LAGUNA PARK EN BLOC SPAT

Aug 26, 2008
LAGUNA PARK EN BLOC SPAT
Lost neighbourliness
Residents, suspicious of each other, keep away from estate functions
By Lim Wei Chean

NEIGHBOURLINESS has evaporated at Laguna Park, the East Coast
condominium now split by the prospects of a collective sale.

The turnout at a food festival held in the estate on Aug 17 was bad,
never mind that the residents' association had splurged $10,000 on
getting professionals to plan it.

Not so long ago, the residents used to enjoy events like these, and
bashes during Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali were popular. Now, the
residents' association is thinking twice about holding a do for next
month's Mooncake Festival.

Long-time resident Michael Tan, 68, who heads the residents'
association, said: 'It's very sad now. People keep to themselves and
are suspicious of each other.'

The 530-unit seaside development made news when cars and mailboxes
belonging to residents opposed to the collective sale of the
development were vandalised. At least eight cars were sprayed with
black paint or a corrosive liquid or scratched; last Wednesday, the
keyholes of letter boxes were glued shut the third time in a month.

The estate needs to get an 80 per cent 'yes' vote by year's end for
the sale to go through. So far, it has got 65 per cent.

A property valuer reckons that an average unit could be worth more
than $2.1 million in a collective sale, and the penthouses, almost $4
million.

A police spokesman said the acts of vandalism are still being
investigated and advised residents to report suspicious characters to
the police.

Security in the estate is contracted to Detec Security Services,
which puts guards on duty between 8am and 8pm, during which they go
on patrol every hour. This leaves the other 12 hours open for acts of
mischief. The guards declined to comment, saying their boss was
abroad.

Among the residents, some say life has been going on as usual, but
most agree the atmosphere has changed.

One mother of two who has had her car and her letterbox vandalised
twice now fears for her safety and that of her family. She now
carries an umbrella around 'just in case, this time, someone decides
to throw acid on me instead of on the car'.

Even residents who are neither for nor against selling feel the heat.
One said he has been getting poison pen letters in his mailbox from
both sides, so 'it's like being caught in a war zone with two
opposing camps'.

Even as the issue has torn neighbours apart, it has rallied those in
the anti-sales camp, who have formed a loose 'neighbourhood watch'
group.

The incidents at Laguna Park have sparked off an outcry and calls for
the Law Ministry to amend the collective-sale rules to deal with
vandalism.

A ministry spokesman said in reply that collective-sale laws were
only the 'framework' for owners to decide whether to go ahead with
the sale, and may not, by themselves 'be able to change the behaviour
of those intent on using illegal coercion'. Such law-breakers can,
however, be dealt with under other legislation dealing with crimes.

For those in the anti-en bloc camp, these words are cold comfort.
Their only hope is that an impending residents' meeting will end with
a 'yes' vote to install closed-circuit TV cameras.

A resident opposed to the collective sale said: 'It used to be
peaceful here. Look what it has become.'