Inner-city residents do not want experiment in planned economy Inherletter, Christine Tse, forthe director of planning ("New mixed zoning will hep to prevent hhuisance to residents”, February 18), maybe trying topull the wool aver our eyes when she refersto the rezoning of urban areas from mixed use to ‘commercial as being the “new mixed zoning”. T suggest readers log onto the Town Planning Boar website click onto Master Schedule of Notes ‘and open the PDF “Commercial”. Column One, "Uses always permitted’, shows variety of commercial and other uses, butresidentialis not listed This comes under Column Two, “Uses that ray be permitted with or without conditions on application tothe board’ ‘Under Residential Group A (the usual zoning for ‘mixed-use buildings in urban areas), the columns ‘are practically the opposite. Restaurants and shops require approval from the board. {{tdoes not takea genius to workout that the ‘ultimate aim of the blanket commercial zoningis to tliminate residents. Not only the plot ratio for ‘Tsim sha Tsul residents wil take an active role in any outline zoning plan review. Photo: Sam Tsang, commercial much greater at 12 in comparison t0 ‘ine for Residential Group, itbecomes more {troublesome to redevelop old buildings into residential units. "To claim that our governments trying to save us from nuisance is disingenuous. The buildings being redeveloped are ower than the new height limits. If redeveloped under Residential Group A, the ‘commercial element would be contained on the Tower floors witha separate gated entrance to the ‘residential units. Good management and restricted entry would preclude most businesses ofan ‘unsavory nature from setting up shop. 'Ms Tse says rezoning to commercial reflects the existing character of areas. invite her to come over to'Tsim Sha Tsui, There are many buildings, particularly on the Chatham Road end and on. [Bllwood Road, that are residential except for shops! restaurants on the ground floor and, sometimes, frst floor The blanket rezoning ofthe entire district south of Austin Road, with the exception of Victoria "Towers, ates back to 1993. Atthat time, HongKong, ‘people bad little access to information with regard to ‘own planning issues. One had to trekto the government offices tolook at plans, and there was Tack of public awareness on the impact oftown planningdecisions. Residents in inner-city districts want the outline zoningplan for ther district to reflect their actual situation, not some experiment in a planned ‘economy. We have seen what is happening in other tistrits since the introduction ofthe 0 per cent Land (Compulsory Sales for Redevelopment) (Ordinance, and there are already reports of {intimidation building up in our community with estate agents paying unsolicited visits ‘The headin of your editorial offers the right advice ("The romance of our city must be 1", February 9). review ofthe Tsim Sha Feu‘ outline zoning plan is required and, this time around, residents will take avery active role in the process. Mary Melle, sim Sha Tsui