Sidewalks

One thing I like about our neighborhood is that it is never too hard to get to a neighborhood store, laundry shop, pharmacy, bakery, gas station, restaurant and myriads of other shops. Whether it is from BF Homes QC or any other village in this part of Barangay Holy Spirit, walking was bearably short enough on a pleasant day. The sidewalks were not perfect but wide enough except for problems such as varying elevations, obstructions and unpaved portions for some stretches and occasional repairs that seem to drag on for eternity.

Then came a city project to improve the sidewalks. According to the erected billboard for the project, it showed a repaved and wider sidewalk more pleasant for pedestrians. I would imagine a proejct similar to that done along Tomas Morato also within Quezon City.


As the project went underway, I noticed that part of this improvement entailed a little road widening that effectively reduced the width of the sidewalk. The reason for the widening is not quite apparent as the Holy Spirit Drive was already 4 lanes wide. Since the widening was barely 1 lane wide, I can only surmise that this would either be for on-street (parallel) parking or simply to widen the width of each lane. Either way, it is the vehicle owners who will benefit.

The problem now comes with the existing trees along the sidewalks. With the sidewalk width reduced, the trees now pose as obstructions, being situated smack in the center of the sidewalks. The roots of some even protrude out onto the road carriageway. And with some fences and establishments built right up to the sidewalks’ edge, how else could the pedestrians avoid these trees & other obstructions, but to walk on the road carriageway itself.


Whoever or whatever office did the planning and survey for this project should look further at improving the sidewalk layout and design for the benefit of those who prefer taking a short walk instead of a car just to go to the neighborhood store.

BFQC Weekend Market Announced

First Major Storm

Ondoy, the most recent storm to pass nearest to Metro Manila, was the first major storm we had since we moved in to our new place here in BF Homes QC. Heavy rains started to pour in the early morning of September 26, Saturday. It kept me awake the whole night and the following day as I had to periodically check on the house for any leaks, overloaded gutters and drains and, any leaking windows or doors. It was the major drainage and waterproofing test for our place. So far, no problems.

The village of BF Homes QC was also lucky as it had little flooding problems compared to the rest of the neighborhood of Barangay Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit drive, for a stretch fronting the new Mercury Drug, was chest deep in water. One car parked near the front of Kowloon, a popular dimsum house, was submerged with only about 4inches of its roof coming out of the flood waters. The detour we planned to take going to Zuzuarregui North was also impassable.

The old Delgado gate was passable going to Commonwealth Avenue. But the rising waters of the creek just outside the gate kept me worried. It's good to take note of this just in case we go through (hopefully not) a similar calamity in the future.

It is also good to familiarize ourselves with what is beyond the village’s fence and how it affects us. Upon looking through a simple road map, I noticed a tributary of the Tullahan River just beyond the village’s fence at its lowest elevation, that is at the end of Salazar, Briones and Ortega Streets. It is quite logical to assume that most of the Village’s drainage spills onto this creek. This tributary or creek runs almost parallel to Encarnacion, and is the same creek that cuts across the entrance road, out side the gate at Delgado. This begins to collect water from Commonwealth Avenue, near the Don Enrique Gate. I would also imagine that most water from Don Enrique also drains to this creek.

This creek should be monitored periodically by anyone concerned. Any problems in this tributary may seriously affect BF Homes QC.

More Signs

There is a uniform speed limit within the village.

For emergencies, you just have to look for this sign at one of the nearest street corners along the main village roads.

Signs

BFQC_240909624_web-Signs
Originally uploaded by ral_m

This is the sign I mentioned in my previous post regarding pets. It is located at the corner of Ortega & Briones streets.

More on Our Central Park

This weekend is a long one, today being a Monday and a Holiday. So I had time to visit the park on my bike again.

These pictures were taken between the skating rink and the rear of the church.
I noticed a couple of househelps bring their dogs to the park to defecate and without cleaning up after. The park is not a dump site or a toilet. There’s one sign at the side of Ortega St. that calls attention to this disgusting habit. It is not a deterrent but it helps, and I hope more signs could be put up around the entire park.

Central Park

No, this is not about New York. And unless it is dedicated to one of the community developer's officers of to one of the community's outstanding residents, I would just like to refer to our community's large open space as this, - The Central Park.

Compared to more recent developed communities or subdivisions, the size of BF Homes Quezon City's park is quite generous. This is inspite of having our community developed way before the subdivision design guidelines were put in place and long before the Housing & Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) was established. I barely remember that as early as the 1970s, there was the pool & court facilities (at least the basketball court I remember), a children's playground and skating rink. The only structure then apart from the reservoir tank, was the original administration building overlooking the pool area. At that time, the Central Park appeared as one big open space with barely any trees or shrubs. While I may not be completely accurate, what comes to my mind is a warm, grass covered expansive park with tall grasses at the fringes.

Since then, there has been a lot of improvements. The basketball court has been covered. A new administration building has been put up right next to the old one. And next to this is the Senior Citizen's Multi-Purpose Hall. All these are on the northern side of the Central Park.
On the southwestern side, the Parish church had it share of improvements. Sadly, the skating rink is no longer usable. And the children's playground is no longer there.

But going back on the bright side, part of the open space has been transformed into a more lush green space with fairly tall trees and with varied shrubbery. In probably a few more years, the area around the old skating rink will probably resemble a mini-forest. There is still a clearing maintained right behind the water reservoir tank that can accomodate activities like soccer or football, kite flying or just about any children's games that need a lot of running around.

I hope to see more of the people here in BF Homes take advantage of the Central Park. I sure would not like seeing this potentially beautiful amenity of the community being taken up by more and more covered facilities in the future.

Parish of the Holy Spirit

I always believed that BF Homes had one of the first church in this area that not only services its residents but those of the surrounding villages and a nearby school as well. This eventually led to having its own separate parish, the Parish of the Holy Spirit.
It has gone through a lot of transformations most recently is the completion of the RUA center at the rear and the make over of the church interior itself.

As posted outside church complex, I am re-posting the list of services and schedules below for anyone who needs it.

BFQC Community Socials

While going through recently received mails, I came across the two tickets for the Community's Bingo socials. This was organized by the BFHQCHCAI & the Parish of the Holy Spirit partly for the celebration of the Community's foundation day. Also, as mentioned in the flyer, this is also to raise funds for the improvement of two buildings at the community center.
Since moving here, I have already missed several events. This now would be a good opportunity to introduce ourselves and to meet more of our neighbors.

The BF Homes QC Foundation Day Community Bingo Socials will be held on October 18, 2009 from 1-6pm at the BF Homes Covered Court.

More History

The next time I got to frequent this village was whenever I visit my Mom's sister & her family who lives along Nepomuceno street (They still do live there until now). They had a small store then. Then eventually they moved to a bigger house just next door after they sold their first house.

On one occasion, my sisters, my cousins & I strolled around the streets of the village. First stop was the playground that used to be at the park fronting the corner of Nepomuceno & Briones. There used to slides, swings and see-saws.

Then we would talk about the house that seemed to froze in time. I never saw anybody go in and out of the house but at times, seemed to have a light glowing inside, presumably from an occupant. It had, for the longest time (and until now), 2 cars, a volkwagen and a minica, parked in the garage. I wonder if the interiors of the house still had the 70s furniture.
We would walk past the church which back then was unpainted and stood bare without grills. There was no covered court back then. And the lots around the School of the Holy Spirit then were full of tall grasses.

Round and round these places we would walk everytime we had the chance. The village of BF Homes was just like the whole park for us kids back then.

A Little History

BF Homes subdivision in Quezon City, they say, was developed around 1969-1970. That was what my parents said. When they first visited the place around that time, land development was being done. There were no paved roads yet, just grading and earth moving, they said.

It was much later, around mid-1970s, when I first got to see BF Homes. I remember riding at the back of our white volkswagen. My Dad was driving along a narrow, 2-lane asphalted Commonwealth road. The road's shoulders were wide with very red soil. There were barely any other cars then and the ride seemed to take forever.

My Dad turned left at the BF road but I didn't see the entrance right away. It was all grass and earth on both sides of the road. Finally, we entered the gate on Delgado street. There were already several houses then. Bungalows mostly. It took us a while to drive around and find the property my Dad bought. I remember there were no next door neighbors then. The nearest were a few lots away up and down the block. So we had to look for the "muhons" or monuments. There were hardly any vegetation. When my Dad found the monuments, all I remember was that he was describing the locations to my Mom.
As to where they were, I'll leave that until the next time. . . . .

For Starters

I started this blog about the village we live in, primarily because whenever I went around, I always could find something worth noting or sharing about the neighborhood. And I needed a medium to put these down. Since I was trained as an Architect and Planner, I always had an eye for observation and a critical mind. As a resident, I am entitled to my opinions and hopefully, these may be of some use in the future.
Although my family & I have just recently moved in (actually 1 month shy of 1 year today), I have spent a lot of time in this area as a kid in the 1970s during my visits to my Aunt & cousins who live in this same village. So I fairly recall how this place looks like then.
Prior to moving in too, I have spent everyday supervising the construction of our house for almost 10months. I personally worked out the papers through the developer's office in Sucat and through the Homeowners' Association. I have met some neighbors and found & reconnected with some old friends.
I am not a creative nor a prolific writer. But hopefully, this blog becomes an interesting journey