Mayor’s remarks
I. WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup
(1) The 2017 IV WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup will be held at the Tainan Municipal Baseball Stadium, Guiren Baseball Stadium, and Shanhua Baseball Stadium from July 28 through August 6. This year, teams from 12 countries (Japan, South Korea, Germany, Czech, South Africa, the USA, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Panama, Australia, and Taiwan), will vie for the title of world champion, and exciting matches are to be expected!
(2) I am grateful to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) for organizing the event to enable the world to see Taiwan and see Tainan. CTBA has edited the exciting shots of the last event into a 30-second video which will be broadcast on major media nationwide. By doing so, CTBA aims to let citizens in all parts of Taiwan see the passion of the event this year. We also welcome all citizens to visit Tainan to witness this international event combining sweat and tears, friendship and passion.
(3) Departments and bureaus should publicize the event through various opportunities, demonstrate the passion of Tainan, and promote city marketing through sports.
II. Remind children to pay attention to the safety of water activities
(1) Summer break has begun for all schools. As it is a hot summer, students like to try all kinds of water activities by the river or at the seashore. There are many waterfront areas in Tainan with various hidden dangers. Please remind students and parents to orient themselves about water safety before any water activities to ease the heat in order to avoid any regrets.
(2) According to statistics, areas with the highest risk of drowning in Tainan from high to low include Sunset Platform in Anping, Golden Coast, Chianan Irrigation, and wild basins and rivers. As Sunset Platform and Golden Coast are close to the shore, there are many visitors, thus causing the most accidents. The seemingly quiet Chianan Irrigation has many undercurrents at the bottom; when playing water activities there, danger will occur very easily.
(3) To prevent any accidents, at the beginning of the summer break, the Fire Bureau has dispatched voluntary police officers and firefighters to the Sunset Platform, Golden Coast and Sicao Bridge to remind citizens of water safety and provide emergency rescue. The Fire Bureau has also reinforced patrol and education in other high-risk drowning areas. We also need to remind students and parents of the need to avoid danger and prepare for water safety.
III. Taiwan’s first cultural asset bank has been established. Please use it more often.
(1) Tainan is a city with a long history and rich cultural resources. There are many monuments and historical buildings in the city and tens of thousands of ancient houses hidden in the urban and rural areas. As the building materials with preservation value are depleting and availability is reducing, we need to make better use of those valuable old materials to restore cultural assets and old buildings.
(2) The city government has commissioned the NCKU Research and Development Foundation to establish Taiwan’s first bank of building materials for cultural assets. When restoring cultural assets or old buildings in the future, related units can contact the building materials bank to see if there are suitable old materials for the restoration. If there are unused old materials after restoration, related units can donate them to the building materials bank to maximize the effectiveness of this bank.
(3) This bank of building materials for cultural assets is operated in the same way as any ordinary banks. It needs savings and lending to keep the bank running. Therefore, I hope all parts of Tainan and Taiwan can actively donate old building materials to the bank, and those in need of old building materials can “borrow” from the bank. This way, we can maximize the effectiveness of this bank of building materials for cultural assets.