Elite?

A couple of saturdays ago, while waiting for the lift at the lift lobby, saw these 4 pieces of A4 size paper plastered on the wall. Out of curiosity, think that it was notice of renvoation, went to peek at which units were those.. To my aghast and horror, it was a notice from the housing authority that they are going to proceed with the contruction of 220 units of rental flats in between the small plot of land in between my block and the other in Feb. In the notice (printed in English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil), it briefly highlighted the country's shortage of rental units and hence, the small plot of land is earmarked for this project. And it has also highlighted that it has informed the construction contractors to minimise disturbance and noise during the construction duration of two years...

Aghasted? Yes. Frankly, I am getting kinda panariod of the increased no. of foreign talents residing in my block. They talked rather loudly (despite it being late at night and along corridors..) And I read in the news that a china national female who was found missing was last seen at the foot of my neighbouring block in nov 09.  And some of the men hanged around the void deck surfing the net (cuz of the WIFI coverage from Wireless SG - from ehub i supposed..)

And it used to be a rather safe & peaceful neighbourhood.. until ehub was re-developed and the 小混混s (of all races) who split over to the void deck after their midnight shows or ktv sessions at ehub started to increase.. It's become NOT SAFE to return home late. (So thought of late runs never cross my mind!)

And with this new block of rental flats, i reckon it will definitely be less peaceful, dirtier, and possibly less safe. I am not sterotyping that those of the lower-income bracket are crooks BUT societal view that poverty drives people to crime has been proven by statistics.. A ST report on 8 Feb reported that :-

"Two classes of crimes went up. Housebreaking and related crimes rose to 1,026 cases in 2009 from a record low of 898 cases a year ago. The rise in cases is largely attributed to break-ins of HDB flats, where many units were secured with poor quality locks that could be easily cut opened and at education/care centres, where some were not secured with security alarm systems. In all, 25 serial offenders responsible for at least 261 cases of housebreaking were caught.

Theft and related Crimes also rose to 20,402 cases from 19,918 cases in 2008. The main sub-categories which saw increases were bicycle theft, shop theft and theft in public areas."

I don't look down on those who stay in a one-roomer, but I don't relish the fact of a noisy place to return to which i call home.  [And i do know that a good portion of the tenants are elderly folks.. but its the minority that who usually resulted in the vices and the splashes of 0$P$ on the walls that are uhm not so desirable.. ] And I don't appreciate the fact that the authority's short notice of their project and their 'prompt' remedy actions to the complaints by the residents (who voiced their unhappiness to the media like wan bao, ST, TNP) - a flyer was stuffed into my unit in the evening (when no one's home) requesting those who oppose to this decision to appear at the voiddeck that very evening (who will be home by 7pm on a weeknight? ) And soon after, another notice was sent - allowing two occupants per unit to the nearby CC on yet another weeknight 730pm (this time they gave like 3-4days of prior notice) to listen to the explanation by the MP.  Needless to say, none from my household went cuz the timing was off and really, is there any use of attending the session? Afterall, the land belongs to the authority and sure, they have the legal rights to utilise it as it deems fit.  Perhaps if they have some kind of consultation with the residents prior to making the decision and informing in such a bo-chup manner, I won't be that pissed off.

Googled and found this link. Frankly, I was rather put off by some of those who commented. Face it, one can say that it's for the good of the public, but given a choice, won't you prefer to purchase a residence property in a nice prime area? And one should not be 'atas' and look down on those who stay in rental units. I know,  it's due to the shortage of rental housing, but hey, there are so many empty pockets of land in the neighbour which are bigger, then why not all the empty plots, but just that sole piece? I reckon, most of them are just expressing their views, from the politically right point of view, but trust me, if they are the ones affected, at least 50% of  them will change camp. Some were even gleeful that the valuation of these block will dipped. Hello, who in the world buy their assets to want their assets to DEPRECIATE in value?

With that said and done, like what my bro said, we will start apartment viewing should the construction works commence.. Pointless to haggle anyway... I am not trying to be an elitist and shun away from the potential new neighbours who might earn lesser moolah... I just prefer to come home a peaceful and clean environment. Isn't this a social norm?