Changing the city façade
What does the term “sounding like a broken record†mean? Without casting aspersion on the mental faculties of the young generation, this may be a difficult question for them. Let me try to explain why. Most of today's youth have not even seen the record that we, senior citizens, played on turntables. In fact, the vinyl has disappeared from the “record bars†the last two decades.
The young ones have not experienced being pissed off by the replay of broken records like we, in the earlier generations, had. Actually, when playing on a turntable a vinyl that is scaled, or is breached or is scratched, the moment the “needle†hits such a damaged portion, it slides back to a previous line. As a result, it repeats the music. The term used by disk jockeys of old of this situation is re-groove. When a record re-grooves, it plays the music back and if it goes back on and on, it produces the distracting repetitivesound. All because of a broken part of the record.
I may sound like a broken record when I point to His Honor, Cebu City Mayor Michael L. Rama, that along some of the city streets are residential homes that have seen better days. I wrote on this topic once during the term of the honorable ex-Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña, but because I was told that the former congressman would not listen to lesser mortals, I did not press on. Since the present city chief executive was a part of the old Osmeña regime, this article may sound like a broken record to him.
These houses, I am referring to, usually occupy small areas. They have been there for decades. Most owners of these lots find them too small for meaningful commercial development such that they just leave the structures standing on them untouched. Of course, there are others who make do with what minimal repairs they can. But, they constitute the rare exception. Some home owners already left for distant places and have not found the need to renovate their houses necessary.
The result is unglamorous to the view of the city. Old homes that seem ready to fall to pieces catch our eyes. They emphasize the dire difference between opulence and want in a manner that does not encourage positive outlook. In fact, they dampen investor interest. When, in a leisurely walk, we approach these dilapidating structures at night, we fear that they harbor nocturnal fiends.
Developing them is costly and the dim prospect of getting fair return of investment daunts fund sources. It seems to me that a better approach is to group these owners together in a kind of union not unlike a corporation, and with their combined areas large enough to attract investors, we can expect vertical development.
This is where an effective and growth oriented city leadership counts the most. The administration of Mayor Rama can create a commission of honest, hard-working and knowledgeable individuals tasked with the duty of demonstrating to small lot owners the advantages of pooling their lots together and in such pooled state, allow commercial developers to erect buildings thereon for lease. They do not have to lose their ownership. To assure them their continued enjoyment of their assets, they may be accommodated to stay at the higher floor levels of the building without having to pay any rent and still be entitled to the shares of any profits realized from commercial leases of the spaces below.
This concept, if not thoroughly explained to owners of small-sized lots, is bound to be misunderstood. It is, thus, not easy. But if it is pursued with dedication and transparency, it has the capacity to transform our city into a bustling metropolis unstained by the eyesores of the past. Changing architecturally the façade of Cebu City is an innovative challenge to newly re-elected mayor. He might not have so articulated it in one of his power point presentations of his vision for the city, yet, I am convinced, he intends to do it. I hope he will have the cooperation of a Sanggunian Panlungsod that is perceived to block his every move till the elections of 2016.
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