If the Taipei Dome “is not torn down, it means it will be built,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday in response to Minister of Culture Cheng Li-chiun’s (鄭麗君) request that the Taipei City Government clarify its stance on whether the project would be finished.
The project is a “historical glitch,” Ko said during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday, adding that he did not select the Dome’s location and cannot easily decide to tear it down.
The city government needs help from the central government to solve public safety problems related to the site, he added.
Photo: Huang Chien-hao, Taipei Times
The structure has taken up so much space that there was no room left to build evacuation passages, Ko said, adding that an 80m-wide underpass connecting the Dome with the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall could serve as an evacuation tunnel.
He also suggested opening up a road between the Dome and the historical Taipei Railway Workshop for vehicle and crowd evacuation.
As the memorial hall and the workshop are both managed by the Ministry of Culture, Ko asked Tsai to help the city government solve the problem.
However, Ko over the weekend said that the ministry seemed to be obstructing progress.
The Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs in June designated the memorial hall and its plaza as a proposed historic monument, and the workshop is a national historic monument, so the plans might have to go through cultural heritage reviews, Cheng said yesterday.
The ministry wants to remind the city government that it should fully understand the situation and clarify its stance on whether the project would be continued, Cheng said, adding that the central and city governments need to discuss plans rationally so that they can cooperate.
Asked for comments, Ko said the Dome must be constructed safely, because it is impossible to continue building it while neglecting public safety issues.
The proposed evacuation passage must be constructed and the city government has already told the ministry about it in previous meetings, which can seen in the meeting records, Ko said.
Society needs more “problem solvers,” rather than people who only find and explain problems, he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
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