Paul Zimmerman

Paulus Johannes Zimmerman (born 8 November 1958), better known as Paul Zimmerman, is a Dutch-born Hong Kong politician, urban planning advocate, environmentalist and businessman. Originally from the Netherlands, he moved to Hong Kong in 1984, became a naturalized Hong Kong citizen in 2012, and has been active in civic and environmental campaigns since the 1990s. He is best known for his work on sustainable urban development, harbour conservation, and local politics, having served as vice chairman of the Southern District Council, district councillor for the Pokfulam constituency, and chairman of the Professional Commons.

He is the founder of Designing Hong Kong, a non-profit organization that advocates better urban design.

Early life and business career Zimmerman was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1958 into a Jewish family, and grew up in the town of Woerden. He went on to study economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. While there, he campaigned for smoke-free policies on campus and got into politics with the Democrats 66.

In 1984, he moved to Hong Kong as a three-month trainee at a Dutch bank to avoid conscription. Decided against a banking career, he moved into public relations and worked for Ogilvy. By 1987, he had started his own graphic design firm, The Bridge Design Limited, with his then-wife. From 2010, he began focusing his efforts on Designing Hong Kong and the Southern District Council. In his first election in Hong Kong, he received 151 votes and narrowly lost by a single vote.

A year later, the 2007 District Council elections marked the Civic Party's first direct election. Zimmerman initially planned to contest the Hang Hau East constituency of the Sai Kung District Council, where his home in Clear Water Bay is located.

Zimmerman next contested the Tourism functional constituency in the 2008 legislative election. He lost in a four-way contest to independent Paul Tse, receiving 81 votes (9.17%). Despite three consecutive electoral defeats, he remained active in the Civic Party and continued contributing to public policy debates. In early 2010, he joined members of the Professional Commons in opposing the Express Rail Link project. During the campaign, he attended a press conference organized by the pro-rail Association of Engineering Professionals in Society in an attempt to deliver a letter to its vice-chairman, Yim Kin-ping, and invite the engineering sector to a public debate, but was promptly escorted from the venue.

Election to the District Council Following 's resignation to become a special assistant in the Office of the Chief Executive in 2010, Zimmerman contested the resulting Pokfulam by-election as the Civic Party candidate. He was endorsed by leading pan-democratic figures including Albert Ho, Cyd Ho, Cheung Kwok-che, Avery Ng, and Southern District councillor . Despite this support, Pokfulam was considered a pro-establishment stronghold, and his opponent, Lau Ying-tung, was backed by Regina Ip and Ocean Park chairman Allan Zeman.

The day before the election, an altercation between the two campaigns led to Zimmerman's arrest after one of Lau's campaign workers accused him of assault, despite Zimmerman claiming to have video evidence showing the incident was staged. He was later not prosecuted.

Departure from the Civic Party After becoming a district councillor, Zimmerman hoped to enter the Legislative Council through the newly created District Council (Second) functional constituency, the so-called "super seats", in the 2012 legislative election. However, it was restricted to Chinese nationals with no right of abode in a foreign country. In November 2011, he therefore applied to the Immigration Department to become a naturalized Chinese citizen. Frustrated by the slow processing, he publicly urged the department to expedite the procedure. The party instead asked him to stand on its Hong Kong Island candidate list behind Kenneth Chan Ka-lok and Tanya Chan. Believing that this would significantly reduce his chances of election and hurt other Hong Kong Island candidates, Zimmerman refused and left the Civic Party to pursue his own candidacy as an independent. Although he secured nominations from more than 15 eligible electors, he was widely expected to lose because the Election Committee was dominated by pro-establishment members.

After leaving the Civic Party, Zimmerman continued serving as district councillor as an independent. During his first full term after re-election, he continued promoting cycling and improving pedestrian infrastructure while also addressing community issues in Pokfulam, Cyberport, and surrounding areas relating to roads, transport, public infrastructure, and commercial facilities. During the Umbrella Movement, Zimmerman attended the National Day reception as a Southern District councillor wearing a yellow ribbon. At the official toast, he raised a yellow umbrella instead of a wine glass in protest against the Hong Kong government's handling of the protests, and called on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying to apologize to the students.

Post-Umbrella Movement In the 2015 District Council elections, Zimmerman faced a challenge from Liberal Party's , a former political assistant to the Secretary for Education. Yeung criticized Zimmerman's support for the Umbrella Movement and argued that his experience in government would make him a more effective district councillor. Zimmerman replied that Yeung had only appeared in Pokfulam shortly before the election and pointed to his own record in office, saying he did not regard Yeung as a serious electoral threat. Zimmerman was re-elected as Southern District councillor for the Pokfulam constituency with 1,952 votes, or 63.1% of the vote.

In May 2015, Ronny Tong founded the think tank Path of Democracy (PoD) to study the future of the "one country, two systems" framework and invited Zimmerman to join. After joining, he served for a time as a member of the board.

Zimmerman campaigning for 2016 Legislative Council candidate Nathan Law alongside Joshua Wong, Deanie Ip and Nathan himself.

In 2016, Zimmerman initially sought to contest the "super seats" in the 2016 legislative election, but was again unable to secure enough nominations. He then switched to the Hong Kong Island constituency and formed alliance with Eddie Chu of the Land Justice League, who was contesting New Territories West. As his support remained low, Zimmerman withdrew from the race shortly before polling day to avoid splitting the vote among pro-democratic candidates, and he instead endorsed Demosisto candidate Nathan Law, campaigning for him during the election. Although he had withdrawn, his name remained on the ballot, and he received 2,550 votes, while both Law and Chu were elected in their respective constituencies.

He once again sought election in the 2016 Hong Kong Election Committee Subsector elections, this time in the Architectural, Surveying, Planning and Landscape Subsector. Of the 30 winners, Zimmerman had the most votes, 2524. He joined 20 other electors (from the 1,194 total) in nominating former judge Woo Kwok-hing for Chief Executive in the small-circle 2017 election.

In the 2019 District Council election, Zimmerman successfully won his re-election bid in the Pokfulam constituency, with 2,547 votes. He is vice-chairman of the Southern District Council.

Unlike most of the local councillors and legislators, Zimmerman uses few banners in promotion, and when he does they are usually smaller and much thinner.

Social and environmental activism

Designing Hong Kong In the early 2000s, Zimmerman worked alongside businessman Chung Po-yan on a project that later became Designing Hong Kong Harbourfront District, a non-governmental organization devoted to improving Hong Kong's waterfronts and promoting liveable density.

Others He is currently the vice-chairman of the Coalition on Sustainable Tourism and Chairman of the Single-Use Beverage Packaging Working Group, best known for its initiative Drink Without Waste. He is also director of the Civic Exchange. He is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects for his work on the harbourfront.

Personal life He has married twice. With his first wife, he has two sons, born in 1993 and 1995. When he renounced Dutch citizenship during his short-lived LegCo bid, his younger son also lost his. He married his second wife Jannie in 2012. The couple had a daughter, born two years earlier.