A way to achieve the mayor's dream

I remember that in the early days of the assumption of office of His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, he mentioned of making our city beautiful. It was a great vision and he tickled my imagination to my seemingly endless delight. I then thought that if he would succeed in that endeavor, he would have achieved the kind of fame that Peter Ueberroth got in successfully managing the Los Angeles Olympics, about two decades ago. Really, I imagined of a city that, indeed, we would all be proud of.

Buoyed by Mayor Rama’s great promise of a spotless city, I toured around. Imposing upon my personal self the burden of identifying where the needed work had to be done, I acted as if the assistant of Dionysius when he made plans for the cities under Alexander the Great. Where there were sites that had long been deserted by anything aesthetic, I visualized lovely spectacle. The wonders of positive thinking! If only the mayor could wave a magic wand, he could make gilded houses out of eyesores.

But, each time I envisioned castles in place of dilapidated structures, reality snapped my mind back. It dawned on me that the task was gargantuan, to say the very least, if not impossible. Some places posed a big challenge to the new mayor. Lined along some of our older (and narrower) streets are structures that have seen better days. Many of these are residential homes built mostly of wood. They have remained the abodes of native-born city residents who have not yielded to renovating their building, for many unknown reasons. To cite few of such areas, we have D. Jakosalem and Don Pedro Cui Streets and P. del Rosario Extension.

In some places, portions of these homes have been converted into commercial establishments leaving space for the owners’ use. On their ground floors are now business firms and their upper floors, their living quarters.

The immediately visible factor to consider in so far as these places are concerned is the fact that they are small parcels of land. One hundred plus square meters or maybe a little bigger. They are too small to invest in and their spaces too limited to accommodate bigger ventures. They are the sites where the mayor’s ambitious dream can fail.

The incorrigible optimist in me says that there is a remedy. If I may suggest, let the mayor create a commission tasked with the duty to impress upon these small lot owners the needed to upgrade their buildings. Their old structures must yield to safe and more economical buildings.

The owners of these small lots may have the resources to erect new buildings to satisfy the vision of a beautiful city. But, with such small areas on which to put up new structures, the aesthetic end may not be achieved. The mix of such buildings might only produce some kind of a collage.

Other owners may not have the kind of resources to put up new buildings. Finances will be a big issue to them. But, they may yield to a proposal for someone to underwrite the expenses on the condition that they be given living quarters.

This will be the second undertaking of the commission. The body I have in mind will bridge the needs of developers or other fund providers and the small lot owners in our midst. Guaranteed by the city, these two sectors can sit down and plan how to beautify the city with such buildings that serve both as beautiful structures where viable business ventures are running and as wholesome residences of the owners.

No doubt, the vision is difficult, but at the same time it is also achievable. I am certain that the mayor can assemble the men and women to compose the commission and when they shall have accomplished their goal, the mayor can sit back assured of a distinguished place in the history of our city.