Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and his administration yesterday received mediocre grades for their performance over the past two years in a survey that polled reporters who cover Taipei City Hall.
Hau was given an average grade of 49 out of a possible 100 for his integrity, communication skills, understanding of public opinion, political judgment and crisis management, the survey conducted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City councilors showed.
The survey polled 44 city desk reporters between last Thursday and Monday on the performance of Hau and 36 department heads.
PHOTO: CNA
The Hau administration was given 55 points for its overall performance. Commissioner of the Social Affairs Department Shih Yu-ling (師豫玲), head of Taipei City’s Research Development and Evaluation Commission Emile Sheng (盛治仁) and Tom Chang (常歧德), commissioner of the Rapid Transit Systems, were rated as the top three performers in the Hau administration, the survey showed.
Taipei City Government Spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung (羊曉東), Taipei Secretariat Director Yang Hsi-an (楊錫安) and Chu Yea-Hu (朱亞虎), commissioner of Compulsory Military Service, were the department heads who were rated the lowest, it said.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Chen Yu-mei (陳玉梅) expressed her concern over the poor grades the administration received from the press and urged the mayor to step up efforts to push for more municipal development.
“Mayor Hau, you are running for re-election next year, and we are very concerned about you and your administration. Do you think such a municipal team can be an asset for you in the mayoral election?” she said yesterday during a question-and-answer session at the Taipei City Council.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新) called on Yang and other department heads who received poor grades to work on their communication with the press and improve their performance.
He also urged Hau to visit local boroughs more often and create more opportunities to communicate with local residents.
Hau acknowledged that he and the municipal team needed to improve their performance and promised to correct the flaws and mistakes that were pointed out in the survey.
The mayor defended the city government’s efforts in organizing large-scale events including the Deaflympics in September and next year’s Floral Expo and said he was confident that residents will come to acknowledge the city government’s performance.
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