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Tiong Bahru and the vote on upgrading: An old estate, a new divide
The recent failed Home Improvement Programme ballot for two blocks of flats in the heritage enclave has revealed the fragile compact of public housing
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Block 34 Kim Cheng Street has a mix of old residents living in flats that have never been renovated, and new homeowners who have invested in doing up their homes.
ST PHOTO: TAN DAWN WEI
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My bedroom window in my Tiong Bahru walk-up flat overlooks a badminton court which, for years, hardly had any business. Now, unless it rains, I wake up nearly every morning to toc, toc, toc – the sound of pickleball volleying – and come home most evenings to the same paddle battle.
It’s a little annoying, yes. But I accept it as part of communal living – not in the ideological, co-op sense, but in the functional sense that HDB estates were designed for: shared spaces, common facilities, social integration. And I appreciate that people are putting these neglected courts to good use again.
