New Taipei City’s change of heart regarding a junior-high school sports field in the city’s Linkou District (林口) slated to be used as the dining area for the 2017 Summer Universiade ran against the “moral principles of brotherhood,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko said his government planned to convert the area in New Taipei City Municipal Linkou Junior High School into the restaurant for the event, which is to be hosted by Taipei in August next year.
“We took into consideration that the conversion of the facility into a dining space would cause some inconvenience for students during construction, which was why we earmarked a ‘good neighbor’ budget of NT$200 million [US$6.13 million] to help the school rebuild its badminton court, athletics field and basketball arena,” Ko said on the sidelines of a traditional market festival in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“Waiting until after the budget has been allocated and related construction projects have been contracted out to tell us you do not want to lend us the space is an outright violation of the moral principles of brotherhood,” Ko said.
The Taipei City Government’s plan called for a large tent that could accommodate 3,500 people to be erected on the school’s campus, a project that would require pavement to be replaced and six months to complete.
The project, which was scheduled to begin after next year’s winter vacation, has recently met with opposition from students, parents and school faculty, who have accused the Taipei City Government of finalizing its plan without thoroughly communicating with them.
NOISE POLLUTION
They also expressed concern that construction could cause noise pollution and affect students’ rights to education.
Taipei later offered to help the school install air conditioning units and soundproof windows, as well as form a community basketball team and construct an activity center, but negotiations have ground to a halt.
ALTERNATIVES
Taipei Public Works Department Director Peng Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) said the department has put forward two alternatives: the basement of a public housing building in Linkou and an open area beside Linkou Baseball Field.
“The open area next to the baseball field covers 1,600m2 and belongs to the Taipei City Government, which means we would only need Mayor Ko’s consent to relocate the dining space there,” Peng said.
New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) said his government hopes to minimize the impact on students and plans to communicate with Taipei due to growing concern over the project.
“There are always alternatives. We hope that dialogue will lead to a great success for the Universiade,” Chu said.
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
SECURITY: To protect the nation’s Internet cables, the navy should use buoys marking waters within 50m of them as a restricted zone, a former navy squadron commander said A Chinese cargo ship repeatedly intruded into Taiwan’s contiguous and sovereign waters for three months before allegedly damaging an undersea Internet cable off Kaohsiung, a Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) investigation revealed. Using publicly available information, the Liberty Times was able to reconstruct the Shunxing-39’s movements near Taiwan since Double Ten National Day last year. Taiwanese officials did not respond to the freighter’s intrusions until Friday last week, when the ship, registered in Cameroon and Tanzania, turned off its automatic identification system shortly before damage was inflicted to a key cable linking Taiwan to the rest of
RSS