It does make one angry. The sheer crass stupidity of tossing brand new bikes into the trash compacter deserves wider publicity.

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What this offensive event demonstrates is that the relevant government departments are NOT concerned with serving the interests of the large majority of people. They are acting against the interests of citizens at large. They are blatantly allowing themselves to be used as tools to further the interests of a vested minority.

2 days notice followed by destruction of valuable private property is obscene! This government action is clearly immoral. And their very organized way of going about it with photographs and police presence shows that they are not just carrying out a routine activity in ignorance of its unfairness. They are fully aware of how contentious and controversial their actions are. They must, therefore carry the full burden of guilt for the gross corruptness of what they have done.

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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

Such a waste... 100% theft. I don't have a bike, but I would have wanted to take one of those "unreclaimed" bikes.

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Bike seizures anger Lamma cyclists
Bicycles are destroyed after two days' warning, as officials seek to make room for emergency vehicles
Jennifer Cheng
Mar 29, 2012

Government officers angered Lamma islanders by targeting hundreds of bicycles parked near the ferry pier at Yung Shue Wan. After tagging 387 bikes with removal notices on Monday, yesterday they confiscated 13 which their owners had not removed in time.

The seized bikes were taken to a nearby trash compactor to be destroyed.

Yu Lai-fan, Lamma's district councillor, said one major reason for the clear-out was to make room for ambulances and fire engines. The exercise had been conducted annually for eight or nine years, she said, and was designed to remove unused bicycles and other items (which yesterday included a suitcase and a scooter) chained to the railings.

Police and staff of the lands and food and environmental hygiene department cleared away the bikes.

Only bicycles with a removal notice attached were confiscated. Bicycle owners had had two days' notice to remove their machines. And from now on they may continue parking their bikes at the pier.

Yesterday, two islanders stood guard at the pier to warn people to park elsewhere.

"People have been parking their bikes here for 20 years," said Liz Gower, a long-time Lamma resident. "A two-day notice is not enough: what if the bike owners are just on Easter holiday? I've complained to the government in the past to remove construction material, and even that is given at least a one-month notice."

Yu said the problem was that the bicycles were parked on government land. "If the bike owner really was on holiday, then they should have just parked it at home. But people are still allowed to leave their bikes at the pier. We will continue to tolerate it because there is no other place to park right now. And really, we are just trying to clear out abandoned bikes to make more room for emergency services to get through and for more bikes to park there."

But Gower said some of the confiscated bicycles, especially the children's bikes, did not look unused, but brand new and rideable.

Yu said: "We understand that many Lamma Island residents are cyclists, and a bicycle parking area would really solve the issue here." A proposal to build a bicycle parking area at Yung Shue Wan, between the pier and the public library, is the subject of a public consultation. It would require reclaiming land from the harbour.

Opponents say it would remove the harbour's last stretch of natural coastline and also cause congestion.

jennifer.cheng@scmp.com

[3 SCMP photos illustrated this story, by veteran photographer Edward Wong. Link added by L-G:
http://www.scmp.com/files/SCMP/News/Static%20Files/SCM_News_bicycle29.ART_1.jpg]

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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

The bikes are coming back and the authorities will tolerate the “offence” for another year. The people governing Lamma are arrogant. If there was a true will to help the bikers and solve the congestion, they would have provided floating platform or Alan’s racks, even as a cheap temporary measure before some permanent solution. Would not this be the easiest way to win the sympathy of Lamma dwellers? This is an arrogance of the authority that was elected not because of its particular qualities or compassion or understanding of Lamma’s needs, but because of unscrupulous and aggressive self promotion, and clever, manipulative PR techniques.
There was no reason to carry on with this brutal action. The loss of a bike is probably not as painful as the intimidation and the show of arrogance and feeling of helplessness and insecurity. Who will legally challenge the authorities fortified on taxpayers costs with an army of lawyers?

I agree very much with Rambler.
My feeling is that this is less about the money than it is about control and authority. It's about ego, I think. It's not really about the issues and as long as appeals are made on the level of practicality and reason they will fall upon completely deaf ears. It's not really about 'the best solution' to the 'bicycle problem.
It's about: "This is our Island and we'll do whatever we damned well please! You are merely guests here - so shut up and stop making problems!"
From what I've seen, people with connections to the local establishment - old timers - people with family connections etc. have more or less come unanimously together in support of Yu Lai Fan's CONCRETE MONSTER.
The real way through this issue is going to come more from a depth psychologist or a spiritual teacher than from an engineer.

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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

Some of those bikes are abandoned and a lot of people leave their bikes there for weeks on end or they are weekend property owners who can't be bothered to walk to the pier or home twice on the weekend.

I don't know why some people bothered saving the unchained bikes, to my mind if they are not chained they are abandoned, so whats the point?

If people only parked their bikes there when in town we probably wouldn't need a cycle park.

Personally I have no sympathy for the idiots that had their bikes destroyed.

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