The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Not right to have centres for the mentally ill in residential areas Posted: 20 Sep 2012 06:46 AM PDT We refer to your article "Heal and hearty" (The Star, Aug 13), about the Eve Caring Centre in Petaling Jaya. As residents living along the street where one of the centre's facilities is located, we would like to bring your attention to how the operation of this centre has been disturbing our peaceful neighbourhood. As mentioned in the article, activities for the patients at this centre start as early as 6am. A major disturbance is the constant coming and going of vans transporting patients and caretakers to and from the centre. It continues throughout the day from before 7am until as late as 11pm. The drivers of these vans drive recklessly on our street and honk up to five times when they reach the centre's gate for it to be opened, without any consideration for others living in the neighbourhood. Patients as well as caretakers are often heard screaming, shouting and crying loudly, and some patients have tried to escape from the centre. Additionally, several neighbours have regularly seen people from the centre urinating in front of houses along the street early in the morning. While we fully support the concept of a centre to help mental health patients recover from their illnesses and acknowledge the need for such centres in our society, we cannot tolerate the disturbances and we believe that such institutions should not be allowed to operate in residential areas. Residents of section 12, Petaling Jaya |
| Posted: 20 Sep 2012 06:46 AM PDT Efforts by Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to gazette some 360 acres as open space to provide more recreational areas for health-conscious city folk are commendable. I am pleased to note that Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib had stated that DBKL is committed to greening the city for the benefit of the environment and its preservation and protection. I submitted a short memorandum to him shortly after he took office as the city's mayor, detailing my recommendations to further improve Kuala Lumpur. One of my recommendations is to plant more trees and to provide more recreational spaces for city folk. The mayor's decision to initiate a tree-planting programme according to the birth rate of babies for the year 2011 is a step in the right direction. Under the initiative, parents of babies born in the year 2011 are invited to plant trees as a sign of blessing apart from giving the birth a symbolic meaning. The mayor also pointed out that under the Sixth Entry Point Project (EPP) to increase green space in the city, DBKL aims to plant 30,000 trees by year 2020. The target was exceeded when 34,544 trees was planted last year. While planting more trees for the city, care must be given to the proper type of trees to be planted and at suitable locations. More open spaces along major roads in the city should be planted with trees. The trees must be regularly checked and monitored. Maintenance work must also be carried out to ensure that the branches of the trees will not obstruct road and highway signage. In many public areas today, maintenance work is poor and branches of trees have overgrown, leading to the obstruction of road signage thus causing great inconvenience to the public. Trees which are affected by earth works of development projects must be replaced by new trees suitably planted. It is very obvious that everyone has a role to play to make Kuala Lumpur a truly green and garden city, thereby helping to improve lives by creating a more comfortable and friendly environment. TAN SRI LEE LAM THYE Kuala Lumpur |
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