Democratic Progressive Party candidate for Taipei mayor Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday accused the city government of spending large sums of taxpayers’ money to develop projects that he claimed were for short-term political gain.
Inspecting a much-criticized bicycle lane and other urban development projects on Dunhua N Road and Dunhua S Road, Su said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) showed good judgment four years ago when he proposed turning the road into Taipei’s version of Paris’ Avenue des Champs-Elysees.
However, what he saw at Victoria Park was litter, dry fountains and broken pavement tiles, Su said. The roots of large trees were sealed with concrete, lighting fixtures for advertisement never worked and the contractor was entangled in a lawsuit with the city government, he said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The city also spent more than NT$70 million (US$2.32 million) building the bicycle lane, a project that has come under heavy criticism for mixing cyclists with motorized vehicles.
“City projects cannot be used to serve a particular person’s political interests,” he said. “It is a pity that the city spends so much money, but in the end, the safety of residents is undermined [with the result that] the bicycle lane is rarely used.”
Su said the projects were great ideas and, if handled properly, could have created a win-win scenario. In the end, however, the city government and its contractors suffered, and the ultimate victims were residents.
“To do something and do it right, you must have a well-thought-out plan and the ability to deliver. Otherwise, it’s just empty talk,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hau unveiled his green city declaration, urging world leaders to make their best efforts to increase green spaces and build sustainable cities.
Attending the closing ceremony of the Green City International Conference, Hau said in English he hoped the two-day conference and the declaration would motivate governments and municipalities around the world to build green cities.
Hau and participants at the conference called on national and international leaders to ensure that city governments provide healthy and inspiring environments for their residents.
“Investment in green cities is an investment in a healthy population and a healthy economy, with very high financial and social returns,” he said. “To find eco-friendly green solutions for social, economic, climate, financial and technical problems, we are convinced that more cities and municipal governments will benefit from green urban power by exchange of knowledge and best practices, like we did in this green city conference in Taipei.”
At a different setting in the afternoon, Hau said the city would open a Hakka theme park in Gongguan (公館).
Hau made the remarks when attending the launch of a Hakka support group at his campaign headquarters yesterday afternoon.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
New measures aimed at making Taiwan more attractive to foreign professionals came into effect this month, the National Development Council said yesterday. Among the changes, international students at Taiwanese universities would be able to work in Taiwan without a work permit in the two years after they graduate, explainer materials provided by the council said. In addition, foreign nationals who graduated from one of the world’s top 200 universities within the past five years can also apply for a two-year open work permit. Previously, those graduates would have needed to apply for a work permit using point-based criteria or have a Taiwanese company
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan. Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said. Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software
RSS