Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou
"The [renovation] scheme has slowly taken shape and this is the best example of [successful] neighborhood improvement projects," Ma said, adding that in a crowded city like Taipei, it is a must to have such minor parks mixed in amid the city's `concrete jungle.'
The 2,845 square meter park, located on Yitung Street, was the first one to re-open this year as part of the city's plan to renovate 26 of the so-called `neighborhood parks'
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The city's civil affairs bureau has NT$126 million budget for the renovation scheme this fiscal year and five of the targeted parks are located in the Chungshan district, said Wang Hong-yi
Facilities in the 24-year-old park had become obsolete with the passage of time, while unrestricted tree growth had lead to insufficient sunlight reaching the ground -- a common situation that experts say has often impeded the growth of other greenery such as flowers and shrubs in parks.
After tree pruning -- an exercise some residents felt was overdone -- and the replacement of facilities, the park is now equipped with a badminton court, a pavilion and a tea-drinking area, as well as the standard park benches.
Ma also visited the nearby Si-ping pedestrian zone, which is open on a three-month trial basis, to boost the business in the crowded alley located between Yitung Street and Lane 115 of Nanking East Road Sec.2.
"I've heard profits have risen here by about 20 percent since the pedestrian zone opened in January," Ma said in Hokkien, as he used a a microphone to speak to the vendors and shoppers surrounding him.
The mayor also promised to continue the push for urban renewal throughout the city.
"People said that trying to renew old communities is like old ladies wearing make-up, a move which would prove to be futile. But if it is me that helps wear the make-up, the old ladies [the city's old districts] will become beautiful," he said.
Taipei City Councilor Fred Wang
"We hope that the pedestrian zone can be institutionalized and included in the city's tour map," Wang said.
Shop operators in the zone said they welcomed Wang's proposal.
"Shoppers carrying their kids here find it safer to walk around, as vehicles are forbidden to enter the zone from noon to 6pm. And my income has increased by about 20 to 30 percent," said Chou Luo-chi
"So I hope the pedestrian zone scheme can continue," she added.
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS