The former dormitory of the director of the Songshan Nursing Home, which was listed as a historic building by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs in 2006, is located in one of the nicest parts of Nangang District, at the end of Kunyang Street. The dormitory compound has been reported by the local borough warden as a security black spot and effectively a ruin. The borough warden complained that members of the public have for a long time been dumping trash there, but the Department of Cultural Affairs did not inquire into the matter or do anything about it. When the borough warden raised the idea of enlivening the site, and the Department of Cultural Affairs also suggested including it in its program of bringing new life to old buildings. However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Chest Hospital in Tainan, which is one of the proprietors, wants to hand the land over to the Ministry of Finance’s National Property Administration.
Kung Jui-yu, warden of Nangang District’s Xingang Borough, says that although the site is listed by the city government as a cultural property, it has not been put to proper use because the buildings on it belong to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Chest Hospital in Tainan, which does not spend any money maintaining and repairing the building. All the borough can do is to sweep up and keep the site reasonably clean, and since it only sends someone by to clean the place from time to time, trash has been accumulating there.
Kung says that the site is dimly lit. Local residents who pass by are worried that it could become a safety black spot, and they often comment that it is a big waste not to put such a nice area to good use. He hopes that the Japanese-style building can be brought back to life in a similar way to the old-house cultural movement in which the Department of Cultural Affairs matched the Nishikicho Japanese-style dormitories in Zhongzheng District up with private businesses to turn them into the Leputing restaurant, making it into a scene with special character.
Photo courtesy of Lee Yen-hsiu
照片由李彥秀提供
(Yu Pei-ju, Liberty Times, translated by Julian Clegg)
二○○六年被昆陽街底精華區,遭地方里長投訴淪為地方治安死角,形同廢墟,民眾長期丟棄垃圾,文化局不聞不問。里長想出活化方式,文化局也建議納入老房子活化運動,但地主之一衛生福利部台南胸腔病院想將土地交還財政部國有財產署。
南港區新光里長龔睿堉說,此處雖然是市定文化資產,卻沒妥善利用,因建物產權為台南的衛福部胸腔病院所有,該單位不花錢整修,僅能打掃清潔維護,且每隔一陣子才派人來清理,成為垃圾堆積處。
他說,此處燈光昏暗,經過的居民都憂心成為治安死角,也紛紛表示,精華地段不利用,實在很糟蹋。他期盼能活化日式建築,類似文化局媒合中正區錦町日式宿舍與民間業者,改造成樂埔町餐廳的老房子文化運動,成為特色景點。
(自由時報記者游蓓茹)
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