At a Party members’ meeting recently held by the No. 1 Party Branch of Yongde Residential Area (the Branch), the transformation and renewal of the environment of the residential area at Lane 146, Chuangong Road has become the most discussed topic among the Party members. The old community, containing 340 households, lies between Lane 146, Chuangong Road and Lane 1515, North Sichuan Road. 48 Party members of the Branch live here.
Due to the incomplete property management function of the community, the complex structure of the houses, many remaining historical problems and the seriously damaged non-motorized vehicle garage, residents have no suitable public space, and the road surface is also pitted. How to improve the situation?
Old Parking Garage Becomes a Scenic Spot
It is the consensus of all the Party members of the Branch that we should start with the repair of non-motorized vehicle garages. The simple vehicle shed at the entrance of Lane 146, Chuangong Road was built with iron sheet and iron frame many years ago. It is not only dilapidated and hard to shelter from the wind and rain, but also stacked with worn-out furniture and cardboard debris, attracting cockroaches and mice and wild cats to settle down, which seriously affected the health of the living environment. Moreover, some residents privately charged electric vehicles in the shed with wires and drag wire boards in disorder, and wire webs were just over people’s heads. There is only one padlock for the garage door. As the management personnel forget to lock the door, batteries have been stolen for many times.
The shed was so poor and unsafe that the residents were eager to change this situation. The Party members of the Branch looked at it and kept it in mind. Under the support of the sub-district community safety office, the Branch fully solicited opinions and suggestions through the Party members' meeting and the residents' meeting, and finally the reconstruction of the non-motorized vehicle garage was established as a practical sub-district project. On the basis of coordinating the contradictions and solving the reconstruction problems, officials of the Branch took two months to carry out the reconstruction with separate responsibility. The old shed, which was famous for its messy and poor conditions, was finally renovated and became a new garage with automatically electric control doors and intelligent fire-proof charging piles. The Branch also established parking rules for non-motorized vehicles to strengthen the daily standardized management of garages. For a while, the neighborhood committee was crowded, and residents who came to inquire for information and hoped to park their non-motorized vehicles into the new garage.
The non-motorized vehicle garage has taken on a brand new look, and the residents are very proud of it. They have taken out their own flowers and plants to decorate the garage, and carefully water and maintain it, making the garage a beautiful landscape in the community. It has become a new fashion in the alley for residents to enjoy the beauty of flowers and plants and chat about their daily life every evening.
A New Space Promotes the Neighborhood Emotion
There are many 3-floor old brick and tile houses in the community of Lane 146, Chuangong Road. Besides, one 3-floor apartment building was constructed in the 20th century and used to be the staff dormitory of the Commercial Press. After years of wind and rain, the place, full of life atmosphere in the past, has become dilapidated buildings. The cement pavement is damaged and uneven. Bamboos and ropes for drying clothes can be seen everywhere. The rain shed covered with dust for years has been turned into a danger. Under the leadership of the General Party Branch in the residential area, the Branch has held many meetings of the Party and the masses to fully listen to the opinions and suggestions of Party members and residents on how to optimize the lane environment.
Finally, with the strong support of the sub-district, the scheme of reconstructing the area in the form of lane micro-renewal was formulated, and Shanghai Construction Engineering Group was entrusted to "transform" the community upon unanimous decision. In order to ensure that the daily life of residents will not be affected during the construction period, the Branch took the organizational advantage of the Party building of community area and took the Party group as the unit to claim the tasks of debris cleaning, security patrol and conflict mediation during the micro renewal period.
After six-month renovation, the issues including fashionable and bright glass awning, neatly arranged steel structure racks for clothes, telescopic shelves, storage chairs, park-styled basin for hand washing, flower racks of art plant have been integrated into the architectural style of the community. In the community, there are also new public facilities such as children's play corner and "micro garden". The flower beds full of flowers and the wooden chairs for the elderly not only create a harmonious atmosphere in the community, but also show a strong alley culture.
With more space for public activities in the community, the Branch made full use of these resources to organize and carry out various forms of one-day Party activities with themes, and called on Party members and residents to carry out "open-air" Party-masses meeting. The residents' enthusiasm for self-government was fully stimulated. For example, the Party members of the Party group and residents of No. 35 apartment building actively put forward suggestions for the construction of the community with the help of the platform of the Party and masses conference, and transformed the original space and dead corner of garbage into a small garden, and thus established the "Flower Club". Some residents decorated the public activity space of the community with the award-winning watercolor paintings and calligraphy works, and established a "Book Club". These measures not only adorned the community environment, but also enriched the community life of residents. The Party members of the Branch also spontaneously set up a volunteer management team, which has imperceptibly make more residents to cherish the environment.
General Secretary Xi Jinping said that we must seize the most direct and realistic interests with the people's greatest concern, solve the protruding problems related to the people's livelihood, and do one thing after another. Reconstructing a garage and expanding a public space are not very impressive at first glance, but they are closely related to the residents' daily life, which gives them more sense of gain and happiness. The environment greatly improves and life is more comfortable, because the Party and masses discuss together, with the efforts of residents. The small world in the alley has evolved into a big space for the lane governance practice in the new era!