It was a sunny afternoon, three days before the Shihlin night market was scheduled to move to a new temporary indoor facility and reopen today for business.
Heh Yen-kuei (
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Although Heh told police that he knew nothing about the allegations, he did reveal to the Taipei Times after the officer's departure that he suspects gangsters may be involved.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
At issue is the contract to make new signs for the market's 160 food stalls.
According to Heh, there were originally three bidders, offering NT$5,700, NT$6,200 and NT$9,000 per set of signs respectively.
Naturally, the one offering the lowest price would usually win the contract. But that was not the case here.
The contractor offering the lowest bid bailed out, claiming it wouldn't be able to make a profit with the NT$5,700 price.
That made the contractor offering NT$6,200 the next choice, however it was nowhere to be found after being awarded the project.
The association said it had no choice but to award the contract to the contractor offering the highest price of NT$9,000.
Heh said that he did not rule out the possibility that the three companies might have been connected in some way and may ultimately report to the same people.
A few days ago, someone who Heh said he suspected was a gangster approached him and told him that he would be glad to help Heh "take care of those market vendors who are not docile."
Another person has expressed an interest in leasing a large section of the new market and then subletting it to others interested in erecting billboards or holding events there.
"After discussing the matter with Taipei City Council Speaker Wu Pi-chu (
The leasing idea smells fishy to one market vendor, who asked to be identified as Ms. Hope.
According to Hope, the interested individual comes from a respected family in the community and was introduced to Heh by a senior gangster.
Getting ready for the evening crowd at her fruit stand that Hope runs with her father-in-law, the 42-year-old widow said that the relocation of the market is full of rotten politics.
Questionable motives
"Wu is the person manipulating the whole thing from behind the scenes," she said.
According to Hope, one of Wu's uncles has been the chairman of the night market's self-governance association for more than three decades.
"Look at the new facility we're about to move in to. Do you think it is worth NT$138 million?" she said. "I have no idea where all the money went. As you can see, the roof has a leakage problem and the lighting is insufficient."
In an effort to convert the 80-year-old traditional market into a safe and more comfortable environment, the Taipei City Government set up a five-year plan earlier this year to overhaul the site.
The first floor of the two-floor temporary market will hold 539 booths -- including food stalls and retailers selling souvenirs, night market knickknacks and clothes.
The second floor will serve as a parking lot for about 400 cars.
A six-story complex, estimated to cost NT$600 million, will replace the patchwork of lanes and alleys that form the current night market in three years time.
According to Hope, every area of the facility has the potential for absurdity.
Taking the parking lot as an example, the city plans to charge NT$100 per car, Hope said.
"I don't think it makes sense, particularly for those who need to park for a short period of time," she said, adding that vendors like her often need to access the market's parking lot on a daily basis.
"It will still cost me a fortune even if it takes me only five minutes to unload my stuff," she said. "And what if I need to do that five times a day?"
In addition to the parking fee, Hope said that the expenses at the new facility are more than what they are now.
"Take the cleaning fee, for example. It'll double from NT$600 to NT$1,200 a month, not to mention the electricity fee, which will cost NT$2 more per unit than for regular stores," she said. "In addition, while it costs NT$2,000 to rent a booth at the old place, the new booth will cost NT$1,000 more."
Hope said that she is particularly worried about the future of another parking lot at the ground level of the complex.
"I've learned that the city plans to lease the area to gangsters so they can profit from leasing the location to interested people for other purposes," she said.
Leasing plan
In addition, Hope said that Wu has been trying to turn Tatung and Tanan roads near her family house into a pedestrian area which Hope said Wu can lease to vendors.
"I know I'm putting my life in danger by making such allegations. My father-in-law also told me to stay out of trouble," she said. "But all I've ever wanted is to keep this place free from gangsters' manipulation and blood suckers."
After digging up all the dirt from various sources over the past month, Hope said that she has lost 3kg.
"Someone has even warned me to shut up or else I'll get myself killed," she said.
But Hope said she is not afraid.
"If I don't stand up for myself, nobody will," she said.
However, to protect her safety, Hope said that she has requested a restraining order for the man who intimidated her.
"But I don't think it's going to do me any good, because the people at the police precinct are familiar with the guy who intimated me," she said. "I think I'll just have to be careful on my way home after getting off work."
Reservations
Other vendors expressed hesitation about the relocation.
Sixty-year-old Lin Feng-chin (
"I'm afraid that everything will be entirely different when we come back years later," she said.
Lin said that she has seen things at the market change over the years.
"When I first started, this place was kind of spooky because I was the only vendor here while the rest were gathering around a temple nearby," she said.
At her stand's peak, Lin said that she sold 460 pancakes a day at a price of NT$2 each. Now she sells 40 to 60 at a price of NT$35 each.
Cheng Lung-fu (
"I doubt people would want to shop at the new place when it's more convenient for them to shop at illegal street vendors gathering around the market and vying with us for business," he said. "If I could, I'd want to be an illegal vendor because I don't need to pay NT$5,000 every month in various taxes and expenses."
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS