Dear Mayor,

The daily newspapers keep telling us that the installation of those tall, blue metal sheets at street corners to enclose garbage bins is your pet project.

At first look I thought a smart set of scheming hustlers had brazenly taken over street spaces.

Later, when people began to tell me that lazy autorickshaw drivers who must have a tipple at day's end found these sheds a more convenient space than those smelly TASMAC bars, I wondered how Dr. Ramadoss, the PMK leader who is hell bent on closing all wine shops, would react to this development.

Imagine garbage dumps becoming drinking places?

This bunching of garbage bins may be a great idea to try out, but, frankly, is it not yet another idea which takes away pavement space from our citizens.

Power junction boxes, garbage bins, traffic signal boxes, private cable line boxes, Social Welfare Board snacks stalls… all of them are set up on our pavements. Where is the space for your city's people?

It is another thing that Chennai Corporation takes pride in winning the Guinness Record for creating the smallest pavements in the world. In some places, they are less than 10 inches in width.

Recently, I read about another grand project on the anvil. Beautification of Marina Beach.

You and your team must have been itching to launch some grand projects. That is but natural for city Mayors. Others like to lay foundation stones.

I am not sure what drives people to keep beautifying our city. More so the Marina.

If you chat with people who love the outdoors, they will probably tell you that all that a space like our Marina needs is clean sand and clean water. That's all.

But there are others who want to install statues. Some want to have granite pedestals for the statues. Some want a lawn around the statues. Some want granite to replace the lawns. And some who wish there were miniature dancing lights and fountains around the granite space on the Marina.

And there are those who want granite pathways that reach the water front, exclusive spaces for children to play, shopping plazas and dining nooks. All on the Marina.

Beautification is an engaging idea.

But I am not so sure that this is what people who love the Marina and the Elliot's Beach want.

Meanwhile, our Councillors seem to have taken a hint from your pet projects. They propose cemented walkways, jogging tracks and landscaped lawns on the beachside in their Wards.

All in the name of beautification. (Courtesy: Mylapore Times.)