Time for Wharf to walk the talk at quality piazza
'To some, art imitates life; to others, life imitates art ... as the debate goes on, we take pride in having created a quality space where art and life meet.'
You think 'inspiration' like this probably comes from a high-brow hong such as Swire Pacific. Wrong. The above was from the latest annual report of property development group Wharf (Holdings), a much more down-to-earth company.
Wharf was commenting on Times Square, over which storm clouds gathered recently because of its management of the public piazza fronting the retail-cum-office compound.
The conglomerate told shareholders in the document that Wharf had hosted a few exhibitions in the piazza last year, including world-renowned sculptor Ju Ming's (above) works, as opposed to the more pedestrian view that it held only money-making trade shows there on weekends.
Since Wharf discovered that it was not supposed to lease the public area to Starbucks, all it has been hearing is strong condemnation against its mismanagement of public space and calls for more common areas in Causeway Bay.
