With marathons and other running events becoming regular events on weekends in Taipei, two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors have accused the Taipei City Government of allowing private-sector companies to profit on such activities, even though they create pollution, traffic hazards and inconvenience the public.
DPP Taipei City councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a press conference on Thursday that research they had conducted into such events found that the city government had given the right to road use for free, or “sold it cheap.” to businesses for what were basically commercial events.
Wu and Liang said 147 marathons and running events had been held in the city in the past four years, and 89 — or about 60 percent — were granted road use without being charged any usage fees.
Wu said that 107 of the events had been sponsored by the private sector, with the rest organized by city government and/or other government agencies.
According to the city’s regulations on use of public parks and facilities, and regulations on management of temporary events on public roads, organizers should be charged a fee of NT$40,000, she said.
If government agencies were main sponsors or cosponsors, then the fees were halved, or waived, according to regulations, she said.
However, most of the 89 events that were not charged were commercial activities, with sponsorship by prominent sporting goods brand names, large business conglomerates and public relations companies, Liang said.
“There were 57 road-running events where fees were charged; 33 of them were of commercial activities. Yet these were only charged NT$20,000 — the same amount as for public-interest events. This means the city government was encouraging these events for profit motive, while suppressing public interest groups,” Liang said.
“The Taipei City Government has permitted companies to receive high commercial exposure and publicity, at a very cheap price,” he said.
“We demand a revised standard should be set up to supervise the approval of these road-running events. Those with a profit motive should be charged a higher cost for the use of city roads and public space,” he said.
Wu gave figures showing that 60 percent of these events took place at artery roads in the city, mostly concentrating on Renai Road, Xinsheng Elevated Expressway, Ketagalan Boulevard, Jinshan South Road and other main thoroughfares.
He said city residents and motorists had long complained about traffic problems due to road closures during these road-running events.
Taipei City Department of Sports Deputy Commissioner Ting Jo-ting (丁若亭) disputed the councilors’ complaints.
Ting said fees for use of riverside roads were charged by the Public Water Works Department based on total area used by the event, which did not distinguish between commercial use, non-profit or public-interest events.
However, he said his agency would classify the city’s roads into categories regarding their use for such events and impose limitations on the number of events per year.
Liu Chia-yu (劉嘉佑), an official from the city’s traffic control section, promised a review to adjust the scale of fees charged for road use.
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