Page 96 of 115
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
181
A.
Fire hazard:
B.
(1) A large number of LPG cylinders are stored. In the daytime they are placed in the side lanes, rear staircases of residential buildings and even fire escapes and restaurant premises.
(2) LPG is not used in a safe manner. During the operation of cooked food stalls, for example, the stoves are placed on broken wooden tables. If they are overturned, the tables will easily catch fire. Also, hot soup may spill on pedestrians or customers. LPG hoses are scattered around and not properly kept in the daytime. They may thus be easily damaged and pose hazards when they are used.
Obstruction:
(1) These cooked food stalls occupy pavements and even carriageways illegally. As a result, pedestrians have to walk on carriageways, causing danger.
(2) They obstruct accesses to buildings. For example, the operators of Fei Keung Chinese Hot Pot, a licensed stall situated below my office at Ivy Street, Tai Kok Tsui, place more than 10 tables on the pavement off the entrance to the building every night after eight when they operate their business. Despite repeated complaints and prosecutions, things have not improved.
(3) They obstruct fire escapes in back lanes.
(4) They encroach on legal parking spaces.
C. Traffic Congestion
D.
E.
F.
Take Fir Street in Tai Kok Tsui as an example. Every night after 8.00 p.m. there are more than 300 customers seated at 70-odd tables eating Chinese hot pot by the roadsides, occupying the pavements and even the carriageway. The customers park their cars anywhere they like, thus causing traffic congestion.
Noise
(1) The customers shout and yell and may even cause greater disturbance when they are drunk.
(2) Noise nuisance is caused by the stall operators vying for customers.
(3) Some of the customers are taxi-drivers. They sometimes park their cars in front of these food stalls and start the engines or accidentally press the horns as they check their cars, thus generating noise.
Environmental hygiene
(1) Leavings of food are scattered everywhere and attract rodents. Pedestrians slip easily because of the grease left on the ground.
(2) The leavings of food and grease block the drains.
Appearance of the affected areas
The disorderly layout of these food stalls seriously affects the appearance of the neighbourhood. Such stalls also attract a large number of undesirable elements.
Page 96 of 115
G. Falling objects
Sometimes, residents waken from their sleep by the noise may throw objects down from their flats to stop the customers of the stalls from making too much noise.
There are two main categories of on-road cooked food stalls operating at night. The first category are licensed but illegally extend their business onto pavements. The second category of these stalls are unlicensed.
The current enforcement measures against offences in respect of on-road licensed cooked food stalls operating at night are the implementation of the Demerit Point System and the issuing of summonses. As for the unlicensed stalls, the measures are seizure of their goods and prosecution of their operators.
Since the implementation of the above measures, there has been no decrease in the number of on-road cooked food stalls operating at night. On the contrary, the number of these stalls has been on the increase. So I would like to put forth the following suggestions in relation to the problem:
(1) Existing legislation should be amended to provide that for the first offence within a period of six months, the food licence concerned shall be suspended for 1 day, for a second offence within the same period the licence shall be suspended for 3 days and for a third offence the licence shall be cancelled altogether.
(2) The court should expedite the hearing of such cases and raise the fines substantially as a deterrent.
(3) Enforcement action should be stepped up and Hawker Control Teams be stationed at the black spots.
In this connection, I have approached U.S.D. staff in the District a number of times. However, the answer I received is that insufficient manpower causes difficulty in deployment and, it is impossible to assign additional staff to deal with the problem. As a result, the situation cannot be brought under complete control.
I sincerely hope that the Department will realize the serious nuisance caused by those on-road cooked food stalls operating at night to residents of Mong Kok District and deploy the staff required to improve the situation for the benefit of the community.
(4) Roadside spaces occupied by illegal cooked food stalls should be demarcated as parking spaces, wherever possible.
(5) As a deterrent, joint operations with the Police should be conducted at least 5 times a week, especially on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Mr. Chairman, besides the problem of Chinese hot-pot stalls, the cleanliness of the streets in Mong Kok District is unacceptable. Areas around Nathan Road are littered with rubbish and the situation is worse during holidays. Streets are strewn with publicity leaflets of restaurants, jewellery shops, first food shops, estate agents, etc. Litter containers at the roadside are filled to overflowing, with no one to remove the refuse. This mars the appearance of the district and the image of the Council.
Page 96 of 115