Pound Lane Escalator Project - Please Oppose this Government Proposal
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Please help us to oppose the Government’s proposal to build an escalator along the Pound Lane ladder street in Sheung Wan.
The Pound Lane Concern Group (view us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/poundlanecg/) is a group of Sheung Wan neighborhood residents opposed to the Government’s proposal to install an escalator on Pound Lane. The proposed escalator will stretch 240 meters from Bonham Road to Tai Ping Shan Street. In effect it connects “nowhere to nothing”, as no transport hubs are linked. The proposed cost is over HK$200mm. Pound Lane is a quiet, leafy ladder street which has been in existence and little changed since the middle of the 19th century. An escalator will destroy the special character of this stairway and the neighborhood around it. While the government has professed that the escalator will help elderly residents, many elderly residents treasure the stairs for the exercise they provide and their peaceful ambience. And it is not hard to imagine that as commercial interest develop alongside the escalator, elderly residents will be forced out of the neighborhood by increased rents. The possible underlying impetus behind this proposal is to permit a reversal of limits on Mid-levels building heights. Mid-levels road cannot absorb greater vehicle traffic; however, if escalators are built, no matter how poorly linked to actual pedestrian need, then new building development restrictions can be relaxed. Such development-based “logic” then will lead to the destruction of the special character of a lovely and historic Hong Kong neighborhood –the earliest such on Hong Kong and one which has played a prominent role throughout Hong Kong’s history.
The Highways Department has just launched a public consultation which is to provide them with public views on this proposed project. The link to their website is www.poundlane.hk. If you open this and click on the “Contact Us” tab on the left hand side of the page, you can submit your views on this project to the Highways Department. If you oppose the project The Pound Lane Concern Group would be very grateful if you would submit your objection to the Highways Department. This is a public solicitation and EVERY voice in opposition counts. Together we can save a neighborhood and a wonderful link to Hong Kong’s past.
Jamie O'Donnell
