µo«H¤H: tmm ((±Z¶ý¶ý)) ¬ÝªO: tmm ¤é´Á: Tue Jan 2 21:26:15 2001 ¼ÐÃD: ±Z¶ý¶ýªA°È¤¤¤ß²Õ´²¤¶(­^¤åª©) Toward a city for Citizens: Two community organizations in Taiwan Translation: By advocating community participation. Re-examining urban policies. And assisting disadvantaged groups in getting basic rights in space. OURS and TMM are not only organizations to serve the public good but are also activist groups with specific agendas. Through advocacy of ideas and actions. OURS and TMM attempt to create a more humanistic living environment for Taiwan. ¡½INTRODUCTION An historic event took place on August 26, 1989, on Chung- hsiao East Road, a major street in Taipei City. A grassroots organization called *Citizen Solidarity against Urban Speculation* summoned more than ten thousand people for a sleep-in at the most expensive section of real estate in Taipei to protest high housing prices as the result of speculation by a few rich corporations. This event was the biggest public demonstration since Martial Law had been lifted in Taiwan in 1987. *Citizen Solidarity Against Urban Speculation*(they also call themselves *Snails without Shells*) was organized by a group of primary school teachers and was supported by a group of architects and city planning professionals. The organization grew rapidly with the participation of many ardent social workers. In the year following the successful street sleep-in, the organization developed into two different social organizations to carry out its social reform ideal. They are the *Tsuei Ma Ma Housing and Community Service Association*(TMM) and the *organization of Urban Re-s(OURS). ¡½TMM CHALLENGES THE MONOPOLY OF THE RENTAL MARKET The mission of TMM is to serve as a non-profit rental service agency providing a free service to people seeking rental housing. The purpose of providing the free service is to break the monopoly control by existing rental business agencies. The establishment of TMM encourages the *houseless* people to organize and fight for their rights. The housing problem was serious in Taiwan in the late 1980s. Both housing sale prices and rental prices were extremely high. It was difficult for house hunters to rent apartments and get rental information. This is because all apartment rental information was handled and controlled by a handful of private rental agencies. Low-income citizens were hurt and felt helpless. When TMM was first established, the house hunters and the rest of society found it was helpful. Many people volunteered to work at TMM and contributed to the social service. As a result, the non-profit agency grew rapidly. With enthusiastic service, most house hunters have come to embrace the ideal and concept of TMM. The demand for service at TMM has increased dramatically. According to an informal survey, TMM occupies about 10-15% of the entire rental market in the Taipei metropolitan area. This remarkable record was achieved after overcoming various organizational difficulties. In addition to providing rental service, TMM is paving the way for the establishment of an official rental policy or *Fair Rental Law.* They have confidence in their ability to improve the government policy and make it a formal law. ¡½FROM HOUSING MOVEMENT TO COMMUNITY REFORM From the very beginning, *Citizen Solidarity against Urban Speculation* recognized that community and social reform would demand hard work and a long-term commitment. They saw that reform must start at the grassroots level through educating people to understand that social reform is a long- term effort. Therefore, in addition to the rental service, one of the initial objectives of TMM was to set up small branch offices in local communities to engage in the work of community reform. However, in the early days, the organization did not have the extra energy or resources to carry out this idea. Since 1995, TMM has begun to experiment with some organizational changes. In addition to the rental service, it has expanded into actual community work and has begun to put some of its resources into reforming the community where the office is located. It began with street sweeping in an effort to awaken community residents through actions that express care for the community environment. The office worked in collaboration with other community organizations such as local community development associations, churches, kindergartens, primary schools, and convenience stores to encourage people to participate in community affairs. TMM staged a few small activities to *warm up* the community. Since 1995, TMM has organized local community groups to take responsibility for keeping clean a designated neighborhood area, such as a garden, street, or special tree. TMM also staged small community activities such as a film screening, and other cultural events, specifically to gain experience in community work and to establish in the public image that TMM has the capacity to carry out community projects. Tmm also actively combined other cultural resources to promote the cultural activities in the community. They asked a famous Taiwanese puppet theater group to teach children in the community. After they were trained, the children gave an outdoor puppet show to the community. In 1997, TMM sponsored a community Flag Competition week as a way to combine community business and festivities. Both businesses and residents could participate. The event attracted enthusiastic participation by the community and established a good relationship between TMM and the local community. TMM also organized children in the local community to take responsibility for keeping a special tree in the neighborhood park. This arrangement helped local children develop good habits and love toward their communities. Since 1997, TMM has worked with the local community to demand that the city government redesign an existing community park, in order to provide the community with a better open space. ¡½ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION AND REDEVELOPMENT In recent years, with the development of electronic media, TMM has begun to replace traditional high-intensity manual labor with Internet and fax service. With the availability of volunteer labor and newly developed technology, opportunities have risen for the re-organization of the office and expansion of its services. Through the Internet, TMM is now providing information on second-hand items and childcare services in addition to rental information. E- mail listings of clients also provide a great mobilization and networking tool, especially for announcing and promoting the activities of the various social advocacy groups. Meanwhile, TMM also is planning to expand its community involvement in the University District to other areas in the city. -- ¡´¡u±Z¶ý¶ýªA°È¤¤¤ß¡v(¤¤µØ¥Á°ê¦í¦vº[ªÀ°ÏªA°È¨ó¶i·|) Æ ¡´¹q¸Ü(02)2365-8140 ¡´¦a§}:¥_¥«·Å¦{µó72¸¹1¼Ó¡´e-mail:tmm@tpts5.seed.net.tw¡´http://www.tmm.org.tw ¡´­q¾\¡u±Z¶ý¶ý¡vªÀ°Ï¹q¤l³ø mail¦Üsccid-tmm-request@south.nsysu.edu.tw subject(¼ÐÃD):subscribe  -- * Origin: ¤¤¤s¤j¾Ç-¬üÄR¤§®qBBS * From: 202.3.166.170 [¤w³q¹L»{ÃÒ] .