Following the upgrade of Taoyuan city to special municipality status, progress on reorganization of house numbers and street names has been slow. Streets with more than one name, or multiple translations of the same name, are common occurrences. Not only has this led to satnav systems being unable to find streets and roads, even zip codes cannot be used to find an address. Many city councilors have lashed out at the director of the Department of Civil Affairs, Tang Hui-chen, for not getting on top of the situation and for failing to comprehend the public’s misery. Councilors further said that there was no time to lose during the handover process to municipal government.
City councilors have lashed out at the example of Provincial Highway No. 1. In Gueishan District it is called Wanshou Road, in Taoyuan District the name changes to Jhongshan Road, then in Bade District it becomes Jhonghua Road. Finally in Jhongli District it is divided into Jhonghua Road Sections 1 and 2. With one road possessing as many as 17 names, the naming system is completely illogical.
Councilors point out that Taoyuan in total contains over 760,000 households, however so far only 50,000 or more have been consolidated — progress has been less than 10 percent — leading the public to suspect the Department of Civil Affairs is ignoring the mess, “while sitting in their comfortable air-conditioned offices.” Furthermore, say councilors, officials have never clearly explained the reorganization process to the public, which has lead to a continued backlash. Following the reorganization, officials have also failed to inform relevant departments, leading to roads being unable to be located through zip codes and to letters being returned, only increasing the public’s anger still further. Councilors have asked the Department of Civil Affairs to clearly explain future reorganizations, in order to diminish the negative reaction from the public.
Photo: Chiu I-tung, Liberty Times
照片: 自由時報記者邱奕統
(Liberty Times, translated by Edward Jones)
桃園市升格後,門牌、路名整編進度緩慢,一路多名、多譯的情形眾多,不僅導航系統出現找不到路的情形,甚至連郵差也找不到地址,多位市議員抨擊民政局長湯蕙禎仍在狀況外,不知民間疾苦,要求市府業務銜接不能有空窗期。
市議員們抨擊,以省道台一線來說,在龜山區是萬壽路,到桃園區改叫中山路,到了八德區成了中華路,至中壢區又分為中華路一、二段,一路多達十七名,命名毫無章法。
議員們指出,桃園市共七十六萬多戶,至今只完成五萬多戶整編,進度不到一成,質疑民政局完全無視這些亂象,「只會坐在辦公室吹冷氣」,且整編時未向民眾清楚解釋,致使反彈連連,而整編後也未通知其他單位,導致郵差找不到路,信件被退件,徒增民怨,要求民政局未來整編時須清楚說明,降低民意反彈。
(自由時報記者邱奕統)
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