The West Dadun Park in Taichung’s Situn District has been open to the public for two years, providing local residents with a large green space to relax in. Despite its size, however, there are no trees to shield people from the sun, so in summertime they can only go walking in the park in the evening. They hope that the Taichung City Government will plant plenty of trees so they can relax there in the daytime, too.
Chang Yi-hsin, head of the Parks Administration Office of the city’s Construction Bureau, says that some ruins have been discovered under the site, so the National Museum of Natural Science suggested that the park be covered with grass in the first phase, so as to prevent the ruins from being damaged by downward-growing tree roots, and that is why the park currently has grass but no trees. Chang says that the Cultural Affairs Bureau’s Cultural Heritage Department will do a further survey to find out whether there are indeed any ruins, in which case the authorities can build a pavillion for the ruins and start to plant trees.
A local resident says that it is bearable in the winter when the daytime weather is cool, which makes it quite comfortable to exercise in the park, but in the summer people can only go there at dusk or after sunset. The resident says that Taichung summers are so hot that as soon as you go out in the daytime you will get scorched or even faint, and this makes it impossible to stay in the park for more than half an hour. The resident wonders why the city government has not planted trees in the park so that people could take walks there in the daytime too, and especially so that senior citizens could relax in the shade of trees when they feel hot.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者蘇金鳳
The local resident says it is strange that there is not a single tree in such a big park. He wonders how the park can serve its purpose if people do not use it and he hopes that the city government will plant a lot of trees there. He says that even if there are ruins under the park they are unlikely to spread across the entire site, and there must be some parts without ruins under them. He says that if there is going to be a survey it should be done promptly, because residents can no longer put up with not being able to find a tree to get some shade in the daytime heat.
(Liberty Times, translated by Eddy Chang)
台中市西屯區的西大墩公園是近二年完工的公園，讓附近民眾有一個相當大的公園可休息。但西大墩公園雖然大，卻沒有樹木可遮蔭，致使民眾夏天只能利用傍晚到公園走走。希望市府能廣種樹木，讓附近住戶白天也能到公園休憩。
建設局公園管理科長張以欣表示，由於西大墩公園的地底下被發現有遺址，科博館建議，第一階段先植草皮，避免植樹後樹根向下生長，會破壞遺址，因此公園才會有草皮無樹木，未來文化局文資處會再進行調查，確定公園有無遺址區塊的部份，就可興建遺址的展示館及樹木。
某位住戶表示，冬天時還好，白天涼涼的，在公園運動非常舒服，但一到夏天，只能利用黃昏、太陽下山時出來走走，台中市的夏天，在大白天就會熱到爆，只要一走出去，就會曬昏，根本不可能在公園待半個小時以上，他不明白為何市府不在西大墩公園種樹，讓民眾白天也可以出來走走，尤其是老人家，熱了就在樹下乘涼。
住戶強調，如此大的公園一棵樹都沒有，真的很奇怪，民眾不來公園，如何達到公園的使用效益，希望市府能在西大墩公園多種一些樹，即使是遺址，也不可能一大片都是，一定有部份地區不是遺址，若要調查趕快做，實在受不了大熱天無樹可躲太陽。
(自由時報記者蘇金鳳)
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