No one will thank Tsang for a legacy of concrete
When P.J. O'Rourke wrote the line 'Commies love concrete' he was referring to depressingly soulless construction in the former Soviet bloc. The words also sit comfortably with the Hong Kong government's view of aesthetics in town planning as it concretes everything from hillsides to nature trails. In a city of suffocating pollution, one might imagine the priority to be millions more trees, fewer highways and cars, and less concrete. In its cover story last week, Time magazine thought so, too.
The government's answer? Fill in another chunk of that massively polluted and shrinking natural asset, our harbour.
Having the government responsible for harbourside planning and design is like giving the job of financial secretary to Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. For example: the 'harbour beautification' projects in Central involve massive reclamation and will consist not of a forest of trees, rock pools and gardens, but of thousands more tonnes of concrete - and a lot less harbour. Everyone wants a piece of the waterfront, including our civil servants with their latest lunatic scheme to relocate their headquarters to Tamar, along with more concrete 'spaces' and a major (concrete) highway.
When it comes to opportunities lost we need look no farther than those newish utilitarian blights on the landscape: the outlying islands ferry terminals or the windowless, cheaply tiled and cheerless Cultural Centre occupying one of the most stunning harbourside locations on Earth in Tsim Sha Tsui. This monument to mediocrity has all the charm of a pedestrian underpass and none of its advantages. Indeed, the complex could have been built underground. It would have served the purposes of culture and we wouldn't have had to look at it.
The Tamar site presents a unique opportunity for the beginning of an enlightened campaign for cleaner air and more green space. That would be a wonderful legacy from Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. But no one will thank him for more coughing, cars, carcinogens and concrete.
C.O. JONES, Discovery Bay
Nobody in their right mind would choose to be disabled in Hong Kong, although at least 60 per cent of us will be disabled at some time. Currently, I am on crutches with a broken ankle, and I was horrified by the news that the authorities are considering putting a podium over Tamar ('Developers want to build Tamar complex on huge podium', May 15). As a temporarily disabled person, I can only move around in taxis, and cannot possibly get to vast areas of the city. I can afford taxis, but millions cannot. The podium proposal ignores the needs of the disabled, along with the desires of the community, and so many other aspects.
It should be possible to walk, hobble or be pushed at ground level around the city, and certainly to the harbourfront. Ramps are all very well, but have you tried pushing someone, or wheeling yourself, up one? Indeed, it is even tough for parents with pushchairs. A podium at Tamar will not only block the ordinary person's view to our beautiful harbour, but will exacerbate the difficulties of those with physical disabilities. Open space 10 metres above ground may look like open space to some people, but to me it looks like somewhere totally inaccessible.
SANTA RAYMOND, Central
May I suggest that the new government headquarters at Tamar be called 'Tsang-an-men'? Perhaps the design could even include a small mausoleum in which the goddess of democracy can be put to rest.
CHRIS MADEN, Tsuen Wan
