A visit to the Raon area during the holidays to buy a bass guitar for our favorite eldest son proved a harrowing experience. One couldn’t walk in a straight line because sidewalks and much of the street have been taken over by hawkers and vendors.

The same is true for vehicles which are forced to crawl around the ubiquitous cariton filled with pirated DVDs and other what-nots and double-parked pickups unloading more what-nots.

We haven’t been to the area for years and it took us quite a while to get our bearings and get to the street where we bought our first guitar and our first LP albums. It was much more crowded than we remembered. But the guitars were still cheap and mostly of good quality, and LPs have been replaced by the aforementioned DVDs and CDs.

We are not sure whether Raon is considered part of Quiapo but if Raon is any measure, the Quiapo district must also be crawling with illegal stalls and vendors and all manners of obstructions to traffic.

We also aren’t sure why the mayor has chosen to pay particular attention to the Quiapo and the Muslim community there as the first locality to be given a makeover in 2006. Although it must be said that the Quiapo district desperately needs a makeover.

Mayor Atienza is treading lightly, going to Quiapo to meet with residents and to personally seek their cooperation in cleaning up sidewalks and streets, explaining to them that clearing obstructions will benefit the community. Business will improve with the smoother flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

The mayor also promised to immediately rehabilitate roads and sidewalks once these are cleared of obstructions. Atienza has been successful in transforming blighted and unsightly areas into havens for pedestrians and residents, even turning a couple of areas into commercial and profitable attractions.

The mayor however told residents that if they didn’t voluntarily remove obstructions then City Hall would do it for them.

Some people would just love to point out that what the Manila mayor is doing looks like what the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and its sidewalk clearing operations group have been doing. But it must be said that Atienza seems to be banking more on his charm and persuasive powers to get things done while the MMDA tends to rely more on the truckloads of charming demolition crew with their persuasive crowbars and hammers.