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in place of Race Course, what?

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What's coming up in the place supposedly being vacated by the Race Course? According to a TOI piece sometime back, underground parking lots will be constructed. However, no mention has been made about the ground level: public space? shops and malls?

Shastri had brought this up in the passing in this comment where he had stated that:

According to this hindu story, there is no mention of an integrated transport hub. Apparently they want to keep the space as a open green space with an underground parking lot

The matter came up for discussion recently in a Yahoogroup, which I thought fit to migrate here



KL posted:
Apparently it has been decided that the racecourse will be shifted "to a location outside the city". There's been occasional press about this issue, but it looks like things are ramping up now. Does anyone know any details about this decision? What is going to take the place of the current race course ?

NS added:
One of the old suggestions was to create a Legislators Home (another one). I dont think they will let anything which helps the public, although parking lot is not a good thing to happen. Probably its TOI's wishlist.

The ideal thing would be to make it a lung space. I had written to the BBMP and the governor last year to make Palace grounds a lung space. They promptly sent a note back saying its under litigation.

Btw- they have annihalated Race course road. All the trees are out. They have also cut all the remaining trees on Hosur Road near the Silk board flyover and the St.Johns road. Madness reigns.

GS added:
It's fairly common around the world to have underground public parking lots with a park (of the green variety) above. But the BBMP will probably cite the higher costs of building a underground lot and then build a mall to make the venture 'self-sustaining' with the promise of 2000 car parks for the public and finally you will end up with 3000 cars turning up at the mall that will end up parking all along Nrupathunga and Race Course roads. And then, it will be time for a Elevated Link Road between Nrupathunga Road and Race Course Road and the story continues... .

VN added:
I hope they dont end up making it a huge mall with the kind of parking that Gopal mentions. But we do need public spaces and a museum / cultural institutional area is wanted. I guess we need to have our voices heard and see if a public consultation process can take root for such projects too. Maybe we can promote a campaign for such a thing.

AN added:
I sometimes wonder why there is no will to create yet another Lalbagh...something which would be a botanists delight.
All of us will appreciate that Lalbagh is a "botanical" garden and not just a lawn with a few trees, which we now are termed as urban green spaces.
We lost an opportunity at the Freedom Park...I don't know if this suggestion is worthy, anyways, my two penny thought.

AS added:
Interesting Idea. I think HasiruUsiru should meet the authorities at BBMP and find out about their plans. They ahve chopped down so many trees, the transplanting could be done there.. instead of spending loads of money on logistics.

Muralidhar Rao

Comments

Use it for Supreme Court Bench / Tribunal Benches / Judicial

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IMO, the land from which the Race Course operates should be used for Judicial purposes. We can have a Superem Court Bench in Bangalore and host the Tribunals / Branch offices of various Government of India offices. We can also perhaps bid to host the Over The Counter Exchange of India in Bangalore instead of Mumbai.

Supreme Court Bench in South India

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Looks like i am vindicated!

http://www.hindu.com/2008...

Lets start an online Campaign for a Supreme Court Bench in place of the Race Course. 

idontspam's picture

SC @RC: I second it

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and third it and fourth it... Not sure if it needs so much space though and if some of it can be left green (not with grass but with trees)
murali772's picture

temple, masjid, church, - - complex

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Hey! Why not a grand temple, masjid, church, gurudwara, synagogue, fire-temple complex, in say the land vacated by the Race Course, or any such vacant government land, to which all roadside shrines are then ceremoniously shifted. Check
http://mysore.praja.in/bangalore/blog/murali772/2008/06/28/shrine-entrepreneurship

But, thereafter of course, the government has to ensure that no more shrines come up on the roadsides.

Muralidhar Rao

 

Muralidhar Rao
narayan82's picture

keep it non commercial

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commercial useage of the land that involves infrastructure, private parties and lots of money, means the land was cleared for kickbacks!

re-locating the race course, and making a park out of it, or keeping it green is a great idea. I completely support it.

 A supreme court too, is a good idea - it can be combined with a park and lake. And at the same time serve all. 

But all forces must be used to block the land from vested interests.

Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore
blrsri's picture

lanscaping the bangalore way

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our horticulture dept does a decent job in laying out and maintaining parks..maybe it should be given to them to layout a nice garden with nice trees and flowering plants..similar to the island behind the library inside cubbon park..

btw the race couse is such a eye sore..they dont even plant trees/bushes inside the ring..probably cos it will obstruct the view!

Its good riddance!

kbsyed61's picture

Serve the creations to serve the creator !

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Murali Sir,
Build a all specilaity HOSPITAL.
As a secular state, it is unwise for the governments to build temples, mosques and gurudwaras. Even if it is for the national integration, how many worship places the govt have to build. The count doesn't stop at mosque, temple, church, synogogue, gurudwara. With so many religious denominations it is not possible to build for ever religion that is practiced. Otherwise you are straightway discriminating some over the others.
Building worship houses, it is better to be left to the respective communities and I am sure they will build the magnificent ones by themselves. Just look at the some of the new mosques, temples and churches that have come up.
If anything that needs to be built on the RC, my heart goes out for a big HOSPITAL catering to the general public with reasonable service fees. Not so high not so low. With Majestic hotels, lodges, KG bus top and railway station in close proximity, this would be good choice and good location for the hospital. The hospital should set an example of our socialist commitments to the under-previliged and have-nots.
We need more health-care facilities for more "Industrial" and "Capital" growth.
Isn't "Serving God's creation equal to serving GOD?
Syed
silkboard's picture

A research institute - town planning and architecture?

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How about a research institute dedicated to town planning and architecture? Something better that Delhi's SPA (School for planning and architecture), something that will establish Bangalore as a leader in research on these subjects. a decade from now, we;d look back at it like how we look at IISc today - a leader on post grad education.
 
Won't take much space - one tallish building a corner could do. Or the school itself can be built uniquely to have all its rooms underground with a park on top of it.
 
Wish we did something unique, but something that won't add to the congestion already heavy in the central area (hospital, supreme court bench etc would bring in more congestion that race course, right?) 
ssheragu's picture

in place of race course

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ssheragu

much has been said about utilizing race course; I have one suggestion;

before it falls into the real estate business ventures of our politicians, this space can be made into a world class freedom park and named after Tippu Sultan or Kittur Rani Chennamma

this way revenue can be earned and more so the depleting greenery of Bangalore can be preserved and rejuvenated

it can act like a good lung space in the center of bangalore

 

Srinah Heragu

murali772's picture

comments by more HU members

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Copying herebelow a number of comments on the subject from HU yahoogroup:
 
KL wrote:
Does anyone know any details about this decision? What is going to take the place of the current race course ? According to an older TOI piece, underground parking lots will be constructed. However, no mention has been made about the ground level: public space? shops and malls? I have a bad feeling that this is something we need to look at urgently.


Ms H added:
VERY URGENTLY needs looking into. We DO NOT need another commercial space/shopping mall in this green space here.


CU added:
i agree -- this needs urgent attention ... my bet is we'll find a big mall /hotel/ theatre complex soon.. earlier when the discussion of shifting was taking place, as I recall, they had committed that it would remain open space ... ha ha.

I am going to play the old Joan Baez song for the bbmp officials ...

keys to paradise and they put up a parking lot

what has happened to the central jail land?

I think we need to start an online database/ clearinghouse for information, it's impossible to keep up with what is happening in this city. A big interactive map .. what is coming up, what is going down, what is getting expanded and who is getting thrown out ... everyone can give inputs like a Wikipedia .. this was actually Prem Chandavarkar's idea .. we need a nice techie type to implement it .. we were told that google maps is willing to host such projects for free ...

member techies, pl respond
 
VB added:
HU should really get out there nowadays
Call for inputs from the public / schoolchildren / techies/ housewives etc
to make Race course into a Green Area
Let them treat it as a compensation

for the loss of many areas in Cubbon Park
the loss of many lakes in Bangalore
the loss of many trees in the city
the loss of CA sites and parks to buildings etc

So what is the Green Park use that RC should be put to

One thing is it SHOULD NOT CATER TO LOBBIES

1. Horticulture Lobby ( artificial high maintenance plants and grass with sprinkler watering and spot lighting like an exhibition ....
2. Concrete lobby ( interlocking tiles and ..
3. Granite lobby ( acupressure footpaths and .....
4. Decorators lobby
5. Builders lobby

And not a very English vision of a park with green all year round but varying seasonally

The reason for the COMPLEX idea is from the Vikasa Soudha ( original est 100 crs and finshed at 147 crs)
The congress govt planned it and was inaugurated by the COng -JD(S) colaition

BJP wants to do one better
But we have to get them to compete with the other political parties who gifted a space for PARKS.....
Like the Central Jail Park ( Congress) - 2002-03


VN added:
We should go for a public space that is not necessarily only a garden or lake, but of multiple uses, "excluding shopping" is what is badly lacking and I think we can make a case for it. A museum, open air spaces for street theater and events, park space ofcourse, a place for public debate, etc. The old jail is luckily becoming a "Freedom park" for which an ideas/architectural competition was held quite successfully. We could call for a similar idea competition here but program it carefully so that it is for the people and more . Prem's idea is great and I had earlier sent this link to the Design Trust for Public Space http://www.designtr ust.org/home/ home.html . Anush had volunteered his techie skills to put this together and there are several others in the group who would too, and we have also a website with space available to upload this kind of a website. Kanishka and Ranjitha, am I correct? I dont know much about mapunity, but if that is something we can use...!! It would be a great idea to get a small group together to knit and organize this effort. Why dont we meet up this Saturday at CIVIC or ESG for this purpose - call it the Race Course Action or Public Space Group.
 
AS added:
There are a whole lot of skills available in this city. Last weekend I was in Mysore for a Nature Photographer's meet where we discussed how Wildlife Photography could be used to influence something good. This is the era of documentation (read it as photography, video, youtube, flickr etc). A small wildlife documentary was produced to save Kudremukh too. Something like that could be done. One of the ideas they proposed was to organise nature photo exhibition on the streets which are under threat etc. We should have a design trust in Bangalore too with people from all these professional/ hobby interests.

Most of the times, people shy away from the word "Activism".. so we needn't project this as an activist group. It should be more of a Special Interest Group. It was quite evident is the Max Muller's Bangalore City Project. So probably we should plan something on those lines and try to get more participation.


AN added:
As I had suggested earlier and repeat....a botanical garden, the first one for Bangalore is 200 years! The Government can be pushed to do this.


SS added:
A garden or a Lake or any thing green! We should use this as an opportunity to:
1. Compensate for the trees being cut all across the city
2. As a water source to improve underground water source.

Muralidhar Rao
Muralidhar Rao
s_yajaman's picture

Old race course?

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What is the plan for the old race course? It should be made into a nice wooded area or some such public space. Public spaces are virtually non-existent in Bangalore. Land sharks are forever on the prowl and the government is a willing accomplice. Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

Bangalore Turf Club

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The Bangalore Turf Club (BTC) was offered land in the Nandagudi Township, where the government owns most of the land. But BTC cited the remoteness of that place. BTC requested the Military Farm in Hebbal, but that proposal is going to take it no where. One has to look at things from the BTC point of view as well. A lot of out station people come to the Majestic Bus Stand / City Railway Station and participate in the Race usually on Sunday evening. So from a logistics point of view the BTC is very accessible. IMO, Land could be alloted to the BTC in Hessarghatta Cross - maybe a bus ride away from the Metro Stop in Hessarghatta cross. Thinking on the Long term, i.e by about 2012, BTC would have a much larger venue and better logistics compared to Nandagudi and Hebbal. The upcoming Peripheral Ring Road by then should also be able to connect to BIAL. Vasanth proposed an organic garden in place of BTC when BTC is expected to vacate. This is a good idea. But a small portion could also be allocated towards future infrastructure for building the Southern Bench of the Supreme Court of India.
Naveen's picture

Race-Course on Hessarghatta Cross ?

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Mcadambi, Is there any state govt land on Heassarghatta cross road ? As far as I know, much of the land around there belongs to the armed forces (air-force & military). I doubt if govt has a large parcel of land there, sufficient for a race course. I think they should take the Nandagudi land - closest to airport & open area. If the SEZ also comes up there, there will be all round development.
narayan82's picture

Near the airport?

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Just a thought, you see the airport has restrictions to the height of buildings around it (BIAPPA). A Race course doesnt have much height or construction involved. Maybe this would allow it to be near the airport, and fall within the building laws Or maybe the horses would get scared/distracted with planes landing above thier heads? Eitherways, I think it is wise to move the race course outside the city, where they can have a bigger course and give us some breathing space inside the city!
Narayan Gopalan
User Interaction Designer
Bangalore

Clientle of BTC

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90% of the clientle of BTC are the ones who use second class train travel and bus travel to come from small towns surrounding Bangalore and from outstates like Chittor district, Krishnagiri district et al. For the above clientle in mind, the BTC's current location at Race Course Road is ideal given it's proximity to the Majestic Bus Station and the City Railway Station as well as Cantonment. Shifting the BTC close to the airport in Devanahalli means killing the transport infrastucture for the above clientle on which BTC is very dependent on. So and ideal location would be Hessarghatta after Metro Phase I is complete. But the GoK has to move to acquire army land there for BTC.
ebi.schubert's picture

Museum celebrating bangalore history

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Most indian cities have history of more than 2000 years. I have always thought that it is worth celebrating the history of the place. The children and the younger generation will learn from history and feel proud about the city and the culture. Keeping a museum in the downtown will help in that aspect. It should be focussed on the cities history and the history of the different communities and their role in the building of the city.
Naveen's picture

Museum, Public Spaces

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The current museums are located on part of Cubbon Park land, & expansion is not desirable as it would snatch away some of the scarce lung space. The old race course land could be utilized for new museums, a science center along the lines of the one at Kolkata, a bench for the supreme court - after all, Bangalore is the tech capital of the country. The remaining land could be used for greens, a large park, adjoining the central jail premises (soon to be Freedom park). Planning is essential - it is desirable that the entire area including the public buildings be cordoned off with tight control over parking within, else the roads leading in will turn into parking lots !
murali772's picture

another sky-scraper?

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Comment by a member in the CAF googlegroup:

By the by, it is understood Race Course is giving its place for World Trade Center. Very many eye brows will raise thinking on the possible repercussions, if something similar does happen. Media or News Paper are not covering. Should we be silent witnesses or do something?

Means another sky-scraper. Is that what we want?  Any one knows more?

Muralidhar Rao

Muralidhar Rao
s_yajaman's picture

Have they gone mad?

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Seshadri Road is clogged up as it is.  This will really hep matters.

Srivathsa

Drive safe.  It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.

Medicinal plants park

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Recently a park of medicinal plants was opened in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. Chief Minister Shri Naveen Pattnaik himself is a botany enthusiast and has published a book on medicinal plants.

IMO, Race Course area should be used to house the Southern Bench of the Supreme court and a medicinal park on the lines of the ones in Bhubaneshwar. 

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