SCHOOL LUNCHES:Students, parents and teachers said Taipei finalized its plans for a Universiade dining space at their school without properly discussing it with them
Taipei Times
Date: May 16, 2016
By: Hsiao Ting-fang, Lee Ya-wen and Ho Shih-chang / Staff reporters
New Taipei City’s change of heart regarding a junior-high school sports field in the city’s Linkou
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, center, talks with a vendor at a traditional market festival at the Taipei Expo Park yesterday. Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
District (林口) slated to be used as the dining area for the 2017 Summer Universiade ran against the “moral principles of brotherhood,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko said his government planned to convert the area in New Taipei City Municipal Linkou Junior High School into the restaurant for the event, which is to be hosted by Taipei in August next year.
“We took into consideration that the conversion of the facility into a dining space would cause some inconvenience for students during construction, which was why we earmarked a ‘good neighbor’ budget of NT$200 million [US$6.13 million] to help the school rebuild its badminton court, athletics field and basketball arena,” Ko said on the sidelines of a traditional market festival in Taipei yesterday afternoon.
“Waiting until after the budget has been allocated and related construction projects have been contracted out to tell us you do not want to lend us the space is an outright violation of the moral principles of brotherhood,” Ko said.
The Taipei City Government’s plan called for a large tent that could accommodate 3,500 people to be erected on the school’s campus, a project that would require pavement to be replaced and six months to complete. [FULL STORY]
