New Taipei City should let its residents decide on the design for door number signs after complaints that the proposed designs for odd-numbered buildings were ugly and inauspicious, New Taipei City Councilor Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城) said.
The city government has allocated NT$70 million (US$2.3 million) in next year’s budget to redesign all building number and road signs to give them a unified appearance.
The sample door signs seen so far would have even numbers on a red background with white lettering, while odd numbers would be placed on yellow backgrounds with black lettering.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Lee on Saturday said that residents have complained that the yellow-and-black combination is too ugly and too similar to glyphs handed out by temples to ward off spirits.
The city government should take a page out of Taoyuan’s book and hold a competition to choose new designs, he said, adding that it could hold Internet polls and invite designers to judge the designs.
Such a move would increase residents’ sense of participation in city affairs and would also prevent civil servants from creating designs that are aesthetically displeasing or fail to match the need of the city’s residents, Lee said.
New Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs Director Chiang Chun-ting (江俊霆) said the signs were not unified when the then-Taipei County was elevated to special municipality in 2010.
The current samples were based on designs from other nations and were intended to increase visibility at night, Chiang said, adding that the designs had not been finalized.
Opening the design effort to a public vote was a viable option and could be discussed, Chiang said.
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