(Beijing) Mayor wants poor neighborhoods razed for '08 Games

[Tab]

BEIJING (AP) -- Beijing's mayor has called for a speeding up of the demolition of impoverished neighborhoods in China's capital as part of preparations for the 2008 Olympics, the state-run Beijing Daily reported Saturday.

On a tour of one area in the process of being razed Friday, Mayor Wang Qishan told officials and construction workers that demolishing the dilapidated neighborhoods is an essential task this year and that the work must be accelerated, the newspaper said.

Beijing is undergoing a thorough makeover for the 2008 Games, spending an estimated $40 billion to put up sporting venues, lay down new roads and subway lines, build residential communities in the suburbs and beautify the often gray, polluted capital.

Part of the effort targets poorer areas known as "inner city villages" -- where many homes were built illegally and many of whose residents are rural migrants.

The Beijing Daily, the authoritative newspaper of the city's Communist Party committee, said about a third of these areas designated for destruction have been torn down, with the rest to be finished by year's end.

"This work is full of significance in strengthening the environment, building a livable city and realizing the strategic plan of a 'New Beijing, Great Olympics,"' the newspaper quoted Wang as saying.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/04/22/beijing.demolition.ap/index.html

[EFerrari]

1. So, New Orleans has a new sister city?

:(

[Igel]

2. No, Harare does. n/t

[uppityperson]

8. You beat me to that comment

[54anickel]

3. Taking a play from Mugabe's book? So where do those who once

resided there go?

[partylessinOhio]

5. Maybe to the nearest overpass, then on to Houston.

[NewJeffCT]

6. Not defending the practice, but this is common in China

I was in China about 18 months ago in Nanjing. On one street, there were large red banners stretched all the way across the street from buildings on one side to the other... sort of like how you see those banners for the town fair in small town USA.

So, I asked my wife, who is from Nanjing, was there some sort of festival coming up. She said the signs say to the people that they should move out now because the government is going to take these buildings & replace them with new ones.

same thing happened before that in Shanghai. The city had major traffic problems, so the government decided to build a raised highway around the city... no concern about eminent domain, or if people will be upset to suddenly have a highway whizzing by their apartment complex.

I would assume the people being displaced will get moved somewhere. However, there are really a lot of really run down tenement type buildings in Beijing. It's almost scary to think people actually live in them - no windows, or few windows, roofs & walls with holes, etc.

[Old and In the Way]

7. China is amazing that way.

You go to a place like Shanghai or Shanzhen and it totally changes the next time you go there. They don't care about property rights...if the government decides to change an area, it gets changed.

What Beijing is doing is simply mind boggling...and it is impacting on the world market price for aluminum, copper, and plastics. That's how big the demand is.

[Zynx]

10. No property rights in China.

[seriousstan]

4. Ahhhh, I love communism. The common good is paramount.

This will improve the economy for all and the living conditions of some of the poorest "inner city" villagers.

[leesa]

9. It's how Bush and his buddies got their Rangers stadium too.

I love rogue capitalism.

[seriousstan]

13. Is that simply a non-sequitur or a defense of communism?

I am able to walk and chew gum at the same time...so I don't see the relationship.

[Jack Rabbit]

11. My, haven't the Maoists come a long ways?

They act just like Republicans nowadays.

[area51]

12. "They (Maoists) act just like Republicans nowadays."

That was my thought too.

[shadowknows69]

14. Anyone else

not really like the Olympics anymore? I used to be a big fan but.