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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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MR. A. de O. SALES, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:
This question relates to the position of the ticket booth at the Rumsey Street Car Park.
The difficulties caused by the position of the existing booth at this car park are appreciated and the Public Works Department is providing a replacement booth at ground level at the entrance to the Car Park. Most of the construction has now been completed and final work on the installation of glass panels and an inter-communication system is expected to be finished soon.
MR. KAN:-Thank you. Mr. Chairman, as a matter of interest, I wonder if you could tell us if there have been any reported cases of accidents due to the position of this booth?
MR. SALES: Sir, I have not been informed that there have been accidents because of the position of the booth.
(14) MR. RAYMOND Y. K. KAN asked the following question:
As the Urban Renewal Scheme of the Central and Western Districts is making steady progress, can the Chairman inform this Council whether there is plan for the redevelopment or reprovisioning of the Western Market which will be affected by it?
MR. R. H. LOBO, CHAIRMAN OF THE MARKETS SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows: —
The answer to this question is yes.
A site of approximately 40,000 sq. ft. for a new market at the location of the existing Western Market (South Block) is shown on the draft Outline Zoning Plan for the Urban Renewal District.
The present market consists of two blocks—the North Block at the western end of Des Voeux Road Central and the South Block at the junction of Bonham Strand, Morrison Street and Queen's Road Central. The 70 year old North Block has 111 stalls and specializes in the sale of meat and poultry; the 61 year old South Block has 101 stalls and specializes in the sale of fish and vegetables. The intention is to reprovision both blocks in one building on the site shown on the Zoning Plan. Detailed plans will be submitted to the Markets Select Committee at the appropriate time, when Members will be requested to give their views and advice.
MOTION.
MR. HILTON CHEONG-LEEN moved the following Motion:-
"RESOLVED that the Urban Council explore the feasibility of acquiring space in multi-storey buildings in order to provide recreational facilities for youth living in the more heavily populated urban districts."
He said:-Mr. Chairman, ever since the 1967 disturbances, there has been one problem in the minds of the local community. It is a problem which is worsening with each passing year and which as yet shows no sign of abating.
The problem is that of juvenile delinquency and the rising rate of violent crimes by young people, and what is feared to be a slow but steady erosion of law and order in Hong Kong. Five or six years ago, most people in Hong Kong felt that it was not dangerous to walk late at night in any of our streets; today this is no longer the case. Even in broad daylight and in main thoroughfares, youth gangs can wantonly attack others with bicycle chains, knives, iron bars and other lethal weapons.
(Mr. B. A. BERNACCHI left the meeting at this point).
I do not wish to imply that Hong Kong has not been faced with other serious problems in the past few years—problems such as those arising from Britain's proposed entry into the Common Market and the possible effects upon Hong Kong export industries; the tardiness by Government in introducing compulsory primary education and providing more secondary school places and in building more technical schools; the visible deterioration of public transport conditions particularly in Kowloon; the poor living environment of people in the older resettlement estates; the uphill battle which has faced the Urban Council in the past few months to get the necessary manpower and equipment resources to implement its hawker policy so as to reduce dirt, filth and unhygienic conditions for the benefit of both the public and the hawkers themselves.
Such problems are serious but they are overshadowed by the ever-present fear that lurks in the hearts of our local residents when they go out at night, the fear of being robbed in the street, or in a lift, or on a staircase, with a sharp knife at their throats or a dagger pin-pointed