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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY ACTING CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-Ladies and Gentlemen, I am acting Chairman in the absence of the CUC, may I call this meeting to order.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 10 September 1985, were confirmed.
STATEMENT BY ACTING CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-I am chairing this monthly public meeting of the Urban Council today, because the Chairman and 9 other members of us are presently on a working visit to North America. CUC is the head of a five-member Urban Council delegation which has the twofold aim of promoting Hong Kong and studying the latest developments there in municipal services.
The Council was recently asked by the Government to render its support to Hong Kong's participation in Expo '86 since this important international exposition will be visited by an estimated 14 million people from all over the world and therefore will provide the territory with an excellent opportunity to promote its image.
Bearing in mind the new lease of life that Hong Kong has been given by the Joint Declaration on our territory's future, and the need to maintain the pace of our dynamic progress into the next century, the Council gave its full support to Hong Kong's participation in Expo '86. In consequence it has despatched this top-level mission to North America, and the first stop on their busy schedule was Vancouver, where they visited the Expo site to see the module of the imaginative Hong Kong Pavilion.
I am confident that Hong Kong will make its mark in Vancouver, showing the world a glimpse of the enormous vitality that is the secret of the Hong Kong miracle.
The Urban Council party also accepted an invitation to visit Toronto, which has the largest Chinese community in Canada with over 100,000 ethnic Chinese, mostly from Hong Kong. During their four-day stay there, the delegation was able to renew cultural and other links as well as again updating themselves on the latest in city services.
The group's last stop is San Francisco, another North American city with a significant population from Hong Kong, which the party is now visiting. Again, the delegation will look at municipal facilities and promote cultural exchanges and ties of friendship.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Also visiting North America is another five-member delegation deeply involved in the planning of the permanent Museum of Science and Technology, and the Museum of History, to be built in two phases in East Tsim Sha Tsui, with the Museum of Science and Technology taking precedence.
The work of this group is to ensure that our two newest Museums incorporate the latest developments and become an innovative joint project that will be fully worthy of a forward-looking city like ours.
For this reason the group is seeking expert views on exhibit philosophy and design, display technique, management, staffing and the operation of modern museums.
It is hoped that the first phase, the Museum of Science and Technology, will be completed by 1989. Besides being a museum in the traditional sense it will serve an important semi-educational purpose and so help raise the scientific and technological standards of Hong Kong... in short it will be a museum of the 21st Century for the people of the 80's and 90's.
There will be no constraints on imagination and flair in the design and construction-only on finance. That is a fact of life in the Council's present financial situation-nevertheless we will get the greatest value possible for our budgeted $150 million for the project.
This working party on museum developments has already made gainful visits to the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver and the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, and will conclude a hectic programme by visiting the Exploratorium Museum and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.
PAPER
(Miss Cecilia L. Y. YEUNG arrived during the Chairman's address.)
The following paper was laid on the table:-
(1) Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of September 1985.
QUESTIONS
1. Miss CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG asked the following question (in Cantonese):—
(a) Do the lights of parks of Urban Council turn on overnight or otherwise?
(b) If yes, what time are the lights switched off the next day?
(c) Do the staffs of parks check the lights from time to time, whether they are perfect, until switching off?
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