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connection, much play has been made of the lack of off-street hawker bazaars. The simple proven point is conveniently forgotten that unless such sites are located in heavy pedestrian traffic, the hawkers will not use them. And, in the area where hawkers are actually operating and want to do so permanently, people live in very high density, and there are few if any such suitable sites readily available. It is estimated that 45,000 extra stalls are required at street level to reach an accept- able retail marketing standard in the public and private sectors com- bined. But, when a site becomes vacant unexpectedly, the Government auctions it off, the left-hand not knowing what the right-hand does. Take the case of the site adjoining the Wanchai Market as an example: the Government has refused to give it to the Council to re-locate the street-traders in the vicinity and to extend the existing market. It wants to sell it, seemingly not caring a fig for the hawker problem. Yet, it expresses concern.
Secondly, all food-stalls which by and large do thriving business should be put under the Food Hygiene Select Committee and treated as street eating-places with better control over hygiene and sanitary conditions to protect public health.
Lastly, all the other hawkers should be re-classified realistically and licensed where warranted, and left in the care of a reformed Hawkers Select Committee enjoined to spend its time on management instead of playing judge and jury over a handful of appeals and "com- passionate" cases. Those who are in the traditional trades should be left to carry on without interference if they comply with minimal requirements. All others should be converted into fixed pitches where feasible and put on their honour, as they claim they should be allowed to do, to respect the fact that other citizens in the vicinity also have the right to live in decent environmental conditions. And, those businesses which pay rents and rates and incur other overheads as well, have a right to expect that the Council would not subsidize hawkers to offer them unbridled competition in a most unfair manner as is presently the case.
Alternatively, even the Hawkers Select Committee in its new transitory form could be abolished in the coming financial year and its business transferred to a reconstituted Markets, Abattoirs and Street- Trading Select Committee. All the time, the Standing Committee, as a back-stop, could always grasp the nettle in the last resort and take over direct management on its own as an interim measure,
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In Perspective
The sensitive situation cannot be sorted out in a drastic manner to complicate community relations here, but only in a progressive and realistic way without disrupting any hawker's livelihood. For, hawking in Hong Kong is a human problem of moral, social, economic and political dimensions.
It is also likely to solve itself by attrition in time if good management is put into practice now without dilatoriness. The Council, the Government and the community must stand together and face up to the realities of the problem to cut it down to proper proportions and to create acceptable conditions by effective means now. Penny-pinching by the Government and emotionalism on the part of the community will defeat the best plans and set at nought all the measures which the Council's vast and intricate experience may devise. Will the Government play ball?
Hawkers' Rice Bowl
Thus, the Council is not breaking the hawkers' rice bowl. On the contrary, with their help and support, it hopes to regulate a complex situation in a fair way. Hawkers will probably do far better business in the end, without the extortion or intimidation they are now exposed to or the harassment they complain about in the present circumstances. The community will be happier for it too. Let us all get on with the job at once. Even so, it will take a long time to do.
Immediate Action
The immediate need is to tackle the on-street situation without doubt. It can only be done on the spot. To tidy up and to monitor it closely, to control land use and to apply the practical points made in this statement, there must be far more staff on the ground. Money has to be found to pay and equip them. The Council has simply not got the means to do so on the scale that will make an impact on the problem. Indeed, it will all cost $90m a year, more or less. The Council is already underwriting about half, if not more. So let the Government match the Council in all fairness.
Thus, every householder should bear clearly in mind that he is already paying part of his rates to keep this vast retail outlet arrange- ment going on in the streets. And, he may be asked to pay still more unless the hawkers do it themselves. What would he prefer?
Let the people know
Let the people know that it is every single householder who is really paying to keep the hawkers in business. Still, the Council will
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