Right in front of the Quezon City Hall Complex is a quiet corner - a place of serenity and, sadly, neglect. I was surprised to find this park/lagoon which is curiously dedicated to a Canadian City called New Westminster - otherwise referred to as the Royal City! In fact, at the center of the park grounds is a totem pole, and a sign that says "New Westminster Canada - Kapatirang Tunay" which translates to "true brotherhood". Empty water bottles were seen on top of the wooden sign board and a sack full of garbage dangling under it. All this space and property unfortunately forgotten in the hustle of it all.
Unfamiliar with this Canadian city, I later found out that New Westminster is a historically important city in the Greater Vancouver Regional District of British Columbia, Canada. Founded as the second capital of the Colony of British Columbia (1858–1866), it is located on the north bank of the Fraser River, some 19 kilometres (12 mi) southeast of the City of Vancouver proper. It has a population of about 55,000. Quezon City has a comparative population of 2.7 million. New Westminster and QC have been official sister cities since 1991, and the park is a testament to this pact.
In light of this, we do hope that whoever wins the elections (Herbert Bautista) should find the time to explore the possibilities and develop this prime piece of property. There is so much possibility!
Congratulations to the Filipino people for seeing through a very swift first-ever fully automated elections!
This is the Eye in the Sky!
List of Quezon City's sister cities: includes Salt Lake City, Taipei, GenSan, Iloilo, Caracas Venezuela and Chiba Japan, among others!
New Westminster, BC Canada. These photos only courtesy of wikipedia's dennissylvesterhurd (left) and bardsmaid.org (right).
Location of New Westminster in Canada.
Andres Bonifacio's statue is just beside this neglected park/lagoon. There is a gate, but admission is free.
Check out Part 1 which features Quezon City Hall Grounds - a little history and photos
http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/05/philippines-stroll-around-quezon-city.html
http://eye-in-the-blue-sky.blogspot.com/2010/05/philippines-stroll-around-quezon-city.html
4 comments:
kapansin pansin, marami ang magagandang tanawin at di rin napapansin, kung alam lang natin ang istorya ng mga ito...sana mapangalagaan at pahalagahan.
nice post pre..tama ka.dinadaan daanan ko lang ito dati.pero ngayon ko nalaman ang halaga nito para satin. salamat!
Salamat, ever. Nasasayangan ako sa lugar. Madali pang puntahan.
wow. this is a very old post. i thought that the lagoon was new. they don't really tell the people that there is a lagoon in the area until they posted a map of the city hall.
I think they really don't care of its existence. :)
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