Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) yesterday said he would today officially announce his plan to run in next year’s Taipei mayoral election.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that Yao is within his rights to run in the election.
“A mayor is the CEO of the city, and whether they have the ability to make the city a better one through their management skills should be the main point of the election,” Yao said on Facebook.
Yao said that he would share his vision for Taipei at the Taipei International Convention Center at 3pm today, and invited anyone who is concerned about Taipei’s future to join him.
Taipei lacks large-scale planning and a vision to keep up with the progress of other advanced cities around the world, he said, adding that he hopes to relocate Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) by 2022 and turn the space into a large central park.
He also plans to promote large-scale, government-led urban renewal projects, he said.
In an event yesterday afternoon to help middle-aged and older people find jobs and promote the city’s policy for narrowing the gender pay gap, Ko said everyone has the right to run in an election and that for him, the only important thing is to do his daily duties properly.
When asked about his thoughts on Yao’s ideal childbirth subsidy policy — subsidizing NT$10,000 per month for parents with a second child, from birth to age five — Ko said: “The standard of social welfare should be the same across the nation. When local governments give out different incentives or subsidies, other cities or counties might have to raise their standards.”
Local governments have different financial situations, so some would have to raise their debt, he said.
“Taipei has a relatively better financial situation, but if the city begins giving out the subsidy, would it be fair to people living in other places?” he added.
In response to Yao’s remark on moving the airport, Ko said that because the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT line is operating and the Wugu-Yangmei Overpass is open, he thinks the airport could now be effectively relocated.
“The problem is whether the central government has the courage to relocate Songshan airport,” he said. “However, that is up to central government to decide, not the Taipei City Government.”
Ko said that because he is running for re-election, he does not have to make any special efforts in campaigning, but should rather focus on doing his daily duties well.
He said he has learned that the government might not know the market and industries well enough, so he has been spending more time visiting business districts and talking to managers to understand what they need from the government.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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