What is the best business strategy to accelerate and improve the present socio-economic developments, and to stimulate and build the infrastructure projects for the coastal city with over 450-year history, but has a limited downtown space? If you look at a space-satellite photograph of Maasin City, the capital of Southern Leyte, Philippines, you will notice that 50% of its downtown area is surrounded by the green hills and mountains from the northwest down to the southeast. No doubt you will see the distinct shore, mangroves, coral reefs, and the wide open sea to the city's western and southwestern coastlines.

To accelerate and improve the present slow socio-economic developments as well as to stimulate and build the necessary infrastructure projects in Maasin City, one policy or strategy that the city leaders, both in the public and private sectors, have to do is to establish the proposed RUPERTO K. KANGLEON STREET MALL. If or when it is established, it would be the first, largest and longest street mall in the entire Philippines!

TOP REASONS WHY THE STREET MALL IS NECESSARY!

1.  The most important and valuable contribution of the proposed street mall to the majority of the residents, in Maasin City and the rest of Leyte and Southern Leyte, is that it can eliminate the numerous middlemen! For example: A pair of leather shoes cost $4.00 to manufacture in China. It is sold for $40.00 or P2,000.00 in Maasin City. The middlemen that have been doing business in the city have pocketed much of the money which the ultimate consumers in the city and the rest of Leyte Island should have retained, saved, and invested for the future of their families.

2.  To compete with the lower prices of the goods or products which are being sold in nearby Cebu City where many Leyteños go to mostly for shopping purposes, college studies, and stop-over on the way to other destinations, it is necessary that the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall, through a separate affiliate, must be organized to serve as the purchasing-wholesale company which would then sell the goods or products at wholesale or discounted prices to the members of the R. K. Kangleon Street Mall. Non-members will have to pay the full prices. As an affiliated corporation, it purchases the goods and products at wholesale prices direct from the factories, assemblers, and the exclusive importer-distributors based in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and other cities with factories/subsidiaries in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As a subsidiary of the R. K. Kangleon Street Mall, it must also apply as the importer of the goods direct from the producers in foreign countries, instead of buying from other importers in Metro Cebu or Metro Manila. Of course, those that are not part of the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall can also continue with their existing enterprises. However, they have the option to participate in the street mall as stockholders as well as by opening branches at the future R. K. Kangleon Street Mall!

3.  Some blocks within the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall must be regulated as duty-free zones. If you look at the satellite picture of Maasin City and its relative position to Cebu City, Ormoc City, Bohol's Ubay and to Northern Mindanao's Dipolog City, Oroquieta City, Iligan City, Cagayan de Oro City, Butuan City and Surigao City, you will clearly see the strategic location of Maasin City as an ideal duty-free zone. The residents, business establishments, and shoppers from the major cities in Northern Mindanao can avail of the duty-free status of the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall. The factories and other industries in Northern Mindanao can also participate as the wholesale suppliers to the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall. Maasin City's proximity to the big cities in Northern Mindanao can encourage the shipping lines to open up new routes from Cebu City to Maasin City, to and from the cities in Northern Mindanao.

4.  Instead of waisting money, waisting time, and waisting gasoline or diesel fuel going around in circles or going to and fro in many other places or streets, the people can just randomly access to the R. K. Kangleon Street Mall to do what they would like to do in the first place. The proposed main street mall is meant to provide, facilitate, and serve the downtown residents, workers, commuters, students, and out of town folks including the tourists and other visitors. It is intended for the diverse and eclectic crowd of people to perform their professions, jobs, tasks, to do their purpose of being in, and/or to do errands in one exact or particular street location.

5.  Contrary to some people's perceptions that the main street malls in the famous cities were created for the people with the money to go shopping and touring or to hang out weekdays and weekends, the main street malls evolved of some sort as a result of the ever changing technology, trends and lifestyles, the continuing population growth, and influences which the fortunate residents have learned from traveling and/or working overseas. The main street malls were developed from the existing streets, which the city or municipal government converted into main street malls to revitalize the dying, dilapidated, very old, and neglected downtown streets.

6.  There is no need to expect or encourage the multi-millionaires and billionaires who own the SM Mega Malls, Ayala Shopping Centers, Gaisano Department Stores, and other famous shopping malls and department stores to open a branch in Maasin City. Their presence in other cities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao have driven the "Nanay at Tatay" operated stores and other small family-owned and limited partnership enterprises into bankruptcy, and survival mode or living from one daily net sales to the next day's sales. The proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall can counter attack and/or compete with the shopping mall tycoons from invading and taking over the meager incomes of the residents in Maasin City and the neighboring towns in Leyte and Southern Leyte. Furthermore, we can compete against the big names if the powers that be would regulate some in the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall as duty-free dealers or outlets!

7.  Being in a country prone to natural disasters, destructive and deadly man-made causes and effects, the residents in Maasin City must always be vigilant and prepared for any emergency. In case of a big explosion and fire, either caused by accident or man-made, the people that are going to operate and patronize the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall will have the advantages and higher percentage of being safe from such a disaster. If or when a big earthquake and/or tsunami and flood happen in the future, the people in Maasin City can easily run up to the high hills and mountains north of the city which are just 100 or more meters from the R. K. Kangleon Street. Whereas in the super malls and shopping centers in Metro Cebu and Metro Manila, most of the people would not survive when a big earthquake and/or tsunami hits, or when a super flood occurs due to a category 3 and above typhoon! The heavy vehicular traffic and the long distance of the hills and mountains in Metro Cebu and Metro Manila will prevent the people from riding or running to safety!

Therefore, we would like to suggest to all the city government officials, civil service professionals, and other public employees as well as to the residents in Maasin that we need to establish the R. K. Kangleon Street Mall in our city. Some cities around the world have their own versions of the main street malls, similar to the successful "16th Street Mall" in Denver, Colorado, U. S. A. In other countries' main street malls, they are the center of economic, entertainment, social, and other human activities which occur daily in their downtown streets. They have attracted thousands to millions of the local and foreign tourists and visitors! They have created hundreds of new jobs and some infrastructure projects for, in, and near the main street malls!

HOW TO ESTABLISH & WHAT TO INCLUDE IN THE STREET MALL

The proposed street mall can be created by just utilizing the existing R. K. Kangleon Street, which stretches from the west side of Tagnipa down to the pilot school in Mantahan and to the last cross street in Mambajao. The street mall does not have to wait few years of construction and renovation to be operational. All the existing commercial and service establishments along the present street can be converted into several blocks of one long-street mall on both sides of the Ruperto K. Kangleon Street, which stretches over 2.5 kilometers in downtown Maasin.

The vehicular traffic of R. K. Kangleon Street must be changed back to the year when it used to be a two-way street. It is necessary to divert the current one-way street from the Kangleon Street to the next parallel street which goes from Canturing, near the river, then at the back of the pilot school in Mantahan, up to Tuburan. However, the city engineers and their technical assistants must build a new street from Tuburan, going behind the College of Maasin campus, to connect it to Tagnipa through the old proposed capitol site in the same barangay.

In the meantime, while the street behind C.M. campus is under construction, the one-way traffic (from Canturing) must turn left from Tuburan and proceed toward the Maasin Public Market, and turn again right at the corner where the Queen Theater is located. Then the one-way traffic must continue and pass through the back of the Saint Joseph College campus and in front of Abiera's Museum, and end up all the way to the first cross street in Tagnipa.

The street mall must have different street lighting posts and lamps (which can be replaced gradually through the years) to differentiate them from the present lighting posts and lamps. All the hanging electrical, telephone, and TV cable wirings must be re-routed and be hidden in the drainage systems which were built under and across the R. K. Kangleon Street. The facade of the commercial and residential buildings must be modified to look like and feel like the "bayanihan" spirit, as one former Maasinhon who is an architect-engineer and webmaster now living in America suggested in his website: http://www.maasincity.com.

To add excitement and life in the street mall, the existing commercial and residential buildings must be painted with very attractive, exotic, psychedelic or abstract colors, with artistic murals and paintings which depict the history, customs, culture, and traditions prevalent in the city. In addition, both sides of the sidewalks can have the foot and hand prints (ala the lobby of Hollywood's Chinese Theater) of Maasin and Southern Leyte's heroes, including the foot and hand prints of the celebrities and world famous personalities that might someday visit the city.

The facade of the existing commercial and residential buildings must be modified or improved and painted with very attractive colors. They can also be reconstructed as replicas of famous buildings found in other provinces within and outside of the country. Or the facade can be constructed to look like something else, just like the movie props which the tourists can clearly see at the Universal Studio in Burbank, California.

The sidewalk on both sides of the street must have potted plants, colorful flowers, shady trees, and benches with big umbrellas; benches and shades for the pedestrians and shoppers to rest, to read, to eat hot dog, hamburger, or "puso" and barbecue, and to see other people go by. Each block of the street mall must have presentable and clean restrooms.

To reduce the vehicular traffic and to create an atmosphere of being a mall in R. K. Kangleon Street, only the small vehicles, such as the multi-cabs, motor-cabs and pedicabs must be allowed to run through. The old horse-driven carriages must be brought back to life (each horse should have a dirt catch behind it). All the big buses and trucks must be prohibited from using the street mall, except the government cars, trucks, and construction vehicles and heavy equipment, and the service, delivery or supply trucks that would be doing business with the commercial and residential establishments.

WHY RUPERTO K. KANGLEON STREET IS THE IDEAL MALL?

R. K. Kangleon Street is the ideal future main street mall because it is the only longest street in downtown Maasin which has parallel streets, one to the north and one to the south, except the short parallel street from the corner where the Queen Theater is located which line up towards the dead end of the street which also intersects R. K. Kangleon Street in Tagnipa. The two parallel streets must be turned into one-way (just as the other one is) because R. K. Kangleon Street must be be changed back to its former two-way street.

R. K. Kangleon Street is also the ideal main street mall because there are government-owned properties - The Department of Education and Culture Building and the Tomas Oppus Elementary or Pilot School in Mantahan. One short block away from R. K. Kangleon Street in the boundary between Abgao and Mantahan, you can see the Salvacion O. Yñiguez Memorial Provincial Hospital.

In Mantahan and Mambajao, you can see see the Mormon or Church of Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Saint Joseph College extension campus, and the Fundamental Baptist Church. In Tunga-tunga, you can see Southern Leyte's oldest college campus, The College of Maasin.

Along the R. K. Kangleon Street from Tagnipa down to Mambajao, there are the usual sari-sari stores, cafes and eateries, Internet cafes, auto/motorcycle/truck repair shops, hardwares and construction dealers, furniture dealers, electronic and appliance dealers, motorcycle and gas dealers, dental and medical clinics, optical and pharmaceutical stores, funeral parlors and morticians, and many other marketing and service enterprises.

In fact R. K. Kangleon Street has more well-balanced marketing and service establishments or enterprises compared to all the other streets in downtown Maasin. What the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall needs are very good clothing, shoe and household stores, bakeries, groceries and fresh produce stores, fine cafeterias and restaurants, and super-clean restrooms!

WHAT EXACTLY IS A STREET MALL?

It is just like the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver, Colorado, United States of America. (The mall starts in the middle of the photo right above the "C 2006 Sanborn" print which is at the bottom of the photo+3D. It goes from the southeast to the northwest.) It is very famous for its tourists, visitors, convention delegates from other states and countries. It is also the hangout of the local residents in the city and from the suburbs. The 16th Street Mall is a tree-lined promenade with unique lighting posts in the heart of the city, which stretches one-mile between downtown Civic Center (which is one block from the State Capitol of Colorado and two blocks from the City Hall of Denver) and the Union Station (the Amtrak train and light rail station).

Popular with shoppers, tourists, and other visitors, it is always alive with pedestrians, cafes, and street performers. The former two-lane downtown street was converted into a street mall, which is also the main street for shopping, dining, entertainment, banking and finance, etc. in downtown Denver. The entire street mall is somewhat similar to the interior of the main corridor inside the Ayala Shopping Center and the SM Mega Mall in Cebu City and Metro Manila. Furthermore, the 16th Street Mall looks like and feels like a narrow, one-mile long, public recreational park.

The proposed street mall in Maasin City can be established, if the residents in Maasin want it. When completed and operational, it could become one of the top attractions for tourists and other visitors in the Philippines just like the famous 16th Street Mall in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.!

Gallery of the 16th Street Mall:

If the city government officials, employees, and residents of Maasin still do not know and understand what a street mall is, we would like to ask all the Maasinhons that are working and living abroad to send pictures or videos of the street malls which they have seen or visited. Just as the tremendous success of the street mall in Colorado, U.S.A. is the product of the cooperative efforts of the people in downtown Denver, the Rapid Transportation District (RTD), and groups of business owners, the people in Maasin City or any other city in the Philippines, and the overseas Filipino workers could also emulate the successful 16th Street Mall. If the residents in Maasin would stop to think and consider this proposal, the politicians who are going to support and make the proposed street mall to fruition would most likely win in the next election.

FOR OUR SECURITY, PROTECTION AND SURVIVAL

Over 9 months ago, we drove a motorcycle to test the new roads in Maasin City. We rode through a nice unpaved but comfortable road from the back of Tagnipa and Combado which led us up to the barangays, Libhu and Manhilo. Thus we would like to suggest, in addition to the street mall, to the city government and the Department of Public Works and Highways that they plan and build a new connecting road from the existing back dirt road in Combado and Tagnipa all the way to the southeast in the boundary of Ichon, Macrohon. The new connecting road would curve around right and left, and zigzag up and down the hills and mountains, probably over 300 feet above the sea level, and pass on top of the hills and mountains.

Starting from the northern side of Combado and Tagnipa, the proposed road proceeds to Tunga-tunga, Abgao, Mantahan, Mambajao, Canturing, Asuncion, Soro-soro, Isagani, Ibarra, Maria Clara, Pasay, and ending down in Ichon, Macrohon. It passes above the foothills and on the side of Hanginan. Please see the approximate line of the proposed new road or highway in the satellite photo of Maasin City:

1.  The new road will serve as the firebreak in case of fires in the future and back-up access road to and from downtown Maasin in times of emergencies.

2.  It will serve as the access road with cross streets to the farming residents and others living in and near the foothills.

3.  It will serve as the new road to the future sites for the real estate developers to build new homes and other buildings.

4.  It will serve as the future driving, hiking, jogging, running, and biking highway with a panoramic view of the city for the motorists, commuters, and residents within the city and those from Macrohon, Padre Burgos, Limasawa, Malitbog, and other towns in Southern Leyte that are going to travel to the Maasin City Domestic Airport, to the ferry station in Can-iwan or Guadalupe, and to the piers in Maasin, Bato and Hilongos.

5.  As a matter of life and death situation, the proposed high-elevated new road must be constructed to serve as the destination for Maasin City's low-land residents to run up and escape to from the future tsunamis and floods caused by the big earthquakes, the volcanoes in Camiguin Island which are just few kilometers southwest of Maasin City, the global warming, and the asteroids and meteorites. Some of the scientists predicted that the asteroids and meteorites will eventually hit both the lands and seas or oceans in the future!

Our suggestion to build the proposed R. K. Kangleon Street Mall and the connecting new road from the existing unpaved road on the northern side of Combado to Ichon includes the plans for our health, safety, and survival. We need to prepare for the future natural disasters and man-made causes and effects, which we have suffered throughout our history. We need to prepare at all times because the rest of the people in the world are also living under the "Signs of the Times."

Let us learn from and never to forget the lessons of the terrible deaths and destructions caused by the Guinsaugon landslide (in 2006) and Katrina Hurricane (in 2005)! Let us not forget the 230,000 dead and missing that were wiped out by the earthquake-triggered tsunamis (in 2004) in the Indian Ocean which hit Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and few other countries. Millions among us saw the deaths and devastations which were reported repeatedly via the CNN and other major TV networks. The experts had warned months and years before the actual events happened!

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATION

In conclusion, the R. K. Kangleon Street Mall when completed and operational will have the purchasing power to eliminate the middlemen - the sharks - and to compete with the famous SM Mega Malls, Ayala Shopping Centers, Gaisano Department Stores, and other retail marketing tycoons or cartels.

In addition, the main street malls in many cities of the world were established not primarily for the people with the money to go shopping, to seek entertainment, to hangout and relax, and to tour or visit. They evolved of some sort into a shopping mall environment. The main street malls were established using the existing downtown main street out of necessity and because the experts know that "supply creates its own demand."