TEMPERS FLARE AT BAYSHORE PARK EN-BLOC SALES MEETING
WHILE the lush greenery, tinkling fountains and gurgling streams of Bayshore Park evoke a sense of serenity, it is anything but serene at the condominium right now.
Feelings have been running high over moves to put the estate up for an en-bloc sale.Some are upset that they may be forced to sell their beloved homes.
Others are frustrated that they may be forced to keep their maturing properties and be thwarted from an investment opportunity.
One recent meeting saw residents arguing, jeering and heckling.
Under a white tent put up on the estate grounds, some 500 residents gathered on a Saturday afternoon for their third en-bloc sale meeting in five months.
STRONG FEELINGS
As with most condo en-bloc sales, the 1,000-plus Bayshore Park residents are split into two strong camps - for and against.
The campaign has gone on the Internet too.
One website, called Bayshore Park Lifestyle, talks about all good things and benefits of the 22-year-old estate and urges residents to 'say no to en-bloc'.
Meanwhile, it seems someone has written to the authorities, alleging fraud over how the signatures were obtained to requisition the most recent extraordinary general meeting.
Bayshore Park condominium. FILE PICTURE It was against this backdrop that the meeting, facilitated by a panel comprising Mr Chan Kok Hong, a managing agent, management committee chairman Richard Soh and lawyer Loo Choon Hiaw, was held, on 23 Feb.
As residents registered, they were each given a booklet of voting slips.
Printed on those slips were their unit numbers and share values, and boxes for them to vote for those they want on the sales committee.
From the outset, there were concerns over the meeting's agenda.
Mr Chan said the meeting was requested on the basis of electing a sales committee.
A resident stood up to ask if a vote should be carried out on whether or not everyone wants an en-bloc in the first place, but MrLoo said this apparently was not necessary.
One resident wanted an assurance that the votes would be kept confidential.
Mr Chan assured him that the slips would be kept 'in a safe place', not to be opened again.
Under the law, any resident, whether for or against the en-bloc sale, can be in the sales committee.
OPPOSED TO OPPOSITION
Someone then said it 'does not make sense' to vote an anti-en-bloc person to the sales committee as that person could put up road blocks.
Another said that if such a person wanted to be in the committee, he would have to be in it for a check-and-balance role. There was clapping and cheering at this.
The candidates started introducing themselves one by one.
Most of those who were for the sale said they just wanted to find the best price for the estate.
Another said that having sat on the management committee, he knows that maintenance of the estate would get increasingly more expensive.
The candidates included an architect, a retiree and two realestate agents.
An anti-en-bloc nominee said he wanted to be on the committee so that he would know what was happening.
An elderly Englishman, a long-time resident of Bayshore, then asked for permission to ask the candidates some questions.
He was allowed to so so, but was told the candidates were not obliged to respond.
His questions to them included: Have you been a resident for a long time? Have you previous experience in an en-bloc sale? What reserve price do you expect? Are you in arrears of maintenance fees?
The jeering and heckling began.
At one point, some residents surrounded him and kept asking him to stop.
A resident shouted: 'He has absolutely no respect. These questions are not relevant.'
Agitated residents were seen waving their arms in the air.
The man remained composed, and Mr Chan had to step in, saying: 'Please, please, please. We need to keep this meeting in order.'
Asked one resident: 'How can he question them like that?'
Another said: 'He can't go around asking them a hundred questions.'
To which the man responded: 'Dear young lady, I have not asked a hundred questions. They are not ridiculous questions, they are important questions.'
Mr Soh then said: 'We should allow reasonable questions. If we don't have order, I may be forced to stop this meeting.'
Some of the nominees answered the man, others did not.
In the end, only the 14 pro-en-bloc residents were voted into the sales committee.
But with an estate as large and diverse as Bayshore Park, it is likely that this committee will have an uphill task ahead.
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