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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(c) To confine street trading to specified areas not detrimental to the local environment and where traffic and pedestrian movement would not be unduly impeded.
(d) To reduce to a minimum the nuisances created by street trading by putting it under proper control.
(e) To reduce progressively the heavy subsidy from public funds.
And even then the question of succession is also discouraged or restricted in many ways, however such policy does not clear up the question. On one hand, the number of licensed hawkers does not drop to a tremendous amount, and on the other hand the number of illegal hawkers rises rapidly.
What the public do concern is the hawkers scattering around and causing much inconvenience or nuisance to our community and of which the various District Boards have expressed their opinions to clear up the wall stalls, cooked-food stalls and other hawkers and they had expressed their strong objection against the illegal hawkers blocking our busy streets like Nathan Road, King's Road and etc.
The existence of the General Duties Team also cause us much concern, in the past we have the Hawkers Control Force and they are often criticized by members of the public, newspapers and on the other hand they do not satisfy each and every member of the public because the hawkers feel they are hostile and the shop owners feel they have not exercised their due diligence in evicting every hawker off the road. Likewise the present General Duties Team does not satisfy everybody and yet they have to carry out their duties, nevertheless they are still recruiting new members, getting modern equipment in order to stop illegal hawking.
Perhaps we may be aware that no hawker exists in private estates and only a few illegal hawkers exist in Public Housing Estates. This strange phenomenon gives us an answer to the problems above because private estates do have their own caretakers and they would evict any illegal hawkers in the front of their shops and likewise the Housing Authority does provide sufficient staff to remove any illegal hawkers inside Public Housing Estates. What I think is relevant is, they allow all sorts of small traders to take up small shops staircase corners, commercial units and we seldom hear any complaints from the big estates against illegal hawking.
But why illegal hawkers do exist in our urban area and in particular in densely populated districts and comparatively we do not have any proper solutions against them.
I must agree that hawkers are essential to our community and unless we do give them adequate space to do business we will not be able to arrest and prosecute all of them unless we have a strong force of General Duties Team with equivalent number of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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I am thinking of allowing certain hawkers to be licensed and have them be put under proper places and of course this move would cause much concern over numerous licensed hawkers and unlicensed illegal hawkers and generally that is why I am thinking of a Pilot Scheme of licensing newspapers hawkers at the first instance.
It has been suggested that there are about 800 licensed newspaper hawkers with approximately 1,600 illegal newspaper hawkers bringing up to a total of 2,400 and something (including New Territories areas).
Newspaper hawkers do work diligently and start their business in the earlier hours of the morning and continue until the afternoon and their goods are dry, clean and tidy and it seems out of all hawkers they deserve to be chosen as the Pilot Scheme samples.
As a result, I have the following proposals:
(1) The Department may carry out a survey as to see who are the genuine licensed or illegal newspaper hawkers.
(2) The Department may forward a recommendation to the Urban Council as to whom are eligible of being licensed.
(3) The Urban Council should look for good locations for example, on wide pavements, places, squares for the erection of kiosk for selling newspapers, and prescribing the outlook of the kiosk and size.
(4) The licence of newspaper hawker can be turned into tenancy or licences capable of transferring to successors like spouses, sons, daughters and etc.
(5) That newspaper hawkers are allowed to continue to do business outside restaurant entrances provided that there is no obstruction against the pedestrians, or customers.
(6) That they are not resited into hawkers bazaars where newspapers could not be sold at all.
(7) From the revenue of the licence fee/tenancy rental the Urban Council is capable of arranging adequate members of the General Duties Team to ensure there is no illegal hawkers gathering round the licensed newspapers sellers.
(8) That newspaper tenancy holders must strictly observe the regulations and occupy no space larger than permitted.
I wish the Scheme could be carried out in the near future and if it is successful, the Urban Council would increase its revenue from its licence fees and on the other hand to reduce the number of illegal hawkers.
This is only a Pilot Scheme for newspapers hawkers only and if it proves to be successful, other kinds of hawkers could be put into consideration eventually.
With those words, Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion before this Council.
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(c) To confine street trading to specified areas not detrimental to the local environment and where traffic and pedestrian movement would not be unduly impeded.
(d) To reduce to a minimum the nuisances created by street trading by
putting it under proper control.
(e) To reduce progressively the heavy subsidy from public funds.
And even then the question of succession is also discouraged or restricted in many ways, however such policy does not clear up the question. On one hand, the number of licensed hawkers does not drop to a tremendrous amount, and on the other hand the number of illegal hawkers rises rapidly.
What the public do concern is the hawkers scattering around and causing much inconvenience or nuisance to our community and of which the various District Boards have expressed their opinions to clear up the wall stalls, cooked- food stalls and other hawkers and they had expressed their strong objection against the illegal hawkers blocking our busy streets like Nathan Road, King's Road and etc.
The existence of the General Duties Team also cause us much concern, in the past we have the Hawkers Control Force and they are often criticized by members of the public, newspapers and on the other hand they do not satisfy each and every member of the public because the hawkers feel they are hostile and the shop owners feel they have not exercised their due diligence in evicting every hawker off the road. Likewise the present General Duties Team does not satisfy everybody and yet they have to carry out their duties, nevertheless they are still recruiting new members, getting modern equipment in order to stop illegal hawking.
Perhaps we may be aware that no hawker exists in private estates and only a few illegal hawkers exist in Public Housing Estates. This strange phenomenon gives us an answer to the problems above because private estates do have their own caretakers and they would evict any illegal hawkers in the front of their shops and likewise the Housing Authority does provide sufficient staff to remove any illegal hawkers inside Public Housing Estates. What I think is relevant is, they allow all sorts of small traders to take up small shops staircase corners, commercial units and we seldom hear any complaints from the big estates against illegal hawking.
But why illegal hawkers do exist in our urban area and in particular in densely populated districts and comparatively we do not have any proper solutions against them.
I must agree that hawkers are essential to our community and unless we de give them adequate space to do business we will not be able to arrest and prosecute all of them unless we have a strong force of General Duties Team with equivalent number of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 134 of 194
235
I am thinking of allowing certain hawkers to be licensed and have them be put under proper places and of course this move would cause much concern over numerous licensed hawkers and unlicensed illegal hawkers and generally that is why I am thinking of a Pilot Scheme of licensing newspapers hawkers at
the first instance.
It has been suggested that there are about 800 licensed newspaper hawkers with approximately 1 600 illegal newspaper hawkers bringing up to a total of 2400 and something (including New Territories areas).
Newspaper hawkers do work diligently and start their business in the earlier hours of the morning and continue until the afternoon and their goods are dry, clean and tidy and it seems out of all hawkers they deserve to be chosen as the Pilot Scheme samples.
As a result, I have the following proposals:
(1) The Department may carry out a survey as to see who are the genuine
licensed or illegal newspaper hawkers.
(2) The Department may forward a recommendation to the Urban Council
as to whom are eligible of being licensed.
(3) The Urban Council should look for good locations for example, on wide pavements, places, squares for the erection of kiosk for selling newspapers, and prescribing the outlook of the kiosk and size.
(4) The licence of newspaper hawker can be turned into tenancy or licences capable of transferring to successors like spouses, sons, daughters and
etc.
(5) That newspaper hawkers are allowed to continue to do business outside restaurant entrances provided that there is no obstruction against the pedestrians, or customers.
(6) That they are not resited into hawkers bazaars where newspapers could
not be sold at all.
(7) From the revenue of the licence fee/tenancy rental the Urban Council is capable of arranging adequate members of the General Duties Team to ensure there is no illegal hawkers gathering round the licensed newspapers sellers.
(8) That newspaper tenancy holders must strictly observe the regulations
and occupy no space larger than permitted.
I wish the Scheme could be carried out in the near future and if it is successful, the Urban Council would increase its revenue from its licence fees and on the other hand to reduce the number of illegal hawkers.
This is only a Pilot Scheme for newspapers hawkers only and if it proves to be successful, other kinds of hawkers could be put into consideration eventually.
With those words, Mr. Chairman, I rise to support the motion before this Council.
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