In order to have a better understanding in the district, in August 29, 2013, the day in which our summer vacation is coming to an end, we went to visit the head of the North district neighborhood which contains Yichung street, Chen Hsin-Chi. Chen Hsin-Chi has not only served several terms in the North district, but also as a district committee chair in Yichung district. He is very familiar with local residents. After having contact with him, he learned about our plan and agreed for us to visit him with enthusiasum. From the previous data, we also found that Chen Hsin-Chi has once raised the issue of constructing a pedestrians-only street, and therefore we hope that by meeting with him to discuss and ask for his advice, can provide us a lot of help ang suggestions.

　　On the day of the meeting, regardless of the incomming typhoon, we headed to the Yichung street to rendezvous. Although we had previously contacted by phone, this is the first time we met with the people who manage the Yichung shopping district, we were all slightly anxious, thankfully the head of the neighborhood, Mr. Chen, friendly demeanor instantly made us less anxious, and allowed us to conduct our interview smoothly.

From the interview, apart from discussion with the head of the neighborhood about possible ways to improve our plan, we realized that there were a lot of legal and safety problems that we had not noticed of, and we also made inquiries reguarding the paving of the side walk, we were informed that they had once successfully receive a government grant to pave the side walk, but then caused some safety problems( the pavement was not rain-resistant) resulting in the pavement being removed and the whole project deemed a failure. However, he still close off the street for celebration, continue in their efforts to make a better shopping environment.

Mr. Chen Hsin-Chi, kindly talked to us, sharing with us his pass experiences, and provided us with nis analysis of the locals thoughts and their reasons for disagreeing, which was a great help to us in understanding the going-ons including the results and time of the Yichung district during the celebration time. We revise our plan according to Mr. Chen’s advises.

The following viewpoints and advice are the excerpts from our interview with Mr. Chen Hsin-Chi, the disict officer :

1. If we restrict vehicles from entering the street, the people in the neighborhood will find it inconvenient to live here. Mr. Chen suggests that we could start on the temporary restriction, instead of a permanent one, allowing the people in the neighborhood to get used to it.
2. If we make the street a pedestrian-only area, the, then some illegal vendors will be evicted. These vendors, however, are the main attractions of the district. That is, apart from specific stalls, all the other illegal yet favored vendors will disappear. In addition, it is not allowed to restrict all vehicles form entering the area since fire trucks need to enter the area sometimes. Thus, more thoughts need to be taken into account.
3. Many shop owners still express their doubts on the former failed cases of Ching-Ming street and Chi-Guan street, which were both rezoned into pedestrian-only areas. However, they were regarded as two famous failures, since most dynamic and enchanting vendors disappeared, simultaneously taking the fun away. A lot of people still feel averse to any change in Yi-Zhong. Street. They are worried that the popularity of the street will decline just like what happened to Ching-Ming street. This shows that we must come out with a more convincing plan in order to gain people’s support.
4. In spite of so much opposition against changing Yi-Zhong Street, there have been some practices of restricting vehicles from coming inside for celebration in some festivals, consequently appealing to more consumers visiting Yi-Zhong Street and bringing in more economic profit. But because of the celebrations, temporary vendors are allowed on the street. However, each stall has a different time  taking out the garbage, since garbage trucks are not allowed to come inside to collect heaps of garbage.