Residents in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Linkou District (林口) started a petition yesterday in protest over a plan to turn a park into the athletes’ village for the 2017 Summer Universiade, saying that the proposal would damage their quality of life as well as the local ecosystem.
The plan would build dormitories to house the athletes competing in the Games on the land where the Linkou Sports Park now sits.
Last month, Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) director-general Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) told a legislative meeting that after the Games, the athletes’ village would be turned into welfare housing units.
The Taipei City Government, which won the right to host the Summer Universiade in December last year, said it decided to use the Linkou park after discussions with the New Taipei City Government, the Sports Affairs Council and the CPA.
However, an official from the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the CPA, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the ministry was opposed to building the athletes’ village on the site, because “it would be difficult to turn it into welfare housing units later, since designs for the two are fundamentally different.”
Linkou residents were shocked to learn of the proposal.
“The government wants to turn the park into the athletes’ village and then welfare housing units, but they never consulted us,” said Hsu Chu-feng (許主峰), a Linkou resident and chairman of the local Love for Our Hometown Association. “This decision would not only deprive us of our leisure space, it would also destroy the local ecosystem.”
Hsu said the plan for the athletes’ village would use not only the land from the Linkou Sports Park, but also forested land that is on the other side of the road.
“First, the Taipei City Government demolished the homes of [a family surnamed] Wang (王) in Shilin [District (士林)]. Now it’s trying to getting its hands on our park,” he said. “We’re considering staging a protest outside [Taipei Mayor] Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) residence.”
Linkou Community College issued a statement opposing the plan to build “temporary” housing units for the athletes and urged the government to maintain the integrity of Linkou’s ecosystem.
The community college and Hsu’s association initiated the petition on whether the park should be turned into the athletes’ village.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), whose electoral district includes Linkou, also objected to the plan.
“The park is a ‘lung’ for Linkou residents,” he said. “Would Taipei City residents agree to it if the city government planned to turn Da-an Forest Park into an athletes’ village?”
Responding to the criticism, CPA deputy director-general Hsu Wen-lung (許文龍) said the land had already been designated for a welfare housing project and the sports park was only a temporary facility.
“We never planned to [officially] turn the site into a permanent park,” he said.
NEW AGREEMENT: Malaysia approved imports last year after nearly two years of negotiations and inspections to meet quarantine requirements, officials said Up to 3.6 tonnes of pomeloes from Taiwan cleared Malaysian customs on Friday, in the first shipment of Taiwanese pomeloes to Malaysia. Taiwan-grown pomeloes are popular in domestic and overseas markets for their tender and juicy taste, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency said. The fruit is already exported to Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines, it added. The agency began applying for access to the Malaysian market in 2023, compiling data on climate suitability, pests and diseases, and post-harvest handling, while also engaging in nearly two years of negotiations with Malaysian authorities and submitting supplementary
PEAK MONTHS: Data showed that on average 25 to 27 typhoons formed in the Pacific and South China seas annually, with about four forming per month in July and October One of three tropical depressions in the Pacific strengthened into a typhoon yesterday afternoon, while two others are expected to become typhoons by today, Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lee Ming-hsiang (李名翔) said yesterday. The outer circulation of Tropical Depression No. 20, now Typhoon Mitag, has brought light rain to Hualien, Taitung and areas in the south, Lee said, adding that as of 2pm yesterday, Mitag was moving west-northwest at 16kph, but is not expected to directly affect Taiwan. It was possible that Tropical Depression No. 21 would become a typhoon as soon as last night, he said. It was moving in a
One of two tropical depressions that formed offshore this morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. It is expected to move in a northwesterly direction as it continues building momentum, possibly intensifying into Typhoon Mitag this weekend, she added. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is expected to approach southeast of Taiwan on Monday and pass through the Bashi Channel between Tuesday and Wednesday,
Tigerair Taiwan and China Airlines (CAL) today announced that several international flights were canceled or rescheduled due to Typhoon Ragasa. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) has maintained sea and land warnings for the typhoon. Its storm circle reached the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) on Taiwan's southern tip at 11am today. Tigerair Taiwan said it canceled Monday's IT551/IT552 Taoyuan-Da Nang, IT606/IT607 Taoyuan-Busan and IT602 Taoyuan-Seoul Incheon flights. Tomorrow, cancelations include IT603 Seoul Incheon-Taoyuan, as well as flights between Taoyuan and Sapporo, Osaka, Tokyo Narita, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Saga, Tokyo Haneda, Nagoya, Asahikawa and Jeju. On Wednesday, the IT321/IT322 Kaohsiung-Macau round-trip would also be canceled. CAL announced that today's