Public Eye: Don't serve up another cheesy piazza
08 July 2009
South China Morning Post

So when did the people give Tourism Commissioner Margaret Fong Shun-man the right to tamper with Hong Kong's heritage? Just look at what her department, which professes to know what's best for us, did to the historic Marine Police headquarters in Tsim Sha Tsui. It sold it in the name of preservation to the highest bidder. Once a serene reminder of an era gone by, the landmark has been stripped bare of its heart, soul and tree-filled ambience to become a boutique hotel for high-rollers. Now the tourism bureaucrats want to plunder the nearby Star Ferry bus terminus, which has long been a part of Hong Kong's collective memory. They want to turn it into a piazza for the people and tourists. If the people want to see a piazza they'll go to Italy for the real thing. They don't want fakery here. They want what's real. And what's real is what's there now. But no, the bureaucrats say the piazza will be good for us and the Star Ferry. They don't care that the ferry company says remodelling that part of history will mean fewer people riding the ferry. That happened, too, when the bureaucrats tampered with the Star Ferry pier in Central.

mickchug@gmail.com

(上次更新: 2009-07-13)