The end of Walking Street as we know it? Bars ordered to rip down signs

[gbswales]

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

Forbid that Thailand should legalise and regulate prostitution- tourist flock to Thailand either because of this trade or because they want to gawp at it.  It is about time society recognised that there is nothing wrong with sex being sold commercially.  Providing it is limited to certain areas those who want to avoid it can.  What are tourists going to photograph at night when all the colourful signs have gone?  This is 2017 and the world seems to be going more Victorian by the minute.

[dinsdale]

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

 

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

 

Pious rubbish.

Edited August 2, 2017 by dinsdale

[fforest1]

34 minutes ago, Prbkk said:

Expect the announcement of the Pattaya Winter Mozart Festival. Quality tourists will come in droves; maybe an outdoor, beach-side venue would be nice.

This is a excellent idea...I would like to see Disney characters like

Micky Mouse and Goofy passing out ice cream to all quality tourist children on Walking Street....Walking street can be a real family destistination..

[Yann55]

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

 

 

Hear hear ! well, aren't you the ultimate bag of laughs, Chookie ...

 

Now here's an idea : quality can be sexy, and there is such a thing as quality sex as well. Perhaps you haven't found that out yet, hence the sermon and the high horse ...

[Jimbo2014]

Great - Expect hoards of girls with signs standing in the streets with flashlights.

[Peterw42]

Signage is a source of revenue for the local ampher, any sign that is outside the property boundaries attracts a fee from the local ampher. The bigger the sign the bigger the fee and more if only in a language other than Thai., I cant see them giving up that revenue.

We owned a restaurant with a very small sign (1m x 1m) that overhung the street and we got a bill once a year for it.

[phantomfiddler]

O.M.G. what is happening to our lovely little village ? They say the most terrifying thing is ignorance in action, especially when that ignorance is omnipotent. All I can see down the road is a characterless filthy beach resort full of indian restaurants and hordes of disappointed chinese tourists defecating in the streets.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Expect the unexpected!

[mlmcleod]

55555555555555!  I plan to go to Walking street on Sept 1, 2017 just to see the dark!  I am sure they will just add another thousand scantily clad girls/ladyboys to entice the flag tourists inside!  

 

I must say the high quality flag tourists are a harmless bunch.  Sadly, I have never seen one with a shopping bag!

 

Dont' get mad, it's just my opinion!

[brewsterbudgen]

28 minutes ago, gbswales said:

Forbid that Thailand should legalise and regulate prostitution- tourist flock to Thailand either because of this trade or because they want to gawp at it.  It is about time society recognised that there is nothing wrong with sex being sold commercially.  Providing it is limited to certain areas those who want to avoid it can.  What are tourists going to photograph at night when all the colourful signs have gone?  This is 2017 and the world seems to be going more Victorian by the minute.

It is already regulated under numerous laws, one specifically regulating bars, gogos and massage parlours/soapies. Most of what goes on in Walking Street is "legal".  Street soliciting isn't and places that have in-house action aren't.  Naughty advertising would appear to be something the authorities don't like, so maybe this rule (if it isn't fake news) is a catch-all for that.

[jmccarty]

9 hours ago, docshock13 said:

Why cant the authorities face facts? Instead of trying to force the leopard to change its spots, why dont they just admit Pattaya is an adult entertainment venue and put their resources into cleaning up the beaches and making it safer for tourists to enjoy? 

The Thai's that work there and own those businesses are insulted that tourists mistake these venues as adult entertainment.  It is just their businesses and those signs were made in Thailand by other Thai businesses. so taking them down is taking away future business from the Thai sign making industry. If nobody sees the signs, nobody else will want a sign,  So Thai business will be damaged by such an order.

[wealthychef]

9 hours ago, docshock13 said:

Why cant the authorities face facts? Instead of trying to force the leopard to change its spots, why dont they just admit Pattaya is an adult entertainment venue and put their resources into cleaning up the beaches and making it safer for tourists to enjoy? 

 

Because the scum dirtying up the beaches are among the ones lining their pockets.  Also cleaning up is frankly not a strong suit of Thailand sadly.  It's much easier to move a sign once than keep a beach clean all the time.  I'm always sad by the surplus of cheap labor in Thailand and how little of it is devoted to cleaning the place up. 

 

[Minnehaha]

9 hours ago, docshock13 said:

Why cant the authorities face facts? Instead of trying to force the leopard to change its spots, why dont they just admit Pattaya is an adult entertainment venue and put their resources into cleaning up the beaches and making it safer for tourists to enjoy? 

Because government and power and authority and public service require both a mandate and a sense of responsibility to the public. Several principles are always missing in Thailand. 

Therefore events unfold as they do and there is no planning - urban or otherwise and we have very few  people actually getting things done.

[Bangkok Barry]

The biggest impediment for fire trucks are the masses of overhead wires that make use of ladders etc difficult. But nothing will happen. It never does. They'd have to form a committee to decide who pays for the removal, a sub committee to decide what to do if no-one removes the signs, a sub sub committee to discuss whether businesses will lose money and a sub sub sub committee to talk about how to handle the demands for compensation ....

[jesimps]

7 hours ago, smedly said:

not sure I understand the thinking behind this but .................................everything on the beach side of walking street simply should not be there, if ever there was an encroachment in Thailand this has surely got to be the biggest ever, beach ? what beach....oh yes it used to run right along that coastline, they are all dumping their toilets and waste right there into pattaya bay

 

lets see the metal of Prayuth Chan "O" Chah, go ahead take on the Pattaya encroachment that everyone knows about and yet you ignore................do you have a business interest there ? 

".do you have a business interest there ? "

 

I take it that's a rhetorical question?

 

[reallybigken]

5 hours ago, Thechook said:

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

My first reaction to this is to lash out. But then I feel it stems from ignorance or lack of understanding of people and/or politics.

 

First, as others have stated. There are restaurants, stores, hotel, and others establishments on walking street with neon signs.

 

Also, If you don't like it just don't go.  I don't like horror movies. So guess what? I don't go to see them. Doesn't mean I want them to go away. To each his own.

 

And who is this person judging someone else's "Quality" (life).

    What is a "Quality" Tourist?

        Is it someone who treats the locals with kindness, pays their way, ask politely to take their picture, and doesn't poop in the street?

    Or is it someone who places moral judgments on people around them? Forces their beliefs on other....scoffs at what they don't like.

        Or Criticizes the "scantly" dressed locals and takes there picture without asking,

        Or bickers over every purchase.

        Or "poops" in the street?????

 

If you really want to clean it up. How about you step-up !!!! Help drive education, investments, and spend time helping the locals earn a living so they wouldn't need to work in the bars or clubs....

 

Ok, sorry I'm off my soapbox now......

 

 

[Baerboxer]

1 hour ago, Prbkk said:

Expect the announcement of the Pattaya Winter Mozart Festival. Quality tourists will come in droves; maybe an outdoor, beach-side venue would be nice.

 

Few years ago they seemed to be promoting Pattaya as a conference venue. I remember several international and national conferences being held there.

 

Don't see that anymore. Or perhaps the it's just the conference types that have changed.

 

In any case, Walking Street is well known for what it is. Why not contain it there, make it very safe and friendly for tourists and then those who want to can go. Surely better off making the beach and sea nice, and sorting out the scammers, druggies and thieves?

[newnative]

They should focus on all the illegal signs blocking the sidewalks--if they want to put an effort on signs.  But, their efforts should be focused on re-developing the Bali Hai Pier area--the views of Pattaya from there are beautiful and it's such a wasteland right now.  But, such tremendous potential.

[Maggusoil]

12 hours ago, z42 said:

A few neon signs moved around won't end walking street. Far too much money being made there for the whole thing to die a death yet.

Far and away the most lucrative area of the city as is. Just some empty suit dishing silly orders around, nothing more

Probably think they can also change human nature. . . . jealousy is a curse

[Jonathan Swift]

6 hours ago, Thechook said:

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

So don't go there. Let the people who enjoy it do as they choose. Or do you feel as though you must manage their morality on their behalf? Thailand has plenty to offer tourists, each to his own. How much do you actually know about Thailand, its people, and the people who spend time there? Not much it seems

[barrywhite]

2 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Before cleaning up the streets, how about cleaning up the beach and the sea water in the area?

Or the beach rats.

[ripley]

Just what Pattaya needs - another blow to business and tourism. And with some monitoring to prevent abuses, what's wrong with the "sleazy side"? It's part of the whole spring roll.

[sammieuk1]

There seams a concerted effort to shift tourists out of Thailand and into neighbouring cheaper country's.   

[cumgranosalus]

Walking street is a bit of an aporia.

 

It really no longer functions as it originally intended but attracts visitors who want to LOOK at the place and pretend it still functions as it used to.

It was sex and restaurants - now it is largely souvenirs of sex and restaurants - very expensive, I’d suggest it is no longer anywhere near as profitable as it used to be either.....those rich developers are looking at the last bit of undervalued coastline in Pattaya.

 Right now it is really little more than a theme park about old Pattaya, but it is unregulated chaotic and serves no real purpose any more. ... little more than a light show...and those lights are annoying and dangerous.

 

Most of the businesses on the seaward side are built on very dubious legal grounds - literally built on sand.

 

What needs to happen is for the properties to be surveyed and the illegal ones removed and the whole area  (prime sea front) needs to be re-thought.

 

Sadly though you’re dammed if you do, damned if you don’t.....This is Thailand and anything that replaces Walking street is condemned to be an unimaginative hotel/shopping complex that serves nothing but to line the pockets of those rich and powerful property developers

[thurien]

6 hours ago, Thechook said:

Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

 

I hope they will never succeed with this clean-up. I feel at home with all the sleazy signs, the pimps, the painted faces of the lovelies, the century-old game "wussyouname wheryoufom". I second this mild form of sex tourism as also favoured and silently agreed upon by all Thai governments of past and present (with their sticky fingers in the till...)

[owl sees all]

43 minutes ago, reallybigken said:

If you really want to clean it up. How about you step-up !!!! Help drive education, investments, and spend time helping the locals earn a living so they wouldn't need to work in the bars or clubs.

Thousands of farang do invest and educate. Investments in Thailand are risky as it is. When you get a Thai wife it becomes even riskier.

 

I don't know why posters are even on their soap boxes over this little news item.

[OmarZaid]

7 hours ago, Thechook said:

Is an eyesore and only advertising prostitution.  It's  a step towards cleaning up Thailands seedy international reputation.  Still a long way to go before they can replace sex tourism with quality tourism.

damn ugly too .... of course, neo-mundane evil cannot be seen by the blind.

[docshock13]

2 hours ago, Prbkk said:

Expect the announcement of the Pattaya Winter Mozart Festival. Quality tourists will come in droves; maybe an outdoor, beach-side venue would be nice.

Don't forget the Shakespeare Festival "Bard at the Beach" and Pattaya Show Jumping Competition. All sponsored by the likes of Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, LV etc. There of course will be free-flow Veuve-Cliquot for attendees. 

[moe666]

They will screw up the tourist areas and then wonder why people are not coming

[fforest1]

Why does so much hand wringing debating controversy keep happening year after year about one single street that is about 7-8-9? blocks long? I don't hear much debate about the thousands of other streets in Pattaya....

 

Maybe 10s of thousands of people visit Walking street every day because its not like all the other streets....Maybe it would not be very smart to change the #1 thing Pattaya is famous for..

I mean have people gotten too stupid to connect the dots anymore?

 

Edited August 2, 2017 by fforest1