Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday approved the Taipei Department of Transportation’s request to use NT$6 million (US$183,340) of the city’s second reserve fund to facilitate communication with borough wardens to salvage the poor uptake of the city’s Borough and Neighborhood Traffic Improvement Project to tackle illegal parking in alleys.
The project to protect pedestrian’s safety and boost the efficiency of rescue missions involves zoning out sidewalks in alleys, drawing yellow lines in the middle section of alleys to ban people from parking from 7am to 8pm, and moving scooter parking spaces from the alleys to the four corners of intersections to free up pedestrian space.
Taipei’s 456 boroughs can voluntarily participate in the project.
During yesterday’s quarterly meeting to review the city’s traffic policies, department division chief Chang Sheng-wan (張生萬) said that 19 out of 30 boroughs that have signed up for the project failed an assessment by the Taipei Department of Transportation.
He said that of the boroughs that passed the appraisal, Xinying (新營), Daxue (大學) and Jianan (建安) boroughs have completed more than 90 percent of work, Huasheng Borough (華聲) has completed 77 percent of work, while the progress in seven others was “barely passable.”
Chang said the decision to participate in the project lies with borough wardens, but many of them have refrained after coming under pressure from residents living on the first floor who park outside their doors — even though most people who live on higher stories want to join.
Also, residents who are reluctant to share parking spaces have prevented yellow lines from being drawn, hampering the work progress of participants, he said.
Department Commissioner Chung Hui-yu (鍾慧諭) said that borough wardens’ stance on the project carries too much weight.
She said the department would poll borough residents’ opinions by conducting a census at boroughs that have joined the project to speed up the project.
In response, Ko said the city government should not yield to criticism and should implement policies it believes to be right, adding that he would arrest people who oppose policies that have taken effect.
“When the government wants to push a policy, it is impossible that it will gain the public’s 100 percent support. If people oppose something you want to do, but you do it anyway, what use will their objection have? You can just arrest them,” Ko said, adding that the city government should offer incentives to encourage borough wardens to pick up the project’s pace.
Chung said the city can award plaques or trophies to borough wardens in recognition of their effort, to which Ko agreed.
“Any borough that achieves an 80 percent completion will receive a plaque or trophy. I will personally visit their borough to give them the awards,” Ko said.
He said the easiest way to facilitate communication between the city and boroughs is by outsourcing the task to a professional team to lobby for borough wardens’ support.
He said that such a team should also be tasked with making videos and arranging public hearings to promote the project.
Chung said that the department has formulated plans to outsource communication jobs, and that it hopes to obtain NT$6 million for the first year of the plan’s implementation.
Ko approved the request, saying that the budget is insignificant compared with the project’s importance.
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