Reels of Danger at Penang Bridge

These photos are taken at the middle of the Penang Bridge yesterday.

The cable with reel could be at least 500kgs to 1000kgs in total. Just imagine if one of those reels gets dislodged from the stopper (which is just a piece of wood wedged against the reel) and starts to roll down from the center of the bridge. Once one starts to roll, the others will follow and snowball. I tell you, it will be disastrous and deadly. It will probably destroy everything along its path, including the workers on the bridge and crush some unlucky motorcyclists out of the lives.

Let's not be careless. Act now and find a preventive measure to ensure the safety of the workers on the bridge and the users too. 

"Learn from mistakes", well, this is not a mistake you want to make. 

Complaint Ref. No : 0903-0216

The Trees of Tai Yee Long?

With the economic situation getting bad to worse as days goes by, more and more people will be out of job. Many will be forced to tie their belts tighter to survive and for those without choice may have to try thier luck to borrow money from the banks. Without a job or a steady income, which bank will lend you money? Only Ah Long. Look at their advertisements! Free advertisement at every tree you can find.

Not all the blame goes to the Ah Long who uses the tree trucks as their bill board, you have tuition ad, rent a lorry ad, plumbing ad, marriage invitation card ad, this ad and that ad glued onto traffic lights, below the road signages, lamp posts, you name it, they have it.

Can the MPPP do something about this problem?

Traffic Lights Down Again !!!!

This traffic light was knocked down by some careless driver last week and yesterday when I tookthis photo, all the casing, lights and wires were not there, only the traffic light beam remained. I hope no one stole them but taken by the related authorities.

This is located at the junction of Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim, postcode 11900, Penang.

By the way, this traffic light has been replaced many times in a year due to careless drivers who took reckless cornering stunts. 

First, we need to replace the traffic lights and some one from the traffic section must study how such incident can be eliminated. I believe the traffic lights cost a lot too, well, it is also our money right?

Where?

Danger : Trees with heavy branches

Now that is raining these days, trees are getting greener and provides good shades for the cars below. This is located at the inner lane of Pearl Garden, Jalan Dato Ismail Hashim, 11900 Penang. Just bear in mind that the branches may not be able to take the weight of the rain and the storms that may come in the evenings. 

Can we have MPPP to trim down those branches to eliminate the danger of falling branches? Our management has contacted MPPP but they say it is JKR's job and we need to wait like 2 to 3 weeks before any thing can be done. What??? 

Where is the road sign?

The tree is blocking the road sign. Now that the rain is back, trees are growing fast and sometimes blocks the road signages. Can MPPP do something about this? Signages are important and being displayed clearly will reduce a lot of confusion and accidents. 

This signage is located near Tesco Penang, I believe the signage is for Jalan Faraday. 

Food in Penang : Ridiculously High

If this sounds like Penang, where can the tourists report such issues? I think the food prices in Penang is getting ridiculously high, and something must be done to stop the price from going up like nobodies' business. 

The fuel price is down, people are without work and yet some hawkers are using this opportunity to hike up the price of food as no one now can afford to spend money in the restaurants. Blood suckers, they are. 

Will the relevant state authorities look into this? Penang is supposed to be a food haven, tasty food and affordable even for the locals.

NST Singapore : SIX Americans who sat down to a seafood dinner at Newton hawker centre (Singapore) on Saturday just about fell off their chairs when they were presented a bill for $491, including $239 for eight tiger prawns.

Mr Michael Rigby, 30, an exhibition specialist from Oregon who comes here regularly for work, said: 'It was more than what it would have cost us at a restaurant in the hotel.'

The food centre was crowded then, so when the helpers from stall 43, Tanglin Best BBQ Seafood, showed them to a table, they felt obliged to order from them.

Besides tiger prawns, they had four crabs, baby squids, half a steamed chicken, four bottles of beer and fruit juices. Mrs Rigby, referring to the price of the prawns, said: 'They were prawns. It was not like we dined on lobsters!'

She added that halfway through the meal, the stallholder even plonked two grilled sting rays on their table.

'We told them that we did not order them and they were quickly taken away. Afraid we would be charged for them, we asked for an itemised bill. When it came, we were shocked,' she said.

Mr Rubio, who is from Arizona, told The Straits Times that the prices seemed comparable to those of an American restaurant and thought nothing of it - until Mr Rigby queried the bill.

CJ On The Move : The Homeless

During the early hours of 15 March 2009, a group of us Citizen Journalists (CJ) roamed the streets of Georgetown, Penang, looking for the homeless. We have been discussing about the fate of the homeless in Penang during one of our Citizen Journalism class and decided to do a documentary about it. With the help of a new friend, Vincent Lim of Lightworks, we gathered courage to approach a few of the homeless who knew Vincent. Vincent has been taking care of these homeless people and he knows them by name, age and even their characters.

The state of Penang has probably done a good job reducing the numbers of beggars and homeless for the past 1 year, but there are still many who are wandering around and sleeping behind Oriental Hotel (opposite Odeon Cinema), the underpass of Prangin Mall and the Komtar bus station. 

My fellow CJ Lucia Lai interviewed an Indian homeless man and asked why he does not seek help from the Welfare Dept, he claimed that the Welfare Dept has sent many of the homeless to Tanjung Rambutan and that was the reason he refused help. 

Another fellow CJ Lilian Chan, interviewed a Chinese man who was more than willing to go with the Welfare Dept. so that he can be taken care of. End of the day, the state is responsible for the welfare of its citizens, especially the poor and the homeless.We are currently editing the video and will send a copy of the video to Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Graves by the highway?

With the new government in Penang, expectations are high and the people in Penang intend to ensure that "things" which were overlooked by certain quarters are rectified. I for one, will report all types of issues ranging from rubbish dumps to traffic lights, even untrimmed tree for the matter.

If we want to create the most modern state in Malaysia, everyone has to chip in to move forward like what has been said by Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng yesterday.

Therefore, here goes.

The above photo was taken this afternoon as I was driving back from Queensbay Mall. The pile of sand and tar was left at the side of the main road of Lebuhraya Bayan Lepas. It looked like a grave by the road side. This road leads towards Bayan Baru and Georgetown from the industrial park.

I am sure there are many of this little "graves" around.

Can MPPP do something about these? Some of these "graves" are found in front of companies in the industrial park, which I believe to be very bad for "feng shui".

Location : Lebuhraya Bayan Lepas

Earth Hour : Switch Off Your Lights 28 March 2009

Penang will join the rest of the world to flick the switch for Earth Hour!

Part of Penang will soon be going dark to help Mother Nature. On 28th of March 2009, Penangites are urge to participate in WWF movement known as "Earth Hour," to raise awareness regarding climate change and global warming.

If you would like to participate in Earth Hour, just simply turn off all of your lights on March 28, 2009, from 8:30 to 9:30 pm.

Save our Mother Nature by turning off your light for one hour.