In order to promote a ‘model community’ by improving traffic, food safety and the overall living circumstances for TKU students in the area around Tamsui campus, where the majority reside, President Chang Horng-jinh invited the locals to an open forum in order to discuss such issues; other topics included car parking space and housing security. The people who attended were: the Tamsui Township Mayor, Guo Zhe-dao, a former graduate of TKU accompanied by some senior police officers, speakers of local councils and 30 odd small business owners and landlords.
President Chang emphasized that with 27,000 strong of students living around the campus, spending an average of NT$ 500 million per month on living costs, which could amount to a total of NT$ 4,000 million over 8 months of semester time per year, the shop owners and landlords who deal with those students on a daily basis should not underestimate their contribution to the community. Thus, due to this ‘interdependent’ relationship, it is vital for everyone concerned to cooperate on upholding a clean and safe environment as well as traffic order. In particular, he sincerely asked the shop owners and landlords to ensure reasonable prices and high hygienic standards while serving students. He also requested them to provide more space for students’ parking
In light of the shared interests stated by President Chang, shop owners and landlords are eager to cooperate in providing as many conveniences as possible. However, some of the gestures of good will are not always beneficial to the university. For example, one of the residential areas, Golden Hen, would like to build a footbridge to connect the community with the campus, but was declined by the President, as there are enough footbridges in existence already connecting the campus with surrounding residential areas. Therefore, he insisted that the safety of the campus should not be compromised by too much convenience in this case.
Speaking of safety, a case that involved a tramp occupying the attic (public space) in one of the buildings in the students’ living area, required some careful discussion at the forum. He disrupts local peace and safety by the dogs he keeps in the staircase, which is considered a public area, and extorts money from innocent residents. His threat to the community is well known, yet no effective solution is in sight as the officials involved pointed out the limits of their jurisdiction. The frustration could be seen as Chief Huang from the subdivision of Tamsui Police Station mentioned that his police station could not do much when it comes to abusing the public space in a private building. The only way is through the owners of the building, who should set up a committee with other residents to come up with a disciplinary action against this person. Mayor Guo added that the police could, nonetheless, continuously give out warning tickets to the perpetrator so that he is aware that his actions are not without consequences.
The other issue that also concerns landlords and students is the run-down condition of some of the buildings due to old age on the rental market. TKU has a list of these buildings, which are mostly in Section 2, Sui Yuan Street, in the Student Handbook to warn students of their dilapidated condition. Mrs. Ku, who owns one of such buildings, requested the university to remove her property from such a list based on the fact that she makes every effort in providing good care to the students, and she also cooperates with any university policies such as installing fire extinguishers. In response, Dean of Student Affairs, Chiang Ding-an maintains that Tamkang does a realistic evaluation on all the property for rent around the campus and put the results in the handbook honestly so that students can make a right choice.
