Not only those living in Jeddah but everyone in the entire country should be buoyed by the recent announcement that a very serious step toward preserving our history has been taken. The creation of a new municipality to include Jeddah's historic Al-Balad and to be dedicated to the preservation of the historic buildings and atmosphere there will serve to see the many causes of concern transformed into tangible activity. The new body, the Historic District Municipality, will be in charge of planning and bring their plans to fruition in the area. It will directly oversee the repair, renovation and preservation of the area's historic structures, as well as seek to improve social and cultural activities. The end result should be a culturally vibrant district that will attract the varied population of Jeddah along with increased numbers of foreign visitors, as well. Such an aggressive step towards preservation has been overdue. Hopefully, the price we have paid while waiting will entail truly serious contemplation of the need to preserve downtown Jeddah and not see it go the way of Jeddah's Corniche, once a sparkling feature of this great city but now almost an alien place to many of the city's inhabitants. Al-Balad belongs to everyone, just as the Corniche does. The renovations that are about to be undertaken will benefit all of us. Shopping malls with their vast parking lots will continue to characterize the modern Saudi lifestyle, but the transformation of downtown Jeddah into a historical, cultural and architectural wonderland will create a new and exciting facet to life in the Bride of the Red Sea. All great cities honor and respect their pasts by preserving the work of those who have gone before. It is about time for the Jeddah municipality to get to work on preserving its own. Not only the upcoming changes to Al-Balad, but also the continuing excavation work that is uncovering ancient history, are also reasons to be optimistic about the city's future. __
