Members of a group looking to save Pound Lane from the same fate as SoHo are calling on the community to voice their concerns against a proposed HKD200 million escalator.
The Hong Kong government has just announced a public forum on Thursday April 30 – and the Pound Lane Concern Group is urging those in their camp to attend.
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) have long been plotting with the Hong Kong government to build an escalator linking Tai Ping Shan Street to Bonham Road.
Spearheaded by district councillor Kathy Siu, the project will improve accessibly for residents, especially the elderly, according to its supporters.
Siu also claims to have the backing of local schools and the Tung Wah Hospital, and a DAB survey in 2010 found that 90 percent of residents were in favour of the scheme.
However, another poll by the Democratic Party last year reported that 70 percent of residents are now opposed to the idea. How fickle they are!
First settled in the 1840s and named so because it was originally a residence for Hong Kong’s stray animals, Pound Lane has a long history, surviving the devastation of the plague in the 1890s to become a tight-knit working class neighbourhood for much of the 20th century.
Since then, the area has become a magnet for independent shops and cafes, but has largely escaped the wall-to-wall gentrification of neighbouring SoHo, which coincidently, has an escalator… or seven.
The Pound Lane Concern Group believes the area will lose its historical charm with the addition of an escalator, and that the inevitable subsequent development of the area would raise rents and price out the local residents it purports to serve.
Marc Picavet, a Brazilian business consultant who has been living in the area for three years, told Coconuts HK, “The Tai Ping Shan and Pound Lane area is very unique in Hong Kong. They always shoot movies here or take pictures for weddings because of this charm and historical value. An escalator in Pound Lane would destroy all this and only serve Swire and the landlords’ interest.”
The next public forum will take place at 7:30pm, Thursday April 30, at Sai Ying Pun Community Hall, 2 High Street.
There are only seats for 200 people, which the Pound Lane Concern Group fears the DAB will fill with its supporters.
“The government is very smart to choose a date just before the public holiday and long weekend,” says Picavet. “The more people show up, the more we can show to the government that we do not want an escalator here.”
