▼The wreckers have already started their work in Konacik and Gümbet (see inset) and according to news reports (citing a directive of the Environmental Protection Agency for Special Areas) some 232 buildings in the Bodrum district are to be demolished. The Marmaris district is threatened with demolition of 1377 buildings. Demolition announcements of the Bodrum and Konacik municipalities stress that most of the buildings and additions to be razed are “unsightly”, contributing to “visual pollution” while little mention is made of illegal construction. It is also to be noted that past press reports claimed the existence of more than 4000 buildings in the illegal category in the Bodrum district. This is clearly a very delicate subject where power, influence, money and, to some extent the number of votes, all play a part. We also all know that “there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip” so it’s unlikely that the proclaimed demolitions will be much more than cosmetic – though in the meantime it’s quite likely that some inoffensive plain folk may be hurt in the process.
▲The Gümbet market located in the Cevat Şakir quarter is about to get more than a facelift; it’s becoming “modernized”. This is usually a byword for tearing down the old and replacing it with some novelties supposedly reflecting the “latest technology”. The modernization announcement dwelling on the benefits of an imported “latest-system” translucent membrane roofing for the market suggests that this is the approach taken by the Bodrum town council. The modernized facility, however, will also be reportedly designed to be multi-purpose, convertible to use as a fairgrounds or a wedding/meeting hall as well as a sports venue. Slated for completion in January 2010, the new marketplace will undoubtedly lack the charm of the old one, a factor that is regrettably seldom a priority for today’s local administrations.
☻Some Bodrum old-timers may remember the project of an intrepid group of volunteers to establish an international library/community center, the efforts stretching back more than a decade to the days following the Bodrum Habitat conference in 1996. The efforts have been renewed recently, but to make sure that there is sufficient support among the wider Bodrum peninsula community, both Turkish and international, a public opinion survey is being administered. The ad hoc group renewing the efforts has decided on a name for the facility: Herodotus House, to honor the man who is widely regarded as the Father of History and who was a native of our city. Everyone is invited to take part in the survey the results of which will either terminate the effort or widen its scope.

Anyone can access the
survey by going directly to http://www.herodotushouse.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=29425&lang=en,
or they can go to http://www.herodotushouse.com, and click on the Survey link