So
much for a beautiful walkway, as the flowers the city planted there were
destroyed during the New Year festival.
Pratchaya Kerdthong
Pattaya’s politicians may think that having thousands
of people in town for New Year’s was a good thing, but the city’s
gardeners see it a bit differently. The hordes of fireworks gawkers
trampled all their flowers along Beach Road.
Construction Department crews were out Jan. 5 to
inspect the damage to plants and flowers on Beach Road. Most were
destroyed by pedestrians or vendors fighting it out for space along the
narrow shoreline.
Director Sompob Wandee said maintaining the
beachfront shrubbery is a thankless job because every time the city
stages an event or fair, the flowers take a beating. The city, he said,
doesn’t have an appropriate place to host markets, fairs and festivals
and so Beach Road scenery suffers.
The department, Sompob said, is trying to improve
safety for the bulbs and buds, but needs a bigger budget to buy plants
with deeper roots and better planters.
The best thing, he said, would be if people simply
learned to keep off the grass.
