A group of residents from Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday protested against the Taipei City Government’s handling of plans to reconstruct the Xinbeitou train station.
Staging a protest outside the Taipei City Council building, the group accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) administration of working in collusion with corporations over the project.
Built in 1916, the station served as the terminal stop on the rail line to Beitou’s hot spring resorts before being moved to the now-defunct Taiwan Folk Village in Changhua County in 1989 to make room for the construction of the Taipei MRT’s Xinbeitou station.
National Central University professor emeritus Chen Huei-tsyr (陳慧慈), a Beitou resident, said the district’s residents have been advocating for the restoration of the station since 1996, but they have become divided, as a group of people want it reassembled at Qixing Park (七星公園), which is about 50m from its original location.
“A cultural asset loses its value if it is not restored on its original location,” Chen said. “However, the city government tends to agree with the people who think it should be built in the park.”
Social activist Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱) said the bid to reconstruct the train station went to a hot spring operator surnamed Chou (周), whom he accused of mobilizing her associates at two hearings where Chou induced them to vote for the plan to restore the building in the park.
“Is a hearing the right occasion to vote on the options?” Wang asked, saying Chou’s move was unlawful.
“Mayor Ko, please tell us. Who is pulling your strings? Are you working for corporations?” local resident Chen Min-hsiang (陳敏香) asked. “We used to be your allies. Please do not turn into a cultural destroyer.”
Beitou resident Hsiao Wen-chieh (蕭文杰) said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made a campaign promise to restore the Xinbeitou train station at a spot as close to its original location as possible, but when preservationists brought up the plan at the hearing, they were stopped by Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Ching-jun (陳景峻).
Saying the train station used to sit in what would be the entrance of the Beitou cultural park espoused by Tsai, Hsiao asked whether the Ko administration is “plotting to rebel against the central government” by attempting to block its proposal.
Referencing a declaration Ko signed vowing to protect cultural assets, Hsiao urged Ko to make good on his pledge.
Ko received a petition handed to him by the protesters and hurried to a city council question-and-answer session.
In related news, Ko equivocated when Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) asked him about his stance on the controversial Beitou gondola build-operate-transfer project contracted out by the city government.
When Ko said he was “neutral” over the project, Liang said he should quickly propose a solution to the project, which has sparked ecological concerns.
Liang said the firm that won the bid for the project plans to take the project to the Environmental Protection Administration after an initial environmental impact assessment passed by the municipal government was last year rejected by the High Administrative Court in Taipei.
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