Saturday October 30, 2021; 3:08 AM EDT
- The public works administration's uprooting of trees along Zhongzheng Road has been a mini-controversy for a few months. The old trees were removed to make way for the underground construction of a new MRT train line. The city also said they were sick.#
- The section of the road affected by the tree removal is an area I know pretty well. Pre-COVID, I would be there regularly. I happened to find myself there last night for a dinner event, and it was a strangely disorienting experience. Bare of the lovely trees, the road had been reduced to its ugly roots of concrete and stepping out of the restaurant, I could not figure out where I was or which way to go.#
- The new reality is both saddening and enraging at the same time. If I were a resident of the area, I would be miffed by the removal action. For suddenly, my lovely neighborhood looked like any old, dilapidated concrete shit hole in Taiwan.#
- I cannot help thinking that the city officials at some deep level must hate themselves to cancel out one of the success stories over the decades. I mean, simply, whoever planted them there (and around the city for that matter) both beautified and preserved a bit of green in what is a typical Concrete Urban Monster. For decades, the "developmental" mindset of "more concrete the better" has been the practical urban planning and economic development tool. I also mean, Taiwan and Taipei have spent tons of money on vanity architecture projects that were never completed or simply proved too complex for local firms to deliver. But these trees were a success.#
- Anyway, I started this post to test how Drummer and Old School would embed an iframe into the page. Will it work?#
- The news report reminds me that citizen journalism is needed more than ever all over the U.S. both as a countervailing force to corporate media but also as a curative to the "QAnon"-conspiratorial lines of communication fracturing the body politic and destroying the country. Reconnecting national news back to its roots in the local would help people understand each other and motivate them to seek truth and positive action for change. Getting officials and others to listen and to respond would be the next step. #