Killing our cities

The Nation (Bangkok), today published my letter:

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration wants to ban street vendors from operating on Sundays. I am sure the BMA genuinely believes its plan would be good for the city. Like government the world over, it probably identifies economic success with the profits of its friends in big business, in this case the owners of shopping malls, luxury goods stores, and car manufacturers, all of whom would benefit from clearing vendors off the streets. In this the BMA is mistaken. It is small businesses on which the economic and social health of Thailand depends, and the BMA should be encouraging them, not chasing them away.

If the BMA wants to see the results of policies that favour big business at the expense of small businesses it need only visit typical western cities, where well-meaning over-regulation and zoning laws have created sterile, bleak, city centres. Cities that used to be vibrant and thriving, as Bangkok is today, are dying. In fact, at weekends and every evening they are already dead. People are afraid to walk in the streets and drunks and yobboes take over. Bangkok should learn from the mistakes we have made in the west, where government and big business seem determined to stifle diversity and enterprise.

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