SINGAPORE: Imagine being greeted by a splash of colours each time you leave your house.

This has been the experience for residents at Holland Ave Block 8 for the past two years after their void deck was converted into a pop-up art gallery.

The first void deck gallery was launched at Pipit Road in 2011, with the second at Holland Ave introduced the following year.

Come April, two more void decks in Singapore will be converted to art galleries.

The void decks at Blocks 749 and 750 at Jurong West St 73 will be dressed up but with a different focus.

The theme of the gallery is Singapore's 50th anniversary and there will be some 30 artworks showcasing significant events, people and products in Singapore including the Merlion and the chilli crab.

The people behind these galleries say they hope to bring arts closer to the community.

Faris Basharahil, founder of non-profit arts enterprise Social Creatives, said: "We believe that art is not 'atas' (high class), it is for anyone and everyone. This kind of void-deck art gallery is a free-concept art gallery which is opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Organisers say they hope to launch similar galleries in other HDB estates such as Hong Kah North, Serangoon, and Tampines.

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Void-deck art galleries to be launched in Jurong

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- From misalignments to misplaced water, there are new safety concerns about the Bay Bridge. Caltrans claims these problems are no big deal, but others disagree.

The problem is not all of the decks on the suspension are perfectly aligned. Plus, there are unexplained water leaks affecting 30 percent of the bolts.

"This is not an issue. It does not affect the structural stability of the bridge," said Bay Bridge spokesman Andrew Gordon.

"What we're talking about when we say misalignments is at most an eight-millimeter difference between the two decks. The public does not feel this or see this whatsoever," said Gordon.

"I see possible red flags," said Peter Yanev.

Yanev is an Orinda expert on earthquake engineering. He says the deck misalignment alone may not be a huge issue, but taken with Caltrans' series of missteps from broken rods to water leaks, he is concerned.

"I have seen enough over the last two years to say we should pull back and look at the whole thing again. The risks are significant. Maybe they're acceptable, maybe they are not," said Yanev.

Meantime, Caltrans now estimates 30 percent of the 2,600 bolts in the suspension portion of the bridge are leaking, but the department insists it's a problem they anticipated, even if they have yet to find the exact source.

"It's supposed to rain this week, so that might yield some additional information as to how it's getting into the barrier rail," said Gordon.

As for those giant broken bolts discovered last year, Caltrans says all those that failed have been retrofitted and tests on the remainder have so far revealed no additional problems.

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Road deck alignment is latest Bay Bridge problem

Decks have been cleared for conducting the Mayoral election here following an interim order by a Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court on Monday.

While giving liberty to the government to conduct the elections, the High Court directed the government to reserve the post of Mayor to a general category candidate (Councillor) while that of Deputy Mayor to a general category woman candidate.

Earlier, the government had reserved the Mayors post to a general category woman candidate and Deputy Mayors post to a general category candidate.

The High Court had stayed this after a Councillor of Mangalore City Corporation challenged the governments reservation roster notification.

In the elections to Mangalore City Corporation council on March 7, 2013, the Congress returned to power after a five-year break. Of the 60 seats in the council, it won 35 seats leaving 20 to the BJP, two to the Janata Dal (Secular) and one seat each to the CPI(M), the Social Democratic Party of India and to an independent.

After the new government took over, it announced the roster of reservations on August 23, 2013. This roster had been challenged in the High Court.

Sources in the corporation said that following the High Courts interim order, now the government would have to issue a notification announcing the new roster of reservation as directed by the court.

Only after that the Regional Commissioner, Mysore, could fix a date for conducting the elections. It required at least seven days notice to the councillors to conduct (fix the date) the elections.

Officials in the corporation were not sure whether announcement of elections to the Lok Sabha, expected in a few days, would come in the way of conducting Mayoral elections. They were yet to consult the authorities concerned on this.

The Congress is yet to finalise its Mayoral candidates. Going by the seniority, Councillor-elect like Harinath, Lancelot Pinto, M. Shashidhar Hegde, Naveen DSouza, Deepak Poojary, Bhaskar Moily, Mahabala Marla are all possible candidates for the post.

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High Court order clears decks for mayoral polls

OAKLAND, Calif.

Caltrans called reporters in Tuesday to update several items pertaining to the new eastern Bay Bridge span and the demolition of the old one.

During the talk, it quickly became a spirited defense of yet another allegations of alleged new span defects.

There are allegations that the steel road decks on the signature tower suspension span were miss-fitted and welded in a way that they'll break from normal use or in an earthquake.

The position of the project is that this is not an issue. It does not affect the structural stability of the bridge. It does not affect its seismic performance in the event of an earthquake, said Andrew Gordon, Bay Bridge Project Spokesman.

Caltrans also commented on several hundred water leaks, into supposedly water tight steel road decks, found when it rained a couple of weeks ago.

There are leak holes, there's dehumidification, we anticipated water and we have the steps in place to manage this issue, said Gordon.

Gordon continued, saying demolition of the old bridge road decks continues on schedule with work to dismantle the double-peaked cantilever section to be obvious next month. He also says the pedestrian and bike path will be closed on weekends in April to install the permanent connector to the Oakland side. The connection to Yerba Buena Island is still more than a year away.

KTVU put a series of question to him regarding the $6.4 billion bridge.

Is this bridge now and will it perform in the future as designed?

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Caltrans addresses new concerns with Bay Bridge

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The Decks
Tiberius restaurant on the water.

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The Decks - Video

Poorly Crafted: Hearthstone Gimmick Decks#24 - Druid Deathrattle/Flood
A series where each episode I craft (poorly) a gimmicky Hearthstone deck and roll the dice on getting a win with it. Today: Two gimmicks to rule them all... ...

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Poorly Crafted: Hearthstone Gimmick Decks#24 - Druid Deathrattle/Flood - Video

OAKLAND -- When water leaks sprung in the decks of the unbelievably expensive replacement Bay Bridge during a recent storm, people asked a logical question: Is that bridge really going to last 150 years?

After all, the steel and reinforced concrete span is outdoors where rain, fog and the salty bay water could ultimately transform the gleaming structure into a rusted hulk. Just look at the old eastern span now under demolition.

Caltrans insists the new span is here for the duration but concedes that water -- or at least, water in the wrong places -- will be an ongoing threat.

"The bridge is literally a battle zone between steel and water," veteran Caltrans engineer Brian Maroney said. "It's a war that we will eventually lose. But we have taken a number of extra measures to fight corrosion, and if we do a good job maintaining the bridge, we can stay ahead of it for 150 years or more."

Not everyone is so sure, given Caltrans' series of water-related setbacks on the span since construction started 10 years ago.

First, water seeped into ducts that held steel tendons used to strengthen the reinforced concrete in the skyway segment of the span.

In March 2013, a third of 96 very large high-strength steel bolts -- 3 inches in diameter and up to 24 feet long -- inside key seismic stabilizers snapped. Experts say pooled water in the bottom of the bolt casings may have contributed to the failures.

Then the rains came in mid-January, and water leaked into places beneath the travel deck where water isn't supposed to go.

"It looks like incompetence," said Charles McMahon Jr., an engineer and retired chairman and professor emeritus of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

Water's destructive effect on steel is well-known and preventable, he said.

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New Bay Bridge fights war against water