Just on four years ago in December 2009 a.d. a ceremony on the bank of the Mae Kha Canal, by the bridge in Rattanakosin Rd just down from the Municipal Stadium, marked the initiation of a program to make the canal an asset the people of Chiang Mai might enjoy.
The water was to be made clean, paths for walking cycling were to follow its path and trees were to be planted. Town and provincial officials joined with school children in the festivities amidst 60 gayly coloured flowers planted for the occasion as the Deputy Mayor and Deputy Governor “planted” one tree each to mark the occasion.
Now four years later during which time the municipality has twice destroyed the streamside trees with its dredging operations, at Chang Klang, south of Sridonchai Rd, here is the scene- Trees gone and Water Black and malodorous. Never-the-less the Mayor of the period is standing for re-election.