Will check it out! Yeah, I always thought that entire Western historical area of Taipei has been totally neglected & under-appreciated for at least the last 20 years. In terms of all the history that’s there. It should have been a key target of urban renewal (while maintaining the historical essence) a long time ago. Of course, this gets into the huge argument of urban gentrification’s pros & cons which is another matter.
The Taipei railway station area has been an abortion from the day they designed the monstrosity that is the railway station. 20 years of continuous construction followed. What is needed now is a heritage corridor running from Wanhua to Dadaocheng. And preservation orders on all remaining heritage structures.
I know Dihua Street has been a big success with tourists but most of the buildings are new or have fake exteriors.
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One of the interesting things about Taipei is that it has very few genuinely old buildings. .It’s basically just a hundred years old with most stuff from the last 30, 40 or 50 years.
But what’s considered old , especially the shop fronts , should be preserved otherwise it will have no character whatsoever.
LACK OF VOTING RIGHTS FOR 500
I think he is change from do nothing two current groups. Hope for change and the future. Under the current system low wages rich get richer (I am better off though) but most things are same or worse
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Don’t forget the roof of Taipei Station. Finally done after years of delaying/grafting.
What he has gotten done is visible and necessary. No cosmetic prideful self celebration protects…So far.
I do not like him coming to the Dark Side but given that the DPP has literally head butt him and that the blues have the mafia on their side, well, little can be done there. He is standing alone and his life is on the line, one bullet away.
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What about the Taipei Dome fiasco? Some say Ko has totally mishandled it. But others say its not his fault at all.
The way ko is handling 社子島is also controversial and not without mistakes.
Really?
You don’t think the previous administration and FarGlory screwed Taipei City out of the true value that that land should have been appraised and sold to the FarGlory group for development, etc.? That is PRIME real estate in Taipei. Former land of Taiwan Tobacco.
Finally, someone (Ko) stepped up and said construction companies are fu__ing the city over values that they get land for and building safety as the final product.
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As I said, some say its not his fault at all (no blame should be assigned to his handling of it). Regardless, there are only 2 options now. Tear it down full stop or complete the construction.
I think you have misread the situation. Nobody is blaming Ko and many are commending him for doing the right thing rather than the easy thing (which would have been to carry on with the construction despite being illegal and unsafe). Taking on Yuanxiong is like taking on the mob.
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Actually, a few of my relatives pin the blame on him for mishandling the situation. They have told me personally. So this argument that there is not a single person on planet Earth who assigns any blame on Ko for mishandling this particular situation is not true. Now, whether these people are correct in their views is another matter. They may be totally wrong. All hail to the chief, to Taiwan’s President in 2020!
There are always folks that will call on our political leaders to take a harder line, or claim that this situation has been mishandled. Likely your relatives are repeating things they have heard on the news.
From my perspective, I remain highly displeased by the mishandling of the situation by the previous KMT administrations, which in this case blithely disregarded environmental concerns (cutting down all those trees!), safety issues (letting these clowns move the building square up against Zhongxiao East Road, without adequate space in an emergency), and basic common sense other than letting big companies grab public land and do what they wish to make as much money as possible, with all other consequences be damned. Dr Ko disrupted this cozy arrangement. For this—if nothing else—he should be applauded.
Guy
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Is Mayor Ko responsible for removing bridge and designing area? I mean were those decisions all initiated during his time in office? My wife says yes, but I thought those plans were in place before him.
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Don’t know about this particular case but that’s certainly something almost all politicians do all the time all over the world. Claim credit for success of previous administrations while saying past failures having nothing to do with them.
I read somewhere that the Youbike is the best bike share system in the world (not just compared to Chinese cities, but compared to North American and European cities). Surely Ko should take some credit for that.
馬and 郝 only do the talks and never execute anything. At least this way they won’t do anything wrong, and they can still get rich and fat.
In my opinion, a doer actually does things, and that includes doing the wrong things. It doesn’t mean he’s discredited for everything.
And there’s no proof he’s a tyrant either. It’s impossible to ask for perfection, but someone who’s at least honest enough about his mistakes and is willing to correct himself along the way is what I find hope in.
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No…that far precedes him.
I think Ko hasn’t dealt with my three pet peeves in Taipei
Burning ghost money on pavement and in parks
Too many motor scooters everywhere and driving on pavements
People smoking and throwing their butts everywhere
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Ghost money:
I hate the burn this burn that costum too. I myself don’t come from this sort of religious background either.
But Religious liberty. Govt should generally keep its claws off of religions.
Butts:
It’s wrong for ppl to just throw butts everywhere. but I don’t want see what it has to do with the city govt and ko.