The Taipei City Government has planted more than 4,000 cherry trees around the city in the past five years to cater to the public’s tastes without considering the suitability of the trees to the local environment, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors said yesterday, urging the city to develop a comprehensive public arboreal policy and tree planting program.
Amid the popularity of cherry blossom festivals in Japan, Taipei City’s Parks and Street Light Office, Department of Civil Affairs and several other departments have invested more than NT$15 million (US$500,000) in planting 4,158 cherry trees in city parks and other locations since 2008, and the distinctive trees can be spotted in all 12 city districts, according to information from the office.
DPP Taipei City councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) yesterday questioned the large-scale planting of cherry trees, saying the nation’s warmer climate is an inappropriate environment for the trees, which are best grown in mid-latitude areas.
The increasing number of Japanese showa cherry (昭和櫻) and somei-yoshino cherry (吉野櫻) varieties planted in the city also shows the city government’s lack of originality and its failure to plant trees or flowers that can highlight the city’s distinctive features, they said.
“If the city government insists on planting cherry trees, the local varieties of Taiwan cherry (山櫻花) and double cherry (八重櫻) would be better choices. We do not oppose the planting of cherry trees, but the city should not follow the frenzy for cherry blossoms blindly,” Wu said.
Taiwan cherry trees still outnumber other varieties in the city, with 3,064 planted in the city, compared with 625 somei-yoshino cherry trees and 267 double cherry trees.
However, last year the number of somei-yoshino cherry and Japanese showa cherry trees planted in the city was 232, which was higher than the number of Taiwanese cherry trees.
Huang Shu-ju (黃淑如), chief engineer at the Parks and Street Light Office, said it planted most of the cherry trees in Yangmingshan (陽明山), as well as in Shilin (士林) and Beitou (北投) districts, and did not allow other departments or local boroughs to plant cherry trees as street trees in downtown areas.
“There are more people asking us to plant cherry trees in their neighborhoods, and we won’t agree until proper assessments have been done,” she said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS