[quote=“wispy swiller”]
I’m obsessed with the Keelung (Jilong) River Park -it’s all I think about.[/quote]
I thought I was the only one! :bravo:
Isn’t Taiwan supposed to be uninhabitable by 2007?
Many people compete and compare: who has the most trendy designer bags? Who dresses most fashionable? Who uses SKII? Who drives the best car? Whose young child is already learning English? Whose kid play piano or violin very well? Who…
We need people (and cities and towns) who would compete and compare: which store front is the cleanest? Which public restroom is the most sanitary? Whose kitchen is the most hygienic? Whose neigborhood playground is the safest? Which public park is the most enjoyable? Which sidewalk is the most obstacle-free? Which library has the largest selection of books? Which kid has the best manners? Which school has the most well-rounded students? Which district elected the best representative? Which…
As smart and educated as most Taiwanese are, chances they’re going to compete in a better way are…slim???
[quote=“ajklin”]Many people compete and compare: who has the most trendy designer bags? Who dresses most fashionable? Who uses SKII? Who drives the best car? Whose young child is already learning English? Whose kid play piano or violin very well? Who…
We need people (and cities and towns) who would compete and compare: which store front is the cleanest? Which public restroom is the most sanitary? Whose kitchen is the most hygienic? Whose neigborhood playground is the safest? Which public park is the most enjoyable? Which sidewalk is the most obstacle-free? Which library has the largest selection of books? Which kid has the best manners? Which school has the most well-rounded students? Which district elected the best representative? Which…[/quote]
Are you on drugs!!? 
[quote=“bushibanned”]Is it me, or is Taipei becoming a lot cleaner?
I can’t even rememeber the last time I saw a cockroach.
Been in my studio for over a year and haven’t seen any. Not even a straggler.
When I first came to Taiwan, they were everywhere… outside, in the school, the random one under the sink by the trash can.
what’s going on?[/quote]
Did you notice that compared to major US cities for example, Taipei’s trash policy is much better. In the United States, people dump their trash outside their building into big dumpsters (huge public trashcans). Inside that dumpster is a disgusting rat and cockroach feeding and breeding orgy.
After I moved to Taiwan and saw they way they do not allow people to put their trash outside, I realized that this is a much much cleaner way to do things? I think many of us do not give Taiwan credit for this. It is an excellent policy!
I prefer dumpsters and putting your trash by the curb for curbside pick-up rather than chasing down the garbage truck and hearing that god-awful racket several times a day.
Wouldn’t that just bring back the street dog culture? 10 years ago in Hsin Chunag people would literally throw their garbagio into a HUGE pile 10 feet high and garbage truck would pick up twice a week. I prefer the god awful racket to that…fer sure.
Dumpsters are unsanitary breeding and feeding grounds for rats and roaches. Don’t you like classical music? Can you think of a better sound than Classical musak?
If you do not like to chase down the garbage truck, pay someone to do it for you. As far as the noise goes, it is classical music and could be worse and is far better than waiting on the side of the raod for the truck to arrive. What if he is late or early, the noise is necessary.
Sanitation and hygiene (disease control) in such a crowded city should take precedent over individual’s (LitteBuddhaTW) convenience.
Dumpsters are unsanitary breeding and feeding grounds for rats and roaches. Don’t you like classical music? Can you think of a better sound than Classical musak?
If you do not like to chase down the garbage truck, pay someone to do it for you. As far as the noise goes, it is classical music and could be worse and is far better than waiting on the side of the raod for the truck to arrive. What if he is late or early, the noise is necessary.
Sanitation and hygiene (disease control) in such a crowded city should take precedent over individual’s (LitteBuddhaTW) convenience.[/quote]
If you’re so concerned about sanitation and hygiene, perhaps you (and the government) could start putting out more trash cans so people wouldn’t throw their garbage on the streets or in other people’s scooter baskets, do something about the rampant stray dog/cat problem, enforce no public spitting laws like they’ve been implementing in the more … ummm … “civilized” areas of China, and implement (and ENFORCE) regulations on sanitation and hygiene for small family restaurants, roadside stalls, etc. Then you’d be starting to make some progress. Will the authorities do any of these things? Of course not. Why? Because most of them can tolerate the filth.
LittleTWBuddha: There are not a lot of trash cans on the street due to the most amazing Recycling program anywhere in the world!! I thought you realized this.
In Taipei they tax you on the amount of trash that you throw away, but no taxes on recyclable trash. If you recycle more then you pay less trash tax fees which are levied only on the Government sanctioned trash bags. If there were too many trash cans, people would stuff them full with their trash to get away with not paying the usary trash tax. I agree with you it sucks as I have had to carry trash for blocks and blocks looking for a trash can sometimes with no luck. However, Taiwan people would take advantage of the abundant trash cans and get around paying trash collection tax. I know sometimes people trhow their trash on the street, but those kind of people would probably do it anyway, even if there were a lot of trash cans on the streets. However, ever seen the guys each and every morning (except Sunday I think) sweeping up the streets?
Anyway, USUARY taxes are so much fairer than a percentage tax levied by the local governments on your property tax etc., and it saves the environment! Taipei should receive international Kudos for their trash and recycling programs. Mayor Ma has done a splendid job!
Regarding spitting, Taiwan doesn’t need a no spitting law like they have in China, because Taiwan people are much more sanitary than Chinese people as they do not spit all over the streets during FLU season, although in regards to Binglang spitting, that is gross and our good Ex-President Lee Teng Hui was trying to outlaw binglang totally. He makes it hard at least. I think they already have laws against this, it is just difficult to enforce them. The police here kind of suck.
This is exactly right and happens already even with the low number of public trash cans available.
In the southern end of Taipei City, where I live, the municipality had to refit all of the public trash cans with new lids that have openings that are only big enough to fit a coke can or a biendang box in. This was a result of the garbage bag policy and people trying to save a few pennies by cramming the public trash cans full with their household trash. So, now what happens is that people just set their trash either on or next to the public bin and there’s a substantial pile by each can almost every morning. Sad what people will do just to save a few nt.
I’d like to see a policy like some of the bigger cities in North America have; if you’re caught dumping household trash into public bins there’s a substantial fine. Some cities, like New York, even have trash police who wil go through suspect trash, find something like an addressed envelope or other indicator of who the trash belongs to and issue a ticket based on the evidence. As ridiculously anal as this sounds, it has been successful in many cases because the fines are usually upwards of $100. What would a local here do, buy a NT$2 garbage bag or risk a NT$3,000 fine?
It’s like traffic here; the only reason a few cretins do it is because they know they can get away with it without consequence. Sad that everyone else pays the price for this kind of selfishness…
If most of the residents, home owners, or shop keepers could not “tolerate the filth”, they’d force “the authorities” to do something. Or at least these people would clean up after themselves if not after others. The problem is “most of them” don’t care!
If most of the residents, home owners, or shop keepers could not “tolerate the filth”, they’d force “the authorities” to do something. Or at least these people would clean up after themselves if not after others. The problem is “most of them” don’t care![/quote]
Exactly … so … “mei banfa!” 
I guess I have been here too long as I never thought that Taiwan was such a dirty disgusting place, but then it could be the neighborhood that you live in and the places that you go to. I don’t live in or vist the slums much.
I wouldn’t say “dirty” per se; the amahs out sweeping the street do a great job of keeping on top of that and my heart goes out to them for a job well done. Maybe a better word is messy…With regard to what I mentioned about public trash cans, the trash is always very neatly wrapped and carefully beside the bin in an orderly little pile. It’s more the lack of social and community consciousness of the people who do this that irks me.
Qu
This article at Reuters also has praise for Taiwan’s trash policy. As I said, I think it substantially cuts down on pests such as roaches and rats. In the USA we throw our trash into big metal trashcans that are emptied nightly, but are always rat breeding orgies.
This is one and possibly the only policy where Taiwan does things better than we do in the west. Give it up for Taiwan and STOP complaining about this place all of the time. Really a bunch of whiners you guys are. 
I think the trash management at the resort area of Bitan is exceptional.
man i wish i lived in your neighborhood… sounds like some kind of dream world populated by classy, refined, cultured, well mannered Taiwanese… you could replace the locals in my neigborhood with mainland peasants and the place would probably get marginally cleaner, not to mention classier…
What about pissing in public? Taxi driver pulled his cab up behind our building just the other day, got out, lowered his drawers to his ankles and relieved himself into the stream that runs by the house. Not a pretty sight. Costco in Neihu last Friday night: Kid has to pee, mother takes him to the trash bin next to the ATM at the top of the escalator on the 2nd floor, wips it out for him and lets him empty himself in the bin…man, they have restrooms on the first floor! 