BE A 'street rep' - your private estate wants you.
Be it clogged drains or inconsiderate parking, for example, four private estates now have street representatives to bring up such concerns, or to draw the attention of their Member of Parliament to the problems.
The four estates - Springleaf, Lentor, Green View and Thomson - saw 85 of their own residents appointed by the Government yesterday as middlemen to their MP.
Acting like block representatives in HDB estates, they will organise street parties, channel complaints to the MP and spread information on new policies.
Some 5,000 families live in the four estates.
Ms Lee Bee Wah, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC who mooted the idea, said the arrangement is the first for private residential areas.
The four estates are all located in her Nee Soon South ward, and cover the 40 per cent of voters who live in private housing.
She handed out the appointment letters yesterday with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at a carnival attended by fellow MPs and picnicking residents in private estate Springleaf Garden.
In an impromptu speech, PM Lee backed the plan, and added that the Government will consider Ms Lee's call in Parliament for a one-stop centre to address private estate residents' needs.
Ms Lee later elaborated that whereas HDB dwellers could turn to town councils, private residents often had to call multiple agencies to have their concerns addressed.
There was no need for political affiliation to volunteer as a street rep, she added.
Grassroots leaders explained that street reps would have to join the MPs on their house visits, take notes on residents' concerns and organise community events.
The 85 representatives said they were recruited by word-of-mouth, and they are hoping to rope in more.
How often street reps meet, how they go about hearing residents' concerns, and how they will be re-elected after a two-year term are still being worked out.
Mr Alvin Say is the representative for Springleaf Drive, which has about 40 houses.
The 24-year-old national serviceman plans to get to know his neighbours better and to push for the upgrading of a nearby field. 'We have a nice field but it's not developed. We could have a proper field to get the kids out to play,' he said.
A Springleaf Garden resident for 15 years, Mr Dennis Lee, 30, was all for the new spokesmen.
He said: 'We haven't had that sort of ground-level reach that people living in public housing have. People may be living in private estates, but that does not mean they don't need help.'
On his expectations, he said: 'I hope they'll take action. If they aren't able to, then they could tell us why.'
krist@sph.com.sg
