A timeline of Taichung mayor Hu Chih-chiang (Jason Hu)'s MRT promises

Politics Taiwan Politics
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Taichung mayor of 12 years, Hu Chih-chiang, has pledged to build the MRT if he is re-elected, again.
2014/10/16 UDN
Headline: Hu Chih-Chiang: “I will build the MRT if re-elected”(胡志強：我連任一定蓋捷運)
Hu’s promise: I will make MRT happen! (捷運，我一定會做！)

Someone organized a timeline of how many times he has made that same promise in the past:

2004/6/27 China Times
Headline: Taichung’s MRT Green Line Operational by 2012 (台中捷運綠線 民國101年通車)
Hu’s promise: Construction will begin next year (明年展開施工)

2004/11/11 UDN
Headline: Taichung’s MRT Green Line Decided (大台中捷運綠線 定案)
Hu’s promise: Construction will begin the year after next year, and be completed by 2011. (後年動工 民國100年完工)

2005/10/4 UDN
Headline: Taichung’s MRT Green Line, 4 Stations in the County to Begin Construction the Year After Next Year (大台中捷運綠線 中縣4站都在後年動工)
Hu’s promise: MRT construction will be done by 2011. (民國100年完工)
Occasion: Taichung City Mayoral Election

2006/7/6 UDN
Headline: Taichung MRT, Construction will Begin as Planned. (台中捷運 「依計畫興建」)
Hu’s promise: If Hu’s re-elected, the construction will go forth this year, and be finished 4 years later. (胡當選 今年一定動工 四年完工)

2006/7/11 Taichung City
Headline: MRT Green Line will Acquire Properties by End of 2008, and Construction Completed by 2012 (捷運綠線97年底用地取得101年完工)
Hu’s promise: All the land will be acquired by the end of 2008, and construction will commence in order. (97年底用地取得 陸續施公)
A brokerage company backed up the press lease from Taichung City
home.url.com.tw/?func=forumbody& … ate_middle

2007/3/24 UDN
Headline: Taichung MRT, Construction for Beitun to Wuri Line Starts October. (台中捷運 北屯烏日線10月動工)
Hu’s promise: Construction will start in October and construction will be done as early as 2011. (十月動工 最快一百年完工通車)

2007/5/22 UDN
Headline: Taichung MRT Green Line’s Construction Begins October. (台中捷運綠線 10月動工)
Hu’s promise: Construction starts in October (今年10月就可動工)

2007/9/22 Economic Daily News
Headline: Taichung MRT Construction Delayed (台中捷運工期延後)
Hu’s promise: Construction on basic infrastructures won’t start as planned. (基本設計未完成無法如期動工)
Occasion: 2008 Presidential Election

2008/1/2 Taichung City
Headline: Taichung MRT Green Line All Ready to Go (台中捷運綠線蓄勢待發)
Hu’s promise: Plans will be submitted to Central government by the end of June. (6月底計畫送中央審核)

2008/3/10 UDN
Headline: Taichung MRT, Construction Complete by 2013 (台中捷運 102年底完工)
Hu’s promise: Construction will be over by 2013, MRT operational by 2014, construction starts next year. (102年底完工,103年營運.明年動工)
Occasion: Ma about to be inaugurated

2008/11/6 UDN
Headline: Taichung MRT, Construction Begins Next Year, Operational by 2015 (台中捷運 明年動工 104年通車)
Hu’s promise: Construction will hopefully begin October of next year. (希望明年10月順利動工)

2009/3/31 中央
Headline: Committee of Economic Development Approves Taichung’s Green line, Construction Before End of This Year (經建會核定中捷綠線 年底前動工)
Hu’s promise: Construction before end of this year, and will be operational by October of 2015. (今年底前動工,104年10月完工通車)
Occasion: New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung to become special municipality.

2009/4/21 UDN
Headline: This Time is for Reals, Taichung MRT Construction to Begin on October (這回玩真的 台中捷運10月動工 )
Hu’s promise: Construct will start in October, and will be over by 2015. (今年十月動工，預定一百零四年完工)
city.udn.com/54543/3397226

All news can be found on a Academic Internet Connection.

2

Hey it worked for Ma and Hau who ran on the same platform for 16 years.

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Because the important thing is not the MRT itself, it is the contracts hereby issued and most importantly, real estate speculation.

4

Cool, I like subways. He’s got my vote! :loco:

5

Meanwhile they have a ‘red’ line!

6

I have decided that voters are idiots.

7

I’ve met Hu a few times. Interpreted for him once (He was speaking Chinese to an audience that had a significant portion of foreigners. I did simultaneous interpreting to the English-speaking headset-wearing audience). Nice guy.

8

:bravo:
Exactly.

9

Not to rip on you, but being a nice guy and being a good administrator are not really in any way related. I’m sure Arnold Schwarzenegger is a nice guy, but he was a terrible governor. The fact that Hu is [strike]struggling[/strike] trailing in the opinion polls shows that his being in power for 13 years (!!!) is actually a liability for him, not an asset.

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Hu has always been and will always be an awful politician. Ew.

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Not to rip on you, but being a nice guy and being a good administrator are not really in any way related. I’m sure Arnold Schwarzenegger is a nice guy, but he was a terrible governor. The fact that Hu is [strike]struggling[/strike] trailing in the opinion polls shows that his being in power for 13 years (!!!) is actually a liability for him, not an asset.[/quote]

I didn’t imply he was a good administrator. I just said he was a nice guy.

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I will say that Taichung has largely shed its reputation of being the gang-infested industrial noman’s land it once had.

When I first came to Taiwan in 2006 people would tell me not to go to Taichung because there are gangs and to stay away from Kaohsiung because of 飆車族. This is the effect 社會新聞 has on people. It’s like they have never gone walking around in their own country and believe other people’s accounts more than their own experiences.

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[quote=“Hokwongwei”]I will say that Taichung has largely shed its reputation of being the gang-infested industrial noman’s land it once had.
[/quote]

Really? Wasn’t it just a couple years back the police chief was caught with a bunch of gangsters during a raid?

Of course any place that had Yen Ching-piao as a legislator can’t be all bad.

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Wouldn’t the fact that some of the gangster owned nightclubs closed down when Hu closed down most of the bars In the city give the false impression that gangsters don’t still infest the place with their Hello Kitty cars and other Taiwanese gangster accessories?

I miss the unholy trinity of The Pig Pen, The Lion King and Soundgarden.