Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday vowed to offer incentives to keep the La New Bears baseball team from relocating to Taoyuan County.
Chen told reporters during a baseball-related event in the city that she had talked to the team and sought to persuade its management to stay in Kaohsiung, by promising to increase the number of free shuttle buses between MRT stations and the team’s home field at Chengcing Lake (澄清湖) for fans during the baseball season.
Chen said she also promised to discuss renovation of the baseball field with the team after the city and Kaohsiung County complete a planned merger on Dec. 25, adding that the team could also take advantage of the city’s Lide Baseball Field for practice.
Chen made the pledges after the La New Bears managers allegedly said recently they would like to move their home field from Chengcing Lake to Taoyuan County’s Cingpu (青埔) because of financial difficulties.
Chen met La New chairman Liu Pao-yu (劉保佑) on Friday to express the city government’s concerns about the relocation.
The city’s Department of Sports told reporters after the meeting that Liu complained about Chengcing Lake Baseball Field’s transportation and parking space while hoping that the field’s facilities would be renewed.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator and the KMT nominee for November’s special municipality mayoral election Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) told reporters that Liu had told her that La New had spent NT$700 million (US$21.6 million) running the team and the field since the team joined the Chinese Professional Baseball League six years ago and suffered losses of NT$10 million per year.
Huang said the annual rent at Chengcing Lake Baseball Field was NT$3 million, while the field in Cingpu only costs NT$300,000, adding that this was among the reasons why the team was considering relocating to Taoyuan.
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS