Taipei City councilors across party lines criticized Taipei City Government Department of Urban Planning Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) yesterday, complaining that they had never met a commissioner who was so “cocky” and difficult to contact.
Lin yesterday appeared before the city council’s Public Works Committee for the first time, reporting on the city’s expansive plans for urban renewal and public housing.
The plans are central to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) agenda, with Ko promising to reshape Taipei’s urban landscape and to release more than 20,000 public housing units onto the market during his first term.
Photo: Chung Hung-liang, Taipei Times
Because Lin’s department is charged with drafting and implementing specific urban renewal and construction plans, he has become one of the most prominent and members of Ko’s administration.
Lin was subjected to nearly 20 minutes of questioning by irate city councilors prior to delivering his report, with councilors complaining that he was impossible to contact, avoided meeting them and did not return their calls.
“I’ve never before known of a city commissioner who can only be seen on television, but never in the city council,” said Taipei City Councilor Chen Yi-chou (陳義洲), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), adding that Lin had failed to make courtesy calls customary for new commissioners.
“I have no idea how I’m supposed to get hold of you,” he said, adding he had received no response after repeated attempts to contact Lin.
Chen said that while Lin is as “busy as a bee” and has “poked a lot of hornet’s nests... even the emperor has to work for the support of his subjects.”
As department commissioner, Lin should not throw complaints and requests for information from city councilors “on the back burner,” he said.
“This isn’t just a problem KMT councilors have run into,” said Taipei City Councilor Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) of the Democratic Progressive Party, adding that she also had not been able to contact Lin.
She asked jokingly if councilors had to send Lin “love letters” before they could schedule meetings, adding that she had personally brought up Lin’s inaccessibility to the mayor, only to have him joke that she probably was not using the right methods to connect with someone as “romantic” as Lin.
An architect and college professor known for his shoulder-length tresses, Lin has been publicly described by Ko as a “romantic” for advocating urban renewal projects such as transforming the underdeveloped Shezidao (社子島) peninsula into Taipei’s “Venice” or “Amsterdam.”
In response to the councilors’ criticism, Lin said that he was a “good child from a good family,” who would work to “improve his manners,” adding that he had not intended to make the councilors feel snubbed.
He said because he did not have a television, he knew the names of only a few councilors and was often reluctant to respond to their questions because he was not yet prepared to make a judgement call on the cases and issues they raised.
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