Stores are going out of business in Taipei’s East District (東區) due to of a lack of economic growth, not district decline, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said on Saturday.
Claims that the vacant storefronts point to a “declining East District” have been overblown by the media, Ko said.
Since January, local media have reported that famous stores in the district have closed their doors due to high rents. The Yun Fu Lou Restaurant (永福樓), a two-story Chinese restaurant that had served customers on Zhongxiao E Road Sec 4 (忠孝東路四段) for four decades, closed in February.
Photo Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
High rents are not the only reason for the shutdowns, Ko wrote on Facebook, adding that two aspects of the problem should be considered: rental costs and cash flow.
“High rent is a major obstacle for innovative industry in Taipei, because once a business starts to make a profit, the profit is often consumed by the high rental costs,” Ko said.
More than 800,000 houses nationwide have been vacant for at least three months, showing that the cost of holding on to an empty house is low, he said.
A legislative solution would need the support of the central government, he added.
“Cash flow in the city has not changed much over the past four years, but with significant growth in the West District, the Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area and Xinyi District (信義), business in the East District has relatively declined,” he wrote, adding that the rapid growth of online shopping has forced brick-and-mortar shops to change their operating methods.
The East District does not have a shopping development association or integrated marketing, so assisting businesses there to establish an association is a top priority, Ko said.
A neighborhood transportation project should also be implemented in the district to improve pedestrian safety when people are shopping, he added.
The Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) is designing a stage at Dinghao Plaza (頂好廣場) so that the plaza can host events and weekend markets and the Taipei Office of Commerce would help businesses promote their brands to attract shoppers, Ko said.
A lasting solution would be to improve economic growth in Taiwan, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) wrote on Facebook on Saturday that TRTC statistics showed that annual passenger flow at the city’s Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT Station fell from about 38.1 million in 2014 to 35.5 million last year, or 6.8 percent, while passenger flow at Zhongxiao Dunhua MRT Station fell from 29 million to 26.9 million, or 7.2 percent.
Ko seems to be unaware of the decrease in passengers, and stubbornly claims that business in the district has not declined, she wrote.
There have been no major developments in the East District and the stalled Taipei Dome project has made the situation even worse, Wang added.
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