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the seeming lack of the facilities that are needed for hawkers to operate their business in clean and dignified surroundings.
In the past, it seems that any dirty old piece of land unfit for anything else, has been foisted on to the hawkers, and I have seen them forced to carry on their trade beside garbage dumps, on muddy prepared ground, or on paved areas so broken up that they had to patch them up themselves with stones and planks of wood before they could operate. Drainage has often been so inadequate that it became a breeding-place for vermin rather than for drainage of waste water. These conditions do not help to make the hawkers themselves cleaner, but rather encourage them to add to the mess.
Most hawker commodities require a water supply, especially cooked food, fish and poultry, and vegetables. Yet on a recent occasion, when hawkers who were permitted to sell poultry asked for a standpipe, they were told to use the wash-rooms of a nearby resettlement estate. This is neither hygienic nor convenient, either for the hawkers or the estate tenants. We conduct a Clean Hong Kong Campaign, and all too often we demand standards of cleanliness from hawkers without providing a proper water supply for them to keep the area clean. I contend that every hawker bazaar, even temporary bazaars, must have water laid on, if hawkers are to maintain standards of cleanliness in the food they sell, or in the surroundings where they hawk.
Another surprising feature of hawker bazaars is that very often they are set up without any electricity supplies. Hawkers are expected, it seems, to use primitive means, such as pressure lamps which are highly dangerous in a stall, or alternatively find some way of having electricity installed themselves. But the procedures involved in negotiating with the companies are so cumbersome that hawkers find their own unsatisfactory solution in creating a network of illegal wiring that is more dangerous than anything the companies could fear. Have a look at the new hawker resites in resettlement estates, and you will see the untidiness, the waste, and the danger of these illegal connections. Surely the time has come when electricity should be installed automatically in all hawker bazaars, the hawkers merely providing their own meters and lamps. Temporary supplies are not unusual, and can be found at all building sites, so why not at temporary bazaars? I scarcely need mention that illegal supplies inevitably lead to racketeering: yet so often Hong Kong seems to create opportunities for racketeering rather than change ancient policies for modern times.
Then, for some reason that I have never been able to fathom, it has been the policy to prohibit hawkers erecting roofs to shade their goods. I know the excuse, that the hawkers always take the opportunity of extending these shades to expand business, but surely the right approach is to roof in the whole area, after which no extensions will be permitted. The policy is unreasonable, whether viewed from the side of the hawker wanting to protect his goods from sun or rain, or the customers who need protection in this climate. Besides, the policy is not carried out fairly: I have visited areas where some hawkers had their shades demolished while others could extend as far as they liked.
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The question is: Do hawkers need shades? I believe the answer is, Yes, they do. That being so, why do we not provide roofs? If you ever travel over the flyover in Canal Road, you will notice a higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of shades on the stalls below. Before the Clean Hong Kong Campaign, these shades were littered with rubbish. Now they are clean, but look so untidy! I am sure that when it rains the water drips on to goods and customers, and I dread to think what it will look like after a typhoon.
So why not erect roofs over all bazaars? If the bazaar is to be temporary, even for one year, it is still worth-while, as the roofs could be made of corrugated iron or other suitable material, fixed together with nuts and bolts, and removable when the bazaar is removed, pieces of iron could then be used for other bazaars.
On a recent visit to the Shui Wo Street bazaar in Kwun Tong, some of the hawkers drew me aside and showed me how they had had to cover up pot-holes with pieces of wood; they showed how dangerous it was for shoppers to walk along the broken pavements and gutters; they explained how their business was limited because of the failure to open gates at all sides to attract customers; and they said: "Why do we have to pay higher licence fees for these awful conditions?" I promised to see what I could do, and this motion is an attempt to call for improvements. However, unless action is taken quickly, that particular bazaar will meet the fate of its predecessor and other bazaars: it will become a shambles, and hawkers will move outside to trade on the streets.
Hawkers have a right to ask what they are paying for. I don't want to be told that they are paying to operate, regardless of the facilities. The point is, that they would be willing to pay for facilities, but generally speaking they are not allowed to have the facilities they need. In my opinion, if policy conflicts with reality, it is time to look at policy and not be blind to reality.
Page 63 of 212
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the seeming lack of the facilities that are needed for hawkers to operate their business in clean and dignified surroundings.
un-
In the past, it seems that any dirty old piece of land unfit for anything else, has been foisted on to the hawkers, and I have seen them forced to carry on their trade beside garbage dumps, on muddy prepared ground, or on paved areas so broken up that they had to patch them up themselves with stones and planks of wood before they could operate. Drainage has often been so inadequate that it became a breeding-place for vermin rather than for drainage of waste water. These conditions do not help to make the hawkers themselves cleaner, but rather encourage them to add to the mess.
Most hawker commodities require a water supply, especially cooked food, fish and poultry, and vegetables. Yet on a recent occasion, when hawkers who were permitted to sell poultry asked for a standpipe, they were told to use the wash-rooms of a nearby resettlement estate. This is neither hygienic nor convenient, either for the hawkers or the estate tenants. We conduct a Clean Hong Kong Campaign, and all too often we demand standards of cleanliness from hawkers without providing a proper water supply for them to keep the area clean. I contend that every hawker bazaar, even temporary bazaars, must have water laid on, if hawkers are to maintain standards of cleanliness in the food they sell, or in the surroundings where they hawk.
Another surprising feature of hawker bazaars is that very often they are set up without any electricity supplies. Hawkers are expected, it seems, to use primitive means, such as pressure lamps which are highly dangerous in a stall, or alternatively find some way of having electricity installed themselves. But the procedures involved in negotiat- ing with the companies are so cumbersome that hawkers find their own unsatisfactory solution in creating a network of illegal wiring that is more dangerous than anything the companies could fear. Have a look at the new hawker resites in resettlement estates, and you will see the untidiness, the waste, and the danger of these illegal connections. Surely the time has come when electricity should be installed automatically in all hawker bazaars, the hawkers merely providing their own meters and lamps. Temporary supplies are not unusual, and can be found at all building sites, so why not at temporary bazaars? I scarcely need mention that illegal supplies inevitably lead to racketeering: yet so often Hong Kong seems to create opportunities for racketeering rather than change ancient policies for modern times.
Then, for some reason that I have never been able to fathom, it has been the policy to prohibit hawkers erecting roofs to shade their
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
57
goods. I know the excuse, that the hawkers always take the opportunity of extending these shades to expand business, but surely the right approach is to roof in the whole area, after which no extensions will be permitted. The policy is unreasonable, whether viewed from the side of the hawker wanting to protect his goods from sun or rain, or the customers who need protection in this climate. Besides, the policy is not carried out fairly: I have visited areas where some hawkers had their shades demolished while others could extend as far as they liked.
If
The question is: Do hawkers need shades? I believe the answer is, Yes, they do. That being so, why do we not provide roofs? you ever travel over the flyover in Canal Road, you will notice a higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of shades on the stalls below. Before the Clean Hong Kong Campaign, these shades were littered with rubbish. Now they are clean, but look so untidy! I am sure that when it rains the water drips on to goods and customers, and I dread to think what it will look like after a typhoon.
So why not erect roofs over all bazaars? If the bazaar is to be temporary, even for one year, it is still worth-while, as the roofs could be made of corrugated iron or other suitable material, fixed together The with nuts and bolts, and removable when the bazaar is removed, pieces of iron could then be used for other bazaars.
On a recent visit to the Shui Wo Street bazaar in Kwun Tong, some of the hawkers drew me aside and showed me how they had had to cover up pot-holes with pieces of wood; they showed how dangerous it was for shoppers to walk along the broken pavements and gutters; they explained how their business was limited because of the failure to open gates at all sides to attract customers; and they said: "Why do we have to pay higher licence fees for these awful conditions?" I promised to see what I could do, and this motion is an attempt to call for improvements. However, unless action is taken quickly, that partic- ular bazaar will meet the fate of its predecessor and other bazaars: it will become a shambles, and hawkers will move outside to trade on the streets.
Hawkers have a right to ask what they are paying for. I don't want to be told that they are paying to operate, regardless of the facilities. The point is, that they would be willing to pay for facilities, but generally speaking they are not allowed to have the facilities they need. In my opinion, if policy conflicts with reality, it is time to look at policy and not be blind to reality.
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