More Stanley car park insanity
The Transport Department has come up with a novel approach to win over objectors to its crazy plan of building an underground car park in Stanley.
It has written to residents and asked them to support the project. In so doing, it has regurgitated the same arguments that made little impression last year. This includes the odd argument that as the car park is not an additional tourist attraction, it won't attract additional traffic.
The Stanley Residents Concern Group adopted a more conventional approach to the project and commissioned a traffic study to assess the effect of the car park on traffic levels, which concluded that it would increase traffic congestion and diminish the environment and safety in the area.
The Transport Department has, shall we say, been less than transparent on the question of traffic studies. After it referred to its "traffic study" at a meeting, the residents asked to see it. The department declined and was rapped on the knuckles by the Ombudsman. After this, the department admitted in a letter to the residents that it had not conducted a "traffic study" as such but had done an "assessment", but said since it only contained "raw data and figures as well as technical jargon not intended for public consumption".
For all its enthusiasm for the project, the department has yet to reveal the cost. However, having looked at the plans, Lai See's construction sources say it would probably cost HK$50 million.
The other silly aspect of this project is the proposal to turn the metered car parks on Stanley Beach Road into coach drop-off points, further despoiling the area with emissions from idling engines.
The project is being pushed hard by Southern district councillor Chan Lee Pui-ying, who happens to have a shop on Stanley Main Street, a mere stone's throw from where the coaches will disgorge their passengers.
It is a mystery why this crazy project, which will take three years to build, hasn't been knocked on the head by somebody with some sense in government.
Chris'll fix it
We have another name to add to the long list of aptronyms that include the likes of Christopher Coke, a Jamaican drug lord, Julius Angst, a German professor of psychiatry, and Sara Blizzard, a meteorologist. Our new addition is Christopher Fix, who has been appointed the CME Group's managing director and head of Asia-Pacific.
As anyone in commodities trading knows, it's a business with a lot of "fixing" and "fixes" of one sort or another.
Goldman glows
We see that Goldman Sachs has been ranked 50th in Fortune magazine's list of the 100 best companies to work for in the US. It's the only big investment bank to get on to the list.
As usual, Google is ranked first and is followed by the Boston Consulting Group. Goldman is ranked a few places below Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts but above American Express.
It wasn't that long ago that Goldman's reputation was in tatters. There was Rolling Stones' unflattering description in 2010 of it as "a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity". Then Greg Smith's very public and acrimonious resignation and the ridicule that followed chief executive Lloyd Blankfein over his "doing God's work" remarks. But now here it is basking in the warm glow of approval. "Everyone is smart, happy to help and it makes coming to work every day a pleasure," says one happy unnamed employee.
Interestingly, 93 per cent of employees say their managers are honest and ethical in their business practices.