The City of Manila

[dvbaicrviser]

Pride of Place
Roxas Boulevard’s ugly circus of lights

By Augusto Villalon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 02/15/2010






Pasay and Manila outdo one another in filling every space of Manila Bay with kitschy lights-energy-wasters, poorly designed, and an excuse to spend taxpayer’s money
DURING THE holidays, my family and I headed for Roxas Boulevard at dusk to catch the fabled Manila Bay sunset.

We didn’t catch the sunset. The view that we caught instead caught us by surprise.

Gone are the sweeping, late-afternoon views of sunsets on the bay that Manila was so well-known for. The historic view has been pre-empted by rows of mismatched streetlights that steal the show from Mother Nature.

What we have these days are city streets abloom with a platoon of streetlights in the most astonishing colors, shapes and configurations, the Manila streetscape of the 21st century.

In less than a decade, streetlights have taken over as Manila’s prime place-makers that are shining symbols of urban identity, awash with glowing kitsch.

In the carnival of lights Manila is today, the platoon of lights running the length of Roxas Boulevard from Manila to Pasay is the best showcase for the city’s nouveau brightness.

On the Manila side, a row of lights along the seawall flaunts white folded-metal diffusers flying in the air, like the stiff, starched nuns’ veils from the vintage “Flying Nun” television series.

The light they cast was not enough to light up the walk along the seawall, so one day they disappeared, but not to worry. Rather than curse the darkness, the city set up another row of lights!

Along the seawall, a line of tall, glowing, heroic shafts end in a globe of white light in the midst of a fiery burst of red metal flames. A symbolic design, perhaps?

Still along the seawall, another group of lights has been inserted between the rows of metal flames. This set, its tall shafts glowing in the dark, holds up a pinwheel of lights that casts its light high into the Roxas Boulevard stratosphere. How necessary is that?

Away from the seawall, flanking the curbs of the Manila side of the boulevard is a row of black-painted poles that hold up, high above the street, a large globe whose glow of light is encircled with smaller lights just as moons ring the planet Saturn, or, for those of a certain age, looking eerily like the 1950s spaceship Sputnik.

Lighting competition

The lighting saga continues to evolve. The other Sunday, I drove on the Manila end of Roxas Boulevard and saw cranes setting up still another row of lights between the Sputnik fixtures, tall, slender fixtures towering over the parade of Sputniks.

On the Pasay side of Roxas Boulevard, the lighting competition heats up. Fixtures here are spaced so close together. They are higher, bulkier than those of their Manila neighbor. Stainless-steel supports laced with colored acrylic insets hold up large, out-of-scale, lantern-shaped fixtures.

A good sign, though, is that no additional fixtures are being inserted between the existing ones, or maybe there is no more space for anything else.

It’s a Filipino trait, I am told, called horror vacui. It is the Filipino penchant for not leaving anything Zen-empty, of filling every space up with something.

It’s best seen in the jeepneys of old that had every single square centimeter painted or embossed with something, and when, of course that was not enough, plumes of antennae sprouted on the tops of vehicles while armies of stainless-steel horses marched along their hoods.

Altars with figurines of the driver’s favorite saint blinked away on dashboards, as if the only way to assure one would arrive at one’s destination safely would be to declare that “God is my co-pilot.”

Is it becoming a horror vacui situation in our city streets? Pretty soon, light fixtures will make our already treacherous urban sidewalks an obstacle course just as drivers dodge glaring lights from vehicles and street fixtures on the roadways.

It’s streetlight overkill in the city these days. Fixtures are spaced much closer together than normal because of the predilection for adding more fixtures whether it’s for increasing lighting level or simply for increasing the number of light fixtures.

Why not limit the number of fixtures to only those that perform their primary lighting function well and economically?

Complex undertaking

As I slide my tongue into very deep cheek, I can say these lights are phenomenal. Although each new design is more outlandish than the last, they all share something in common—their inefficiency. They all throw light away uselessly in every direction except to the street and sidewalk where light is needed most.

Once there was a time when streetlights were simple. They just lit city streets and sidewalks. Those days have vanished. Gone are those simple, utilitarian fixtures that didn’t try to be anything else but streetlights.

Providing light has evolved into a more complex undertaking these days. The issue now appears to have become an intra-city race on who can provide the most outrageous, flamboyant lighting fixtures.

Or does the carnival of lights that Manila turns into every night diffuse the focus from the city’s increasing urban blight? Then these outrageous streetlights have turned out to be rose-colored glasses, covering Manila over in a layer of kitsch.

Most things change for the better. The new street lighting is a change that hasn’t gone that way. Could this have been seen as a sad commentary on our quality of urban life now sliding down to kitsch level?

My colleague Bambi Harper, now the Intramuros Administrator, once said what this country needed was a Department of Taste. I thought she was joking then, but now, in all honesty, I see much wisdom in her statement.

E-mail your comments and feedback to pride.place @gmail.com.

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/artsan...rcus-of-lights

[metrosuburban]

Department of Taste para sa mga tacky lamposts at sa mga bagong pinturang bahay at buildings na nagmukang nicho...

[RonnieR]

guys, I don't know but I have cousins who arrived from Honolulu, Hawaii....they like the streetlights in Roxas Boulevard. We passed there last night from MOA's pyrolympics. In September last year, I also had guests/friends from abroad (Asians) and they were amazed with those candle like lights at Baywalk.

For me, those areas are well lit, really bright at night. Definitely, it is better than our CBD in Ayala and Ortigas in terms of lighting the streets. Ayala Avenue is not well lit...the EDSA Makati is "so so" (some lamp posts are functioning), Ayala flyover is dark, Buendia flyover is dark, lalo na ang Magallanes interchange.

So, in the end, I prefer those tacky lights rather than the old street lights in CBD and the dark flyovers.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by RonnieR

That's true. They looked decent, even the kids dressed so well. From the photos and my folks' stories, Filipinos in that era were beaming with pride. This is the time that we were next to Japan economically.

On a hindsight, people in our prosperous neighbors like Hong kong and Taiwan are also fashionable. I wish this country to be great and prosperous again.

OO nga noh. Wish ko din yan. Kaya lang tingin ko mas malalim pa dyan ang problema. Una, disiplina. Pangalawa, parami na tayo ng parami. Pangatlo, parang walang leader na talagang magmamalasakit sa bayan.

Regarding sa state ng Manila...when will they learn that 90% of tourism potential is asthetics. Kaya nga maganda noong 1960 kasi malinis at maayos. At maunlad nga naman tayo non.

[le Reine]

What concerns me about those streetlights are not the really look or the taste but the cost of building and maintaining it. Plus, the energy costs that goes with it. My guess is that it runs in the millions. Also, 3 years after the buckyballs of Atienza were built, most of it fell into the state of decay. What a waste! Same goes with Pasay and Parañaque.

[diz]

Damn Mayor Lim and his damn bolded name. Has he no shame?

He also brought Manila to a new level of tackiness. Manila went from being a decent city after its destruction in WWII to a downright crappy one filled with signs dreadfully bearing his name.

[kalbongdad]

Originally Posted by dvbaicrviser

Pride of Place
Roxas Boulevard’s ugly circus of lights

By Augusto Villalon
Philippine Daily Inquirer

DateFirst Posted 22:05:00 02/15/2010






Pasay and Manila outdo one another in filling every space of Manila Bay with kitschy lights-energy-wasters, poorly designed, and an excuse to spend taxpayer’s money
DURING THE holidays, my family and I headed for Roxas Boulevard at dusk to catch the fabled Manila Bay sunset.

We didn’t catch the sunset. The view that we caught instead caught us by surprise.

Gone are the sweeping, late-afternoon views of sunsets on the bay that Manila was so well-known for. The historic view has been pre-empted by rows of mismatched streetlights that steal the show from Mother Nature.

What we have these days are city streets abloom with a platoon of streetlights in the most astonishing colors, shapes and configurations, the Manila streetscape of the 21st century.

In less than a decade, streetlights have taken over as Manila’s prime place-makers that are shining symbols of urban identity, awash with glowing kitsch.

In the carnival of lights Manila is today, the platoon of lights running the length of Roxas Boulevard from Manila to Pasay is the best showcase for the city’s nouveau brightness.

On the Manila side, a row of lights along the seawall flaunts white folded-metal diffusers flying in the air, like the stiff, starched nuns’ veils from the vintage “Flying Nun” television series.

The light they cast was not enough to light up the walk along the seawall, so one day they disappeared, but not to worry. Rather than curse the darkness, the city set up another row of lights!

Along the seawall, a line of tall, glowing, heroic shafts end in a globe of white light in the midst of a fiery burst of red metal flames. A symbolic design, perhaps?

Still along the seawall, another group of lights has been inserted between the rows of metal flames. This set, its tall shafts glowing in the dark, holds up a pinwheel of lights that casts its light high into the Roxas Boulevard stratosphere. How necessary is that?

Away from the seawall, flanking the curbs of the Manila side of the boulevard is a row of black-painted poles that hold up, high above the street, a large globe whose glow of light is encircled with smaller lights just as moons ring the planet Saturn, or, for those of a certain age, looking eerily like the 1950s spaceship Sputnik.

Lighting competition

The lighting saga continues to evolve. The other Sunday, I drove on the Manila end of Roxas Boulevard and saw cranes setting up still another row of lights between the Sputnik fixtures, tall, slender fixtures towering over the parade of Sputniks.

On the Pasay side of Roxas Boulevard, the lighting competition heats up. Fixtures here are spaced so close together. They are higher, bulkier than those of their Manila neighbor. Stainless-steel supports laced with colored acrylic insets hold up large, out-of-scale, lantern-shaped fixtures.

A good sign, though, is that no additional fixtures are being inserted between the existing ones, or maybe there is no more space for anything else.

It’s a Filipino trait, I am told, called horror vacui. It is the Filipino penchant for not leaving anything Zen-empty, of filling every space up with something.

It’s best seen in the jeepneys of old that had every single square centimeter painted or embossed with something, and when, of course that was not enough, plumes of antennae sprouted on the tops of vehicles while armies of stainless-steel horses marched along their hoods.

Altars with figurines of the driver’s favorite saint blinked away on dashboards, as if the only way to assure one would arrive at one’s destination safely would be to declare that “God is my co-pilot.”

Is it becoming a horror vacui situation in our city streets? Pretty soon, light fixtures will make our already treacherous urban sidewalks an obstacle course just as drivers dodge glaring lights from vehicles and street fixtures on the roadways.

It’s streetlight overkill in the city these days. Fixtures are spaced much closer together than normal because of the predilection for adding more fixtures whether it’s for increasing lighting level or simply for increasing the number of light fixtures.

Why not limit the number of fixtures to only those that perform their primary lighting function well and economically?

Complex undertaking

As I slide my tongue into very deep cheek, I can say these lights are phenomenal. Although each new design is more outlandish than the last, they all share something in common—their inefficiency. They all throw light away uselessly in every direction except to the street and sidewalk where light is needed most.

Once there was a time when streetlights were simple. They just lit city streets and sidewalks. Those days have vanished. Gone are those simple, utilitarian fixtures that didn’t try to be anything else but streetlights.

Providing light has evolved into a more complex undertaking these days. The issue now appears to have become an intra-city race on who can provide the most outrageous, flamboyant lighting fixtures.

Or does the carnival of lights that Manila turns into every night diffuse the focus from the city’s increasing urban blight? Then these outrageous streetlights have turned out to be rose-colored glasses, covering Manila over in a layer of kitsch.

Most things change for the better. The new street lighting is a change that hasn’t gone that way. Could this have been seen as a sad commentary on our quality of urban life now sliding down to kitsch level?

My colleague Bambi Harper, now the Intramuros Administrator, once said what this country needed was a Department of Taste. I thought she was joking then, but now, in all honesty, I see much wisdom in her statement.

E-mail your comments and feedback to pride.place @gmail.com.

http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/artsan...rcus-of-lights

amen.....kagagawan ni lim yan....sige iboto nyo pa ng babuyin lalo ang siyudad nyo....

[Christian_123]

Where's world war 3 when you need it? We need to pulverize everything lim has done to manila...or pulverize manila whole together para makapag simula uli sa ground zero..

Ang sobrang pangit at sobrang kadiri na ng maynila ngayon

[kalbongdad]

no need to pulverize manila....pulburon ka na lang... ang puso mo....inhale exhale.....one more ....inhale hold your breath...

[Christian_123]

enge pulburon nalang at tubig! baka masamid ako eh

[pomperadz@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by Christian_123

Where's world war 3 when you need it? We need to pulverize everything lim has done to manila...or pulverize manila whole together para makapag simula uli sa ground zero..

Ang sobrang pangit at sobrang kadiri na ng maynila ngayon

Originally Posted by kalbongdad

no need to pulverize manila....pulburon ka na lang... ang puso mo....inhale exhale.....one more ....inhale hold your breath...

[kalbongdad]

malamang ang adviser nyang si lim ay wa taste kaya nagka hetot hetot ang maynila.....e nagkataon na isa rin si lim na wa taste.....na hetot lalo...

[pomperadz@yahoo.com]

Originally Posted by kalbongdad

malamang ang adviser nyang si lim ay wa taste kaya nagka hetot hetot ang maynila.....e nagkataon na isa rin si lim na wa taste.....na hetot lalo...

hhehhehe..tama.

like what he did sa roxas boulevard and other parts of manila..nilagyan ng budget ng previous admin tpos nung siya..pinagtatanggal na..nu ba yan...

[TheAvenger]

Originally Posted by Christian_123

Where's world war 3 when you need it? We need to pulverize everything lim has done to manila...or pulverize manila whole together para makapag simula uli sa ground zero..

Ang sobrang pangit at sobrang kadiri na ng maynila ngayon

SIGNS OF POVERTY AND CORRUPTION

[Christian_123]

Originally Posted by TheAvenger

SIGNS OF POVERTY AND CORRUPTION

Bakit naman dati, kahit may poverty at corruption ay saksakan ng linis ng Maynila?
Ibang breed ata ang mga taga marikina eh dahil sila lang ang pinakamalinis na syudad sa metro manila...Kahit ang mahihirap sa marikina ay malinis din...

Kaya, Gasgas at luma nayang palusot nayan. Sadyang burara at balasubas lang ang pinoy pag dating sa kapaligiran at pinakita to mula nung umalis ang mga marcoses.

[TheAvenger]

Originally Posted by Christian_123

Bakit naman dati, kahit may poverty at corruption ay saksakan ng linis ng Maynila?
Ibang breed ata ang mga taga marikina eh dahil sila lang ang pinakamalinis na syudad sa metro manila...Kahit ang mahihirap sa marikina ay malinis din...

Kaya, Gasgas at luma nayang palusot nayan. Sadyang burara at balasubas lang ang pinoy pag dating sa kapaligiran at pinakita to mula nung umalis ang mga marcoses.

Sadyang burara at balasubas ?

wondering kung ikaw ay isang Pilipino or isang dayuhan..........

blame the system and not the people....... your very own people, they were your family, relatives, friends, etc.

kung ikaw naman ay foreigner ........ or a Pinoy who became a foreign citizen ... then stops giving comments about
Pinoy for sake of delicadesa.

[Igsuonnimo]

Parekoy, sa pananaw ko patriarchal society ang naghahari dyan sa Maynila.

Kaya tingnan mo, panahon pa ni Bagatsing, Lopez at magpahanggang ngayon ay iniaasa sa punong bayan ang anumang kaunlaran at kaayusan sa kanilang nasasakupan --magsimula tayo sa Barangay at magkakapitbahay.

Mararamdaman mo naman sa anumang parte ng Maynila kung saan ang mga mayroon gusto na mag-volunteer o magsilbi sa neighborhood na kanyang ginagalawan ng walang kapalit o bayad para maiayos at mapabuti ang kapaligiran.

[Christian_123]

Originally Posted by TheAvenger

Sadyang burara at balasubas ?

Lets see...Filipino's love:

1: Throwing trash everywhere they can kahit obvious na may basurahan na nasa harap ng pagmumukha nya.
2: Spitting on every corner of the street
3: Eating away sidewalks to increase their land area
4: Peeing on every available wall on the streets even if there's a toilet near by.

.....Yep, talagang burara at balasubas ang ugali ng pinoy. Pag sinampal mo ng batas, sya pa mismo galit at sabay sigaw ng "HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION" kuno.

Originally Posted by TheAvenger

wondering kung ikaw ay isang Pilipino or isang dayuhan..........

So that means, dapat ba muna akong maging isang "poreynger" bago ko tirahin ang sarili kong bansa? Ibig sabihin, pag pinoy ako, hinde ko na pala pwedeng tirahin ang sarili kong bayan? Kala ko ba may "freedom of speech" dito sa atin?

Originally Posted by TheAvenger

blame the system and not the people....... your very own people, they were your family, relatives, friends, etc.

Matigas ang mukha ng mga pinoy pagdating sa pagsunod sa mga batas. Lahat ng bawal, sige lang ng sige sa pag gawa. Kahit mga tukmol nating pulitiko ay ganun din. Kaya i blame both..

Ang sobrang nakapagtataka lang ay bakit pag nasa ibang bansa, ang pinoy biglang bumabait at sumusunod sa batas. Pag uwi sa pilipinas, old habits die hard uli.

[Waldenstrom]

Originally Posted by Christian_123

Ang sobrang nakapagtataka lang ay bakit pag nasa ibang bansa, ang pinoy biglang bumabait at sumusunod sa batas. Pag uwi sa pilipinas, old habits die hard uli.

Di lang sa ibang bansa. Dito sa Pilipinas, pag maganda o malinis ang lugar, di rin nagkakalat masyado ang mga Pinoy. ex. Marikina, Makati CBD, BGC. at kapag makalat at madumi na ang lugar, walang pake ang karamihan kaya nagkakalat pa rin.

So much for talks, kailangan lang talaga natin ng Pres, VP & LGU officials na sobrang mahigpit. Sana gawing parang Singapore ang Pilipinas (in terms of cleanliness). Pwedeng simulan paunti unti.

[superpilyoako]

Originally Posted by kalbongdad

agree......may pagka pyromaniac yung pumipili ng lamp posts ng maynila....yung sa baywalk mukhang esperma candle...yung sa escolta parang posporo.... ... obob lang talaga...yun na ang kaya ng imagination nya....

ang akla ko nga poste ng McDonalds un eh
hehe
sabi ko tuloy ang cheap na ng McDo ngaun
Manila pala
hehe