The hotpot restaurant on our first and second floor is dumping their crap in the drainage system.
Since I have access to the emergency stairs, I can see the full filth of their operations.
Dumping waste (liquid food waste including oily foamy shit + dishwashed water) into the drainage system and gutters- the revolting crap is always floating in a drain and it is permanently there.
They store all their reused oil in drums on the emergency stairs for reuse and it obstructs almost any movement down the stairs
They have fully blocked off the emergency exit completely on the first floor with dumped shit, aircon systems, bamboo pieces, scrap and litter. No one would ever be able to get out in an emergency evacuation.
Emergency exit stairs hand railings are rusted off and broken off in many places
Pictures will come soon…
Since they have lots of guanxi and are all in with the building management, my complaining would get me nowhere.
Is there any way to contact somebody (anon) to come step in and investigate? How would I start this?
1999 is the general-purpose citizen helpline. I’ve never had reason to call them, but I’ve heard they are (usually) helpful. Assuming you’re in Taipei, somebody will probably take notice … at least for a week or two.
They will contact, connect you to the office that deals with the kind of complaint you have … and deal with it.
In your case it seems you have several different things going on, health, fire (building safety), and EPA … no small issue.
You can not release restaurant kitchen waste water in the sewer without having a grease trap, you can not block (emergency) stairs and exits, you can not store restaurant waste oil in a residential building.
No, not the EPA, which is part of the central government in charge of policy making and legislation. They won’t give a f%ck about wastewater in one building. For something like this, you should call the environmental authorities of your local government. So if you’re in Taipei, you should contact the Environmental Protection Department of the Taipei City Government. If you call 1999, they’ll forward your complaint to the same place.
Good to hear ~ anyone know if they will keep my data confidential?
Also just curious - anyone know what their English capability is like?[/quote]
Pretty good English … it should be confidential, that’s why they have that number in the first place.
If you call 1999 the complaint is recorded and has to be acted upon. They will investigate and get back to you (they have to get back to you to see if someone acted upon the complaint). Whether it will be solved is another issue but generally in Taipei I would say you have a good chance. I wouldn’t worry too much about reprisal.
Good to hear ~ anyone know if they will keep my data confidential?
Also just curious - anyone know what their English capability is like?[/quote]
Pretty good English … it should be confidential, that’s why they have that number in the first place.[/quote]
Assuming they will keep his information confidential is a very bad idea.
I’ve personally heard of three cases where people reported safety, noise, or sanitation violations, only to have the agency in charge tell the accused who it was. Two of these people are Taiwanese, one is a foreigner. All of them were threatened by the accused, and of course nothing was done to resolve the situation.
If it was me, I would consult a wise, trustworthy, local friend or two to see what the best route to take is, instead of relying on foreigners who seldom understand the vagaries of enforcing the law in Taiwan (rotalsnart, Feiren, and Northcoast surfer excepted).
It will be a test of friendship. Many so-called friends will not take the risk.
But I think it is worth a try. Still, I would do more due diligence. Ask around, hypothetically, figure out who to contact and what is likely to happen, but triple confirm everything you hear.
Beliefs about law enforcement and the actual practice in Taiwan are radically different from those in many other (particularly Western) countries and say, Singapore. Do not make the mistake of assuming that things here are like they are at home, i.e. government officials nearly universally care about enforcing regulations.
I called the police (110) about a suspected domestic violence case at my next-door neighbors’ once. The officer knocked on their door and they just shut up and pretended not to be home. After knocking three times, he calls my cell phone to make sure he got the right address. So my neighbor could hear my distinctive ring tone and then the police officer asking about case right outside his door. (The building was not well sound-proofed.) I’m lucky she wasn’t waiting outside with a baseball bet the next day.
(Yes, it was the woman abusing the man. Or at least seemed that way from some of the things I heard/saw living there.)
