Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday faced tough questions at the Taipei City Council pertaining to a “ghost liaison” and confusion he caused on Thursday about the city’s plan to levy parking fees.
With the end of the current session approaching, many Taipei city councilors have made all-out efforts to scrutinize the Ko administration.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi (王欣儀) targeted Taipei Police Department liaison Yen Shih-chao (顏世炤), a police officer, whom she called a “ghost liaison” between the department and the city council.
Photo: CNA
Wang asked Taipei Police Department Commissioner Chiu Feng-kuang (邱豐光) how many liaisons the department has with the city council, to which Chiu replied: “Three.”
However, an investigation by Wang found that there are actually four liaisons at the department, and that Yen, who Wang said was appointed as a liaison on Sept. 1, is not on the department’s list of liaisons.
Wang said Yen told her aides that the three other liaisons at the department are responsible for “trifling matters,” while he is in charge of “serious, under-the-table matters” and answers directly to Chiu.
Wang said it was ironic that the issue originated at the police department, where discipline is given great emphasis, and asked Ko whether he knew of the situation.
Her question left Ko dumbfounded.
Criminal Investigation Division head Lee Wen-chang (李文章) said Yen was appointed to stand in for another liaison, who Lee said had health problems.
Ko ordered the department to conduct a review of the necessity of Yen’s appointment, and said Yen should be relieved of his duties as liaison should the post prove to be redundant.
When asked by Wang to probe what clandestine dealings Yen could have carried out for Chiu, Ko said: “I will tell him [Yen] to see me in my office.”
KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) asked Ko to clarify a pledge he made on Thursday about waiving parking fees in alleys 6m wide or less, which she said had misled the media.
In response, Ko said what he actually meant on Thursday was that parking fees would be waived in alleys in areas that are part of the city’s “borough and neighborhood traffic improvement” project.
In areas participating in the project, scooter parking spaces are moved from within alleys to the corners of alley intersections and no-parking alley sections are replaced with temporary parking sections to allow for more flexible parking space usage and to facilitate rescue work in emergencies.
So far, only the Daxue Borough (大學) in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) and the Xinying Borough (新營) in the Zhongzheng District (中正) have signed up to take part in the project.
Parking fees are to be collected in alleys in all other areas across the city starting next month, Ko said.
Wang then cited a list of roads in Taipei with varying parking fees, which are charged during different hours, saying that the inconsistency has caused residents a great deal of confusion.
Ko attributed the flawed fee system to a lack of systematic planning.
“Sometimes we think too fast, which has caused some policies to be introduced without accompanying measures in place,” he said.
He said that he would announce amendments to the parking fee system next week.
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