Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan inspected the Wanhua East Sanshui Street Market and Xintomi Market on September 22, and once again laid out a beautiful-sounding urban vision, which involves connecting Xintfu Market, Dongsanshui Market, Longshan Temple, Bopiliao, Monga Park, underground streets and surrounding business districts. Through neighborhood renovation, environmental improvement, special store openings and urban renewal, the so-called "Taipei version of Omotesando" will be created, hoping to attract young people and international tourists. This is not a temporary idea. More than 200 million yuan has been invested in the Monga Park renovation project, and the city government has used Tokyo Omotesando as its vision description. The question has never been whether Wanhua deserves a better city appearance, but when the mayor shouted the three words "Omotesando", how ready was Wanhua in reality?
What's even more ironic is that just five days before Jiang Wanan shouted "Taipei's version of Omotesando", on September 17, Wanhua police carried out an "anti-pornography campaign" on Xichang Street and seized 18 foreign call girls and 2 escorts, 10 of whom had overstayed their visas. This is not to stigmatize Wanhua, let alone equate Wanhua’s rich history and culture with illegal sex trade, but to remind the Jiang Municipal Government that urban regeneration can never be accomplished by changing a beautiful name. When some neighborhoods still face issues such as illegal transactions, old buildings, environmental quality and public security management, what the city government should really propose is how to improve the living environment, how to strengthen public security, how to promote urban renewal, and how to benefit residents and local businesses. Omotesando is not a sign, but the result of a whole set of urban governance. If governance has not caught up, shouting "Omotesando" first will only make the contrast between the gorgeous slogan and the current situation of the neighborhood even more dazzling.
This is also reminiscent of the recurring problems of Jiang Wanan Municipal Government. Slogans and policies move very quickly, but pre-assessments may not keep up as fast. In August this year, Bei City promoted a smoke-free city. Not long after the completion of the metal fence-style smoking areas set up in mansions and other places, controversy arose due to issues such as appearance, use, and environmental integration. In the end, all seven of them were demolished. During the council's inquiry, it was pointed out that each site cost about NT$149,000 and was demolished within a month of installation. Jiang Wanan said that if the facilities do not meet actual needs, they should be reviewed and adjusted, and a unified location review mechanism will be established later. The problem is precisely here. Since it is only known afterwards that the location, appearance and surrounding environment need to be reviewed, why was it not done beforehand? Public policy can certainly be revised, but public budgets are not the mayor's personal pocket money to use for trial and error.
Therefore, when facing the "Taipei version of Omotesando", what citizens should really ask is not whether the vision is beautiful, but how prepared the plan is. What is the scope of the transformation? How much budget is invested? What is the project schedule? How to deal with illegal sex trade and security hotspots? How to update old street outlines? How to integrate transportation, pedestrian environment and business districts? Will original residents and traditional markets be squeezed out due to commercialization? If there are no complete answers to these questions, and there is a rush to hang up the "Omotesando" sign for Wanhua, then of course the public has reason to worry. Today, it will be called Omotesando, and tomorrow it will be spent on building facilities. If it is found that it is not suitable the day after tomorrow, will it have to be "immediately reviewed" and finally spent a sum of money to demolish it? What a city really needs is not a mayor who is better at naming, but a city government that can think things through before starting work.
Jiang Wanan may have the ambition to transform Wanhua, and he should also allow Wanhua to receive public construction commensurate with its historical status, but the most taboo thing in urban governance is to regard vision as achievement and slogan as achievement. The reason why Omotesando in Tokyo became Omotesando was not because the Tokyo Metropolitan Government first hung up a "Omotesando" sign, but because of the long-term accumulation of urban design, commercial activities, traffic environment and neighborhood quality. There is no need for Wanhua to copy Tokyo. Wanhua itself is one of the most historical places in Taipei. Instead of rushing to shout "Taipei's version of Omotesando", Jiang Wanan should take care of Wanhua first. Otherwise, from the time when the smoking area was built and then demolished, to the current situation where slogans go first on Omotesando, the questions left to the public will become simpler and simpler: Jiang Wanan’s municipal SOP, will it always be that slogans are shouted first, budgets are spent later, and if it is not suitable, they are demolished?
