I'M SURE many of you have visited Marine Cove, that delightful haven of lifestyle outlets, from restaurants to beach bars to beachwear kiosks, at East Coast Parkway.
Sure, the crowds are thick, especially on weekends, and, if you are driving, it can take a while to pull into the carpark, given the congested traffic leading to it.
But once you are there and nursing a drink at any of the beach bars that give you a gorgeous night-time view of the sea (twinkling with lit-up ships) and sky (a carpet of stars), you feel your stress slipping away.
So it comes as a shock to me that the authorities are not renewing the lease when that expires early next year. Tenants are now unsure of what will happen next and consumers like me are aggrieved that we may be deprived of this weekend, or even weekday, hangout.
The authorities say parking is a problem in the area and they want to improve access to the beach. Certain buildings may have to make way for this.
But the East Coast Parkway, despite its immense popularity, is such a long stretch, from Fort Road all the way towards Changi Airport.
Surely, there are many other places, apart from Marine Cove, for one to comfortably enjoy the sun and sea?
Also, Marine Cove is just one of only a few spots along the stretch dedicated to lifestyle needs, with the others being the seafood centre, Playground (the former Big Splash) and another site close to Marine Cove which is home to futsal pitches, among other highlights.
So if Marine Cove is replaced with a big carpark or if the site is scaled down a fair bit for retail, one of the charms of the area would be lost for good.
And this allure has taken a while to develop and has morphed into a nice, busy, buzzy magnet for everyone.
But if the authorities want to open up more carparking options, there’s the space available at the former site of the Singa Inn eatery and golf-driving range.
They have moved out for quite a while now and the land is now just a riot of grass.
Why not turn this into a carpark?
Better still, why not have free feeder buses running from this place to other stretches of the ECP to cut down on the current heavy volume of traffic?
Marine Cove has been around for so long that it deserves to live on.