Great idea!
The AFCD might prove to be our Trojan horse.

In my experience they are quite thorough, and more committed to environmental protection than the EPD. Ironic, really.

A friend at AFCD has responded and passed the information on to the relevant person there. I don't know if it will help but it is worth a try. Attached is a map I made for AFCD that may be of use to those of you contacting other agencies.

Lamma Our Shire

Lamma is our shire only if we make it our shire. It is not a matter of locals vs expats. Nor is it a matter of lame pathetic excuse for affordable housing. It is about how much respect we have for the environment we all live in and how much respect we have for those who have chosen Lamma to be our home.

It’s a horrible crime against nature and our environment. Whoever is doing this to Yung Shue Long valley and the lily pond is not a friend of Lamma. Nor are those who support and conspire with this person to commit this crime.

It is truly sad to have someone like higgsboson trying to distract and make it a racial problem.

Given this is a community issue and we know the parties involved, can we name and shame? Even President Obama is advocating name and shame. Who are the developers? Who’s the land owner? All this should be public knowledge. I believe as long as it is public knowledge, you are free to quote and name on this open forum.

For those who have called to various government departments, you should also be free to name the people you talked to and quote what they have said. Give us the names, contact numbers and file numbers. There is no restriction to withhold them since they are government departments. Newspapers are free to publish what government departments say and who is saying what. I would imagine we have the same liberty to do so on this forum.

Lamma is our shire only if we make it our shire. If you don’t want our environment and natural habitat and wildlife destroyed, speak up.

The "developer" and apparently the leaseholder is a Mr Fong, as mentioned earlier.

[ As long as you don't accuse anyone of kicking your dog, or selling drugs, there is no problem.]

Mr Fong. Hmmm.... I understand he is the major developer on Lamma. Is he also the land owner of where the dirty is dumped?

[BTW, I'm not accusing anyone kicking my dog. As far as I know, the dog owner has informed the police about this person who tried to kick her dog in the face. We'll see if the police will do anything about this. Or maybe not.]

Apparently he is the leaseholder (no such thing as "owner", despite what some say).

Lokkanat, sorry but I think you should refer to it as the doomed lily pond. I give it a week at most. I only pray that the poor Roemer frogs can make it safely to another pond before a VV squash them out of existance.

By the way, I still don't understand how pointing out that Chinese landowners such as Mr. Fong (God bless the man!) are the ones who have the final say as far as Lamma Island development goes, how that makes me a racist or a bigot or an idiot. How about a realist.

Nobody but you has made this a racial issue.

You say now that your point is that 'landowners' ought to be able to do whatever they please with their 'own' land. Fair enough - but please don't forget that your statement does not reflect 'reality' - you are not being a realist. You are reflecting the political values of a propertarian libertarian.

Obviously there are others with very different political values than your own on these forums who would say they are also being 'realists'. Some might argue that in 'reality' nobody owns the land and that we all only borrow it for our use and must take good care of it in the intrests of a healthy community and environment. This idea is related to British land law and therefore also to HK land law that respects no free-hold land rights - considering all land to be owned by the Crown and leased to other parties for uses deemed appropriate by the Crown.

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

Just had a text message to inform me that a VV has just dumped a truck load of large rocks in the Lily Pond

is there anyone on Lamma today who can do anything about this - Pictures would be a start.

Lamma Gung - are you there????

Yep, they've responded to the community concern by deciding to destroy the pond before the government can get its paperwork organised.

Just saw three truckloads of rocks and waste dumped, including some nice soft sand piled up precariously above the pond, where it has already started to slide in.

The police were informed by the small group of onlookers, but they said that "the owner had permission", which would be news to the Land Department.

What about the possibility of putting legal pressure on the EPD and the Lands Dept. to enforce HK law?

_________________
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

A group of residents congregated at the site, while VVs kept dumping more stones and soil directly into the pond.

The warnings attached to the railing by the Lands Department last week were removed by the leaseholder's gang and thrown into the ditch. That shows how much respect for the Lands Department they have!

The police were alerted by one of us, they came and told us that they were told by the leaseholder that he had a permit to build. Such permit is nowhere to be seen and his version conflicts with the Lands Department records.

The Police are now urged by a few of us to look into this matter, and contact the Lands Dept. asap, as they shouldn't just rely on the leaseholder's word.
It's appalling that he can destroy the Lands Dept warning notice, ignore their request to stop the dumping, fail to produce any permit and still be trusted by the Police.

On my way home I noticed that some people were surveying the site. I approached them and it turns out they are working for the Lands Dept. They are only instructed to measure the extent of the landfill before making a decision, they told me that they believe the leaseholder is committing an offence, because he has removed their notice and their plastic cordons ...and yet they cannot stop him. They advice me to contact the Police. Which we did already.

I invite all those reading this thread to contact the Lands Dept. again and inform them that the lily pond is being filled with soil and their notices illegally removed by the leaseholder.

I just called the EPD once again to follow up on my earlier complaint. Waiting for their call-back. For your info once again the complaint info:
ref # 6477-09
chief investigator - Mr Sit (25161700)

Also, called the Lamma police to complain - they said they are in communication with the Lands Dept. and an investigation is in progress.
The case file # is 09001820

_________________
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

I phoned the Lands Department a few minutes ago. Mr. Choy said the case is now in the hands of the EPD. He is also surprised that the Police cannot stop Mr. Fong, who is clearly defying their orders.

At this point i called the Police again, and explained that Mr. Fong is feeding them a bunch of lies, as he was never granted any permission to dump construction waste let alone build a house on the site.

I suggested they cordon off the site until the EPD makes an assessment.

I think the reason why Mr. Fong and his gang are speeding up the dumping is to ensure that the site will have no ecological value left. Filling the pond, which is on Government land, is his way to damage the site for ever and preempt any claim that it is worth preserving.

Thank you Tavis. I just called Mr Sit but the phone simply kept ringing and then got cut off. No answering machine. I will keep calling to show more people are concerned about this. Let me know if there are any more people I can call to show my concern and objection to what Mr Fong is doing.

What Mr Fong is doing is to choke the natural environment of the pond and the stream to death. I may be wrong but I think EPD can actually charge him for polluting and destroying the water and the environment. It carries a huge fine plus expenses to restore the natural environment.

Anyone dissatisfied with police conduct may call CAPO (The Complaints Against Police Office) at 2866 7700
www.police.gov.hk/hkp-home/english/form ... ol_679.doc

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
----- Margaret Mead

I took a poll among my students, about ½ of whom are Hong Kong nationals and the other ½ are foreigners (Koreans, Japanese and “gweilo” for the most part ) to see if there is any breakdown according to race in answer to the question: do you give a rats ass about the doomed lily pond on Lamma Island?.

I carefully explained the ongoing debate on Lamma, how some residents want to see the development of agricultural land into housing while other residents wanted to preserve that land in its current pristine form.

I won’t bore you with a lot of statistical jargon, but the results were clear. Asians in general, and Hong Kong nationals in particular, think that development of housing is more important on Lamma than conservation. So you see there is a racial aspect to this debate, and pointing that out does not make me a racist, a bigot or an idiot.

I bet if a similar poll were taken among Lamma residents, you would see about the same distribution: Hong Kong nationals residing on Lamma would not be so concerned about preserving the lily pond. The vast majority of those up in arms would be foreigners residing on Lamma.

let's ask the iCAC to investigate the police inaction. Why do the Police ignore residents' complaints, and believe Mr. Fong's lies?
The Lands dept. has alreafy explained to the Police that Mr. Fong is ignoring their warnings and has no permission to build.

Clearly he is breaking the law. He should be stopped until the EPD carries out an assessment.

Mr. Peter Diu, from EPD can be contacted on this matter, if Mr. Sit doesn't answer.
Peter Diu : <pdiu@epd.gov.hk>

I also invite more people to contact the ICAC.

In person
ICAC Report Centre (24-hour service)
G/F, 303 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong
or ICAC Regional Offices

By phone
25 266 366 (24-hour hotline)
Manned by duty officer

By mail
The ICAC
G.P.O. Box 1000, Hong Kong

higgsboson

I have talked to many chinese residents regarding this and many of us do care and we do not have to report here in this forum that complaints have been made.

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http://hk.myblog.yahoo.com/gogoma-blog

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