Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said yesterday that the city's Education Bureau and schools had overlooked the importance of resolving the problem of bullying on campus.
Chen said city government agencies should acknowledge the issue and study how to ensure campus security.
“I will put Deputy Mayor Lee [Yung-te (李永得)] in charge. I want to see updated reports and statistics every six months,” she said.
Chen was responding to concerns raised on the council floor by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) City Councilor Lin Kuo-cheng (林國正) about campus security.
Lin accused the city government of failing to take campus security seriously.
Lin cited the latest statistics from the National Police Agency (NPA) showing that the city's crime rate had reached 6.28 criminals per 100,000 people, while Taipei City only had a crime rate of 3.53 offenders per 100,000 people.
NPA data also showed that the number of teenagers on drugs in Kaohsiung was about 1.78 times that in Taipei City, Lin said.
Chen said many school bullies or teenage drug addicts in the city were from economically disadvantaged families or were dropouts, but the city government would never give up on them.
“The issue of campus security is a matter of conscience,” Chen said, adding that the city government would never evade the issue.
In other news, the city's Economic Development Bureau urged residents of Dapingding (大坪頂) to learn to live in harmony with the Caprimulgus affinis after residents complained about the noise made by the birds.
Bureau director-general Liu Hsin-cheng (劉馨正) said an increasing number of the rare birds, commonly known as the Savanna Nightjar, had migrated to urban areas in recent years.
Many Siaogang District (小港) residents had complained about having difficulty sleeping because of the constant chirping made by the birds during the mating season, Liu said.
Saying that the mating season would last through August, Liu urged residents to strike a balance between their lives and protection of the birds.
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
Restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to be included in the Michelin Guide’s review for the first time this year, alongside existing entries from Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, the France-based culinary publication said yesterday. This year’s edition of the Michelin Guide Taiwan is to be unveiled on Aug. 19 in Taipei. In addition to the coveted star ratings, Michelin Taiwan would announce its “Bib Gourmand” selections — a distinction awarded to establishments offering high-quality food at moderate prices — on Aug. 12. This year’s Bib Gourmand list would also feature restaurants in New Taipei City, Hsinchu
A firefighter yesterday died after falling into New Taipei City's Xindian River when a rescue dinghy capsized during a search mission for a man who was later found dead. The New Taipei City Fire Department said that it received a report at 4:12pm that a 50-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), had fallen into the river. A 32-year-old firefighter, surnamed Wu (吳), was among the rescuers deployed to look for Chen, the fire department said, adding that he and five other rescue personnel were in the dinghy when it capsized. Wu had no vital signs after being pulled from the water to the
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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