Pratunam’S Flashy, Trashy Fashion To Be Swept Away

[Flashermac]

 

 

BANGKOK — The sidewalks of Pratunam, the nation’s biggest clothing bazaar, are the next target for the cleanup broom powered by a government tidiness campaign.

 

Nearly 700 street stalls will soon be gone from the area famous for affordable fashion as City Hall tightens up code enforcement and moves forward with its cleanliness and order campaign.

 

More than 100 street stalls located on the sidewalk outside an area where they’ve been allowed were ordered to leave by March 8, according to District Chief Chatree Wattanakhejon in Matichon Online. Another 576 stalls lawfully operating on the sidewalk will soon be forced out when the city revokes their permits to clear the sidewalks.

 

As has become a routine, authorities have prepared alternate sites for the vendors that many are likely to find objectionable. Three hundred vendors will be asked to move to a private market on Soi Phetchaburi 29, while a market in the Bang Kapi district can accommodate 1,000 vendors. A third at the Kuuk Kuk Tha Din Daeng Market can hold 600 vendors.

 

The biggest destination for clothes and fashion-related everything, Pratunam Market is known for selling at wholesale prices. It is situated in the heart of Bangkok at the intersection of Ratchaprarop and Phetchaburi roads in the Ratchathewi district.

 

District Chief Chatree said the reorganization plan was recently submitted to City Hall and vendors would have a later opportunity to discuss the matter.

 

Since the military government announced its policy to reclaim public space after it seized power in 2014, Bangkok has cleared a number of its informal markets well-known to both locals and tourists. The latest recently cleared spot was the famous Pak Khlong flower market.

 

The campaign has been met with cheers by those boring prats who want a tidier capital city and criticized by sensible folks who see a loss of its unique culture and attractions.

 

 

http://www.khaosoden...ate=06&section=

[bust]

Maybe LOS needs to be in the Global RIP thread

[Flashermac]

Unless tourists want to come and admire the many condo buildings ...

[bust]

I until recently always stayed in Pratunam. Always the place to be during a red shirt uprising :redflag:

[Flashermac]

When I came here in 1973, saying you were going to Pratunam always brought a chuckle.

[baa99]

... so after everything is decided, now the vendors are allowed to speak.

[cavanami]

Unless tourists want to come and admire the many condo buildings ...

 

...make that EMPTY condo buildings!

[jitagawn]

These ass_____are also closing the flower market.

[YimSiam]

The flower market? Jesus, talk about sucking the life and culture out of the place. Singapore looks more attractive in comparison every day. I guess the aspect that makes these changes a little less radically bad is that those who have been around long enough know that it just takes a shift in the political/administrative breeze for resilient Thais to be right back out there claiming their sidewalk market space again - but perhaps after a certain point that resilience becomes less likely, and you just end up with a bunch of empty condos and 7-11s and soulless streets. I guess the powers that be have proven that Thailand can survive without tourism, even if it's bare survival for many, and they are committed to ensuring that the situation stays that way.

[YimSiam]

... so after everything is decided, now the vendors are allowed to speak.

 

Of course they're allowed to speak - as Mao proclaimed, let 100 schools of thought contend, let 100 flowers bloom! Anyway who's not happy with the new situation is encouraged to raise their hand and their voice - because there's a bunch of empty places in the next graduating class out at the re-education center...