail]

I saw in the local paper that the officials are spending our tax dollars (yes, there are farangs that work and live here and pay taxes) on new street "Dolphin Street Lights"-- looks like something out of Disney. The irony is that there are no longer Dolphins in the bay. Infact, soon there won't be any beach left due to the erosion. I did read a few months back that there is a "plan' to dump more sand on the beach area which will last about ...10 years??? (the sand has to come from Rayong area but no one has done research to see what enviromental impact taking sand from this area would have on its sea and coral life). So I keep wondering, do the city official ever look at how the beach is becoming less and how the Beach Road promenade looks like a worn "has been" of dirt and junk laying around? The millions of baht that they are spending on new "Dolphin lights" should be spent on the beach.

[FarangBuddha]

I saw in the local paper that the officials are spending our tax dollars (yes, there are farangs that work and live here and pay taxes) on new street "Dolphin Street Lights"-- looks like something out of Disney. The irony is that there are no longer Dolphins in the bay. Infact, soon there won't be any beach left due to the erosion. I did read a few months back that there is a "plan' to dump more sand on the beach area which will last about ...10 years??? (the sand has to come from Rayong area but no one has done research to see what enviromental impact taking sand from this area would have on its sea and coral life). So I keep wondering, do the city official ever look at how the beach is becoming less and how the Beach Road promenade looks like a worn "has been" of dirt and junk laying around? The millions of baht that they are spending on new "Dolphin lights" should be spent on the beach.

Don't you get it, the only purpose of any public works spending is not to actually end up with an improved built environment but the skim. The only way to rake-off 30-40% is to spend some public money in the first place.

[seefah]

Here is a link to the news story which also contains a link to the news paper article with an artist’s rendering of what the new light poles will look like.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/522685-dolphins-to-light-way-in-pattaya-in-2012/

I actually quite like the idea, as long as the design doesn't errode and become unsightly over time. Its been a while now that they've had empty 1 meter deep holes in the ground on North Road, but recently I've noticed they are filled in with concrete blocks and polls mounted, so its getting there. Looking forward to seeing what it will actually look like once completed.

[doggie888888]

Here is a link to the news story which also contains a link to the news paper article with an artist’s rendering of what the new light poles will look like.

http://www.thaivisa....attaya-in-2012/

I actually quite like the idea, as long as the design doesn't errode and become unsightly over time. Its been a while now that they've had empty 1 meter deep holes in the ground on North Road, but recently I've noticed they are filled in with concrete blocks and polls mounted, so its getting there. Looking forward to seeing what it will actually look like once completed.

I think the OP's point is that there ought to be some priority, sort of a "nice to do" such as new dolphin lights when the old ones worked perfectly, versus a "must do" such as restoring the beach which is a major attraction here.

By the way, is there anything in this town that "doesn't errode and become unsightly over time" ??? Just wondering...

[lonewolf99]

Light poles / beach erosion...2 subjects.

1st - has any one noticed the giant light poles erected on Jomtien beach. When powered up everyone will need welders masks to walk around the place at night.

Erosion. Strangely this has nothing to do with Global warming. But a natural phenonemon that has taken billions of years to progress to what we have now. Which in the case of Pattaya and Jomtien is the litter strewn sewage poisoned mess some people call a family beach holiday resort.

I agree with the OP, moving sand around without a thorough investigation of the environmental impact is folly.

[toenail]

My point with this topic is that the city should prioritize what it wants to spend its money on. I feel the decaying of the Beach Road promenade needs the millions of baht for upgrading than replacing functional street lights with new ones adorned with Dolphins. But replacing the worn out dirt area with flowers and shrubs or making repairs to the crumbling easement would only be temporary if the city officials did not enforce some guidelines...such as no night stalls allowed along the narrow walkway or more garbage bins. It is a no-brainer, but the Beach Rd promenade makes an impression to the city's guests and right now this main attraction is comparable to a filty, unkept slum.

[seefah]

I'd suspect that the beach erosion issue being fixed by depositing sand taken from Rayong area is rightly being looked at as a much larger and time consuming project with many implication to consider. I see no reason why other city projects can't run at the same time from separate allocated budgets, not siphoned from the beach erosion budget as suggested by the original post.

Although not the highest of priority perhaps, the new dolphin lights along North Road will soon be finished by the looks of things, as they have been mounting the dolphins and additional lights just recently. The dolphins look fine to me, not Mickey Mouse like dolphins at all as described by the original post. Not to worry though, the project is Drastically! over the target date (actually just a couple of weeks) and Still Not Finished! (well they can be seen working on it and almost done). So there's still room for more criticism, though we could do without it to be honest.

[Gone]

Personally I hope the beach keeps eroding until it reaches Sukhumvit.

[toenail]

The previous lights worked and like anything else in Pattaya, no maintenance will be kept with these "Disney" street lights so once the paint fades, the curved looped steel ribbon decoration gets clipped by some passing truck or bus it will just sit there until the next decade. Meanwhile the money (and time) could have gone towards reparing the sidewalks so tourist wouldn't twist their ankles or break their legs when walking on the decaying Pattaya walkways. But making repairs to the sidewalks for an example isn't as "fun".

Edited February 18, 2012 by toenail

[fredob43]

The previous lights worked and like anything else in Pattaya, no maintenance will be kept with these "Disney" street lights so once the paint fades, the curved looped steel ribbon decoration gets clipped by some passing truck or bus it will just sit there until the next decade. Meanwhile the money (and time) could have gone towards reparing the sidewalks so tourist wouldn't twist their ankles or break their legs when walking on the decaying Pattaya walkways. But making repairs to the sidewalks for an example isn't as "fun".

I lived in Pattaya for several year's. Thank Buddha now out of the to my mind a rat hole. And this sort of thing has been going on for decade's. As other poster's have pointed out in the past the city father's are a load of brain dead's, always have been always will be. The place is falling apart at the seam's.

Beach what's left of it is just a rubbish dump, Filth plastic broken bottles every ware. The main problem as I see it is that peep's still come and while that is the case nothing will ever be sorted.

May I suggest that everyone that call's the place home just live with it and enjoy the best as you can as it's never going to get any better. Sorry if I ruffled any feather's it's just my point of view. Now you can go out a get a lung full of Diesel fume's.

[Satcommlee]

Ah so that's what those new poles on North road are... I thought they were there to stimulate the local Car bodywork industry, as the edges of the bloody things now protrude into the road at places..

[Gone]

Good thing the folks in the office don't read Thai Visa:

Fix the roads

Clean the beach

Change the walking st. sign

Turn the music down

Change the street-lights

Don't walk around with no shirts

Please take your shirt off

Turn the music up

Close the bars

Why are the bars closing?

Fill in the pot-holes

Change the direction of traffic

Why is there no cola here?

My mail's coming late

Take down the big TV screens

Get rid of the Russians

Fix the sewers

Put up traffic lights

Take away the traffic lights

Open the bars later

Close the bars earlier

Kill ALL jet-ski operators

Get rid of the street vendors on beach rd.

Make all the bike rentals in one place

Tell all the workers at Big-C to stop picking their noses

Tell them all to speak English

Bring in metered taxis

Get rid of the taxis

Take half the songteaws away

Make the beaches not waste away

Put sand on the beach

God forbid if the Mayors office starts reading Thai Visa or they might be getting rid of us next.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Gone