Taipei's city government is under fire for building eight sunshades in the Xinyi district at a huge cost, and now missing the summer deadline they were meant to serve — bad news for mayor Chiang Wan-an ahead of the election.

• The shades were supposed to be done in August but will not be finished until January, well after the hot season.
• Each one costs eight times what neighboring New Taipei pays, and the work is running four times slower.
• Rival candidate Puma Shen compared it to ordering shaved ice in summer and getting it delivered in winter, and said planting trees would shade the city better.
• Chiang blamed contract and inspection standards; city engineers will only say they are speeding up, without giving a timeline or explaining the holdup.
• Shen drew crowds of over a hundred people at a Taipei market walkabout, and campaign posters are being reprinted after the first batch ran out.

Outlook: Expect the sunshade cost and delay to stay a campaign attack line while the city keeps withholding details on the schedule.