◎ Yan Yunsheng
Recently, the son of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wanan applied for the "International Exchange Student Program" to go to the United States, which triggered heated discussions due to issues related to status and subsidy eligibility. Although Mayor Jiang later stated that he was willing to give up relevant subsidies and asked the outside world to understand the grievances of being the child of a politician. However, when compared with the pace of dealing with many issues affecting people's livelihood in Taipei City, this strong contrast of "advanced arrangements for one's own family and always slow to deal with the city's civil affairs", full of irony and helplessness arise spontaneously.
The sharp contrast between Jiang Wanan's forward deployment of his own family and his slow response to the city's civil affairs aroused the irony and helplessness of Taipei citizens. The picture shows Jiang Wanan. (File photo)
Today, what makes parents feel alarmed and angry is the outbreak of a food safety crisis in nutritious school lunches, which affects the health and safety of tens of thousands of students every day. The city government team promoted the free nutritious lunch policy in a high-profile manner. It was originally a policy that would please voters and benefit the people. However, on the eve of the start of the school year, as many as 60% of the small group meals for junior high schools suffered from failed bidding. The city government lacked accurate estimates of the actual market costs and administrative schedule in advance. It was only when public opinion was boiling and parents were panicked that it rushed to make a hasty response at the last moment, which revealed the inaccuracy of the policy planning of the Chiang Kai-shek team.
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What is even more surprising and distressing is that the failure crisis was finally solved. Less than a week later, a severe mass food poisoning incident occurred during the nutritious lunch at Chengyuan High School in central China. Nearly a hundred students began to suffer from diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms. From the bidding dilemma to the loss of food safety, it completely highlights that while the city government is eager to pursue political achievements, it seriously lacks comprehensive "beforehand" supporting measures for supply quality supervision and risk control.
A mass food poisoning incident broke out at Chengyuan High School in central China. Nearly a hundred students suffered from diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms. The picture shows the Taipei City Education Bureau and the Health Bureau expanding their inspections of hot food service venues. (Provided by Beijing Municipal Health Bureau)
Whenever various municipal crises erupt, the standard review actions of city officials are often to order business closures, impose deadlines for improvements, and announce thorough investigations. This "after-the-fact" passive response model of fixing problems only after they happen has always lagged far behind citizens' expectations for public safety and quality of life.
As parents in the world, we all hope that our children can take a smooth and safe road; but as the mayor of the capital, the safety of Taipei citizens and school children also requires this concern and sensitivity. What ordinary citizens expect is a city government team that can detect problems as soon as possible and resolve them decisively. Please Mayor Jiang Wanan and his team put aside their "slow-down" bureaucracy, and don't let our next generation bear unnecessary pain through belated municipal governance.
(The author is a political worker)
