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EDITORIAL: Keeping
night markets authentic
Now that the Shilin Night Market has been turned into an almost sanitized
theme-park version of itself, the Taipei City Government has set its eyes on the
Shida Night Market in the warren of small alleys behind National Taiwan Normal
University. It wants to turn the area into what it calls a ¡§college town.¡¨
It has been years since Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (°qÀsÙy) was at school, so
someone should tell him that there already is a thriving college town in the
area, one that has existed for decades, and that it¡¦s growing popularity is a
sign that businesses in the area are doing something right. What the vendors do
need to improve on, however, is being better neighbors to their non-university
residents and there are several ways in which city authorities can help with
this, without resorting to brickbats.
The mayor first created waves when he said in November last year that the market
area would not be allowed to expand because of complaints from and a
demonstration on Oct. 26 by residents fed up with the trash and noise. At the
time, the city government said it had received complaints about 506 of the 647
registered businesses in the night market.
That is a lot of complaints, but the city¡¦s reaction has been to throw the baby
out with the bathwater. Earlier this month, city authorities began a crackdown
on vendors, targeting both illegal and legal ones. About 75 vendors have
received notices saying that they are violating regulations regarding signage,
roadside encroachment or other infractions, and if they don¡¦t clean up their
act, they risk being evicted.
Part of the problem is that the ¡§official¡¨ night market area encompasses a
residential zone and that land-use regulations bar the use of roads less than 8m
wide in residential zones for commercial purposes, but most of the alleys in
that area barely exceed 8m. Nothing can be done to widen those pathways, so
residents (and their cars and motorcycles) and businesses will have to learn to
coexist.
Another part of the problem has been the expansion in the number of restaurants,
drink shops and take-away places in the area ¡X as opposed to eyeglass shops,
bookshops and stationery stores ¡X all of which help draw an ever increasing
number of people to dine in the area, thereby boosting revenues (and taxable
income), but also creating problems with odors, noise and trash.
Requiring kitchen and/or food-stall cooking areas to be properly ventilated
would go a long way toward resolving some of the odor complaints. Installing
more public trashcans and having more frequent trash pick-ups would go a long
way toward eliminating the trash problem. As with other night markets, or city
streets in general, you can walk a long way before spotting a trash can. A
jokester once remarked that there are more 7-Elevens and other convenience
stores in Taipei than there are trash cans.
Night markets are a major tourism draw for Taiwan in general and Taipei in
particular, even outranking places like Taipei 101 and the National Palace
Museum in surveys. To keep people coming, you need to have the right mix of
vendors and crowds, not a gentrified place changed beyond recognition.
Taipei authorities already have a mixed reputation when it comes to
¡§revitalizing¡¨ markets, cleaning them up only to see them lose the features that
made them charming.
Their efforts to clean up Shilin took another step forward on Thursday with the
groundbreaking for the Taipei Performing Arts Center on the site of the former
temporary home of the Shilin Night Market. Amid all the hoopla about turning the
facility into a ¡§cultural centerpiece for northern Taipei,¡¨ no one was
explaining how, even with an MRT station right across the street, the area is
going to cope with the 3,100 people the center could hold if all three theaters
were full plus the crowds at the market.
It would be better if city officials focused on ensuring that Shilin survives
their gentrification efforts before they make a start on another night market.
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