A walk in Kemang no walk in the park

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Undecided about which cafe to go to, Matheus, 33, and his two friends got out of their taxi and walked along Jl. Kemang Raya in South Jakarta for more than a kilometer on a Saturday night.

At one point as the three friends made their way along the narrow and uneven sidewalk, their way was completely blocked by a parked car.

As they stepped out into the street, Matheus saw two people inside the car and decided to tell them what he thought of their choice of parking places.

"Don't you know that the sidewalk is for pedestrians? It's not a parking lot. Or do you know but you just don't care?" Matheus said.

"We know it's a sidewalk, we just don't care," one of the men said.

Home to galleries, restaurants and nightspots for middle and upper-class Jakartans, Kemang is always crowded with cars, particularly on the weekend. Because many of the bars and eateries do not have adequate parking, visitors often park on the sidewalk, with the consent of parking attendants.

All of these cars on the sidewalks only worsen the already poor pedestrian facilities in the area.

There are few proper sidewalks along more than four kilometers of road. Those sidewalks that do exist are narrow and uneven, sometimes with holes and big bricks sticking up waiting to trip unaware pedestrians.

"No, we've never heard our customers complain about the sidewalk. But sometimes I hear them grumbling about air pollution and the scorching heat," Armelle, a manager at Aksara bookstore on Jl. Kemang Raya, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

She said most of the bookstore's customers drove. "The building management provides adequate parking in the front and back of the building."

Sekar Putri, a public relations officer for Galeri Hadiprana, said most of the gallery's visitors came by car.

"I think only about 25 percent of our visitors come on foot, and they usually visit the gallery in the morning after having their morning walk from their nearby homes," she told the Post.

Kemang was originally designed as a residential area. It used to be a small village inhabited by Betawi (native Jakartans). Since the 1990s, the face of Kemang has been transformed as galleries, cafes, restaurants and bars moved in.

The city administration, citing Article 14 of Bylaw No. 7/1991 on buildings in the capital, which stipulates that buildings that do not comply with the usage specified in their permits must be demolished or renovated in accordance with regulations, has threatened to take action in Kemang because the area "has gotten out of control".

The administration's concern is related to the inadequate supporting facilities at these houses-cum-commercial premises, including the lack of parking lots.

The narrow road that winds through Kemang is barely able to accommodate passing vehicles, while the sidewalks are so narrow that pedestrians frequently have to step out into the street.

Critics have said the administration must take some action to manage Kemang before the traffic situation further deteriorates.