Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday announced a halt in the demolition of buildings on the Nangang Bottle Cap Factory (南港瓶蓋工廠) site, adding that contentious issues brought up by protesters with regard to the site could be further discussed with the city government at a later date.
Ko made the remarks after inspecting the site yesterday afternoon.
The compound was built during the Japanese colonial era and consists of 19 buildings, including six designated by the city as historic establishments that are to be preserved.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Demolition work began early this month and protesters last week accused Ko of bouncing his campaign pledge to preserve all buildings and trees in the compound during his campaign last year.
Ko at the time said he had to respect a decision to demolish the buildings, which was made by the Cultural Assets Review Committee and Urban Planning Committee.
In other news, Ko yesterday said he would examine how many political donations he received during last year’s campaign from individuals under the legal voting age of 20.
Ko made the remarks after local media reported that a man who was under the legal voting age at the time donated NT$1,000 (US$30) to Ko’s campaign. The Control Yuan has reportedly asked for an explanation.
If the donation did take place, the young man would be fined NT$2,000 and Ko would face a fine of between NT$200,000 and NT$1 million.
Film director Hung Chun-hsiu (洪淳修), upon learning of the man’s case, wrote on his Facebook page yesterday: “It turns out my son is not alone.”
Hung said that because he made a donation of NT$1,600 to Ko’s campaign in the name of his 19-month-old son in November last year, he recently also received a notification from the Control Yuan for violating the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
In response to media queries on whether the Control Yuan’s action is appropriate, Ko yesterday said: “I do not know.”
However, he added that he would examine how many donations made during his campaign were from people under 20 years of age, how many candidates are being investigated over the issue by the Control Yuan and whether there is an error proofing mechanism.
Asked whether he thinks the Control Yuan’s action was inflexible and outdated, Ko said: “There are many strange things going on in this nation, anyway.”
Ko yesterday also attended the unveiling ceremony of Neihu Public Assembly Hall (內湖公民會館), which was established in a building built during the Japanese colonial era and restored after a majority of local residents decided by majority i-vote to preserve it.
The building, designated as a historical monument of Taipei since 1999, was designed in the art deco style .
The establishment of the public assembly hall serves as a trial example of “participatory budgeting” and public participation, because the city collected ideas from local residents about what their ideal public assembly hall should be like, according to Taipei Bureau of Civil Administration.
In his opening speech, Ko said he was deeply moved that the old building has been given a new life through “i-voting” involving local residents.
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