Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) took office as Taipei mayor yesterday, pledging to deal with the long-drawn out Taipei Dome problem, traffic congestion in Neihu District (內湖) and urban renewal issues as soon as possible.
At an inauguration ceremony at Taipei City Hall in the morning, Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) stepped down after eight years as mayor and handed the mayor’s seal over to Chiang, the youngest Taipei mayor ever elected.
It was Taipei’s eighth inauguration ceremony to swear in a mayor.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
Ko said he advised Chiang’s administrative team that when facing tough choices, they should imagine themselves looking back to the present from 50 years in the future and the answer would be clear.
Ko said he hopes Chiang and his administrative team would uphold honesty and integrity in governance.
Most importantly, they should not sacrifice long-term interests for short-term ones, nor sacrifice the majority’s interests for those of a few people, or sacrifice national interests for party interests, he said.
The Taipei City Council in June passed self-governance regulations to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, which would be an important task for Chiang, he said.
In his inaugural address, Chiang said he has taken on the important task of guiding Taipei forward.
He understands that amid competition from international cities and facing an ever-changing global situation, a city that does not move forward would fall behind, so he would always strive to be better, Chiang said.
His team would pursue “four windows of opportunity”: making Taipei a prosperous city; making it a city where talented people would be willing to stay and could pursue creative endeavors; renewing Taipei to make it a modern city with more environmentally friendly buildings; and promoting Taipei’s local features and urban tourism to make it a charming city with cultural heritage, he said.
Chiang said he would meet with city departments to understand their needs and collect their opinions, and enable administrative operations to run smoothly.
He would speed up the handling of the Taipei Dome project, the Neihu traffic problem and urban renewal issues, he said.
Chiang reiterated his promise to finish the Taipei Dome construction project within a year of taking office, as well as resolve traffic congestion that has long been a serious concern for Neihu residents.
He has also pledged new urban renewal policies to Taipei residents, so he must get to work as soon as possible, Chiang said.
Newly elected and re-elected mayor and county commissioners nationwide were also sworn in yesterday.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS