Kennedy Town Waterfront Closed off 堅尼地城海濱空間「被」關閉

Kennedy Town Waterfront Closed off 

The District Officer of the Central & Western District has closed off a popular waterfront in Kennedy Town. On Monday, the barriers went up. Dog walkers, cyclists, drone pilots, children on scooters, fishermen, lovers, book readers, and others lost their access. Without consultation and without a public tender, the area has been let to an event organization for the month of November, the best time and weather for people to enjoy the outdoors (在沒有公眾諮詢及公開招標的情況下，將海旁出租給活動承辦商).

The site won the Outstanding Public Space Awards in 2013, in the people-appropriated space category (碼頭曾於2013年獲得由市民開創的空間大獎).

The 7,500 square meter site consists of the former berths 1-3 of the Western District Public Cargo Working Area (西區公眾貨物裝卸區1-3號停泊位) which were released by the Marine Department in August 2016.

It is part of the Kennedy Town Waterfront which gained the nick-name ‘InstaPier’ for the thousands of images posted by professional and amateur photographers.

It is one of many waterfronts awaiting investment by the Government.

The closure is at odds with existing users and contradicts proposals by the District Council and community organisations to convert it into a waterfront park.

It also breaches promises made by the Development Bureau in January 2017 that “the future operator would need to design and construct a promenade of at least 10m at the edge of the Site and allow public access at all times so that the public could continue to have guaranteed free access to the harbourfront along the shoreline.”

The entire harbourfront is for the people. And not just a skinny promenade. It should not be privatised (海濱長廊的空間是屬於公眾的，不應被私有化) . Not for developers. Not for private gardens. Not for events. Not for the district officer.

(Above was first published in AM730 on 9 November 2017.)

以下中文版於2017年11月10日立場新聞刊登

堅尼地城海濱空間「被」 關閉 

西環碼頭，一個市民對公共空間想像的實現。它是區內居民飯後休憩的地方，熱戀情侶的拍拖聖地，愛犬的遊樂場，無人機駕駛員的自由港…‥然而一切卻即將迎來轉變：中西區民政事務署在沒有公開諮詢及招標的情況下，於十一月將一部分的西環碼頭租出作活動場地。在秋高氣爽，碼頭最美的時節，民政署卻在碼頭架起圍欄，決意將這個公共空間私有化。

西環碼頭於2013年嬴得最佳公共空間獎，但更重要的是這公共空間是由公眾共同建構而成。它由以前的西環一至三號公眾貨物裝卸區組成，而海事署於2016年8月釋出碼頭的用途，更確立了這公共空間的正當性。整整7500平方米的碼頭，加上堅尼地城海旁，創造了打卡聖地「InstaPier」的美名，更吸引了不少本地及外國的專業攝影師來捕捉西環碼頭令人癡醉的剎那。 

民政署將它封閉，不單限制市民的使用，更與區議會及地區組織的建議背道而馳。而發展局於2017年1月，對市民自由進出享用西環碼頭的承諾，也淪為一紙空文。西環碼頭的特色，除了天空之鏡的美景外，更是它的自由及原始。它不應由民政專員隨便借出，亦非讓人舉辦活動的私人花園。它是真正屬於市民的公共空間，誰人憑甚麼都不能將它私有。