[New Year's Message] Cha Hyeon-il, Yeongdeungpo District Mayor, "We Will Build an Educational and Cultural City Where Residents' Dreams Come True"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Honorable 380,000 residents!

And beloved Yeongdeungpo staff!

The hopeful new year of 2020, the Year of the Rat, has dawned.

I wish your families health and happiness throughout this year.

Over the past year, based on communication and cooperation, we have vigorously moved forward toward a transparent Yeongdeungpo together with the residents.

To lay the foundation for Yeongdeungpo’s 100-year future,

we prioritized basic administration such as cleaning, parking, and pedestrian environment.

By visiting all 18 neighborhoods with an open district office,

we communicated with residents through on-site administrative efforts, cleaning alleys and finding answers together.

Additionally, we promoted various policies to improve residents’ quality of life, such as expanding village libraries, improving the Bad Cafe street in Dangsan-dong, and establishing care systems for the elderly and children.

As the residential and pedestrian environments became more pleasant, the city brightened,

and as childcare and educational environments improved, it became better to raise children, while a more thorough welfare system made living more comfortable.

Honorable and beloved residents!

And Yeongdeungpo staff!

The promises I made to the residents when I took office a year and six months ago are still vivid before my eyes.

A city of education and culture where dreams come true,

a city of harmonious economic growth,

a pleasant and safe residential city,

a welfare city where everyone prospers together,

a democratic city of communication and cooperation?

this is the transparent Yeongdeungpo I aim to achieve.

The beginning is right at Yeongjung-ro in front of Yeongdeungpo Station.

We resolved the 50-year-old long-standing issue of street vendor regulation on Yeongjung-ro through over 100 dialogues and communications with residents and merchants.

The regulation of street vendors on Yeongjung-ro became the first successful model of the street vendor permit system and established itself as a symbol of transparent Yeongdeungpo.

By gathering wisdom and strength from the residents’ perspective like this, Yeongdeungpo’s future will become even brighter.

Honorable and beloved residents!

And Yeongdeungpo staff!

In 2020, the third year of the 7th elected term, we will make residents feel more deeply the development and leap of Yeongdeungpo.

Focusing on the five major district administration goals of education and culture, economy, residential environment, welfare, and democracy,

we will return ‘transparent Yeongdeungpo’ with concrete achievements.

First, we will create a city of education and culture where all residents’ dreams come true.

We will steadily build resident-friendly cultural complex libraries on donated land in Singil 3-dong, the former MBC site in Yeouido, and the Seoyoung Logistics Center site.

We will create urban regeneration-type village libraries in all 18 neighborhoods,

making them community spaces where residents read books and communicate.

We will develop ‘Reading Yeongdeungpo’ as a representative brand by hosting book festivals, book concerts, and expanding support for reading clubs.

The former Korea National Open University in Daerim-dong

will be newly opened as the YDP Future Lifelong Learning Center,

serving as a lifelong education base where any resident can learn and realize their dreams through programs like Yeongdeungpo Village University.

We will lay the foundation for an educational city where children’s dreams and hopes grow by jointly building public kindergartens with the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, pursuing international child-friendly city certification, and opening the Yangpyeong 2-dong Creative Arts Education Center.

Also, we will steadily promote representative cultural hub facilities in the southwest area, such as creating a complex cultural space at Daeseon Flour Mill and building the 2nd Sejong Cultural Center, in cooperation with Seoul City.

The Mullae Art Village, where metal workshops and artists coexist,

will be developed into a representative cultural industry ecosystem blending culture, art, and industry.

Second, we will create a sustainable economic city where everyone grows together.

This year, we will issue Yeongdeungpo Love Gift Certificates to revitalize neighborhood markets and empower small business owners and self-employed individuals.

We will further strive to revitalize the local economy through support for modernizing Yeongdeungpo Market facilities, remodeling the fruit and vegetable market, and establishing a job hope platform for middle-aged and older adults.

We will accelerate urban regeneration around Yeongdeungpo Station, Gyeongin-ro, and Mullae-dong areas.

By innovating existing manufacturing industries, we will foster Future Valley as a hub for the 4th industrial revolution, strengthen the public nature of Yeongdeungpo Station, and devote efforts to improving the environment of nearby shantytowns and red-light districts.

We will expand employment and startup support to solve youth unemployment and help youth establish independence and social advancement through the Youth Hope Complex Town and Youth Center.

To revitalize the financial special zone, we will expand the Fintech Lab in Yeouido, open a graduate school of finance, and hold an international financial conference.

We will actively pursue building medical tourism infrastructure for the Smart Medical Special Zone project and explore new markets.

Third, we will create a transparent residential environment and a pleasant, safe city.

We will fully implement the RFID volume-based food waste system for general housing in all 18 neighborhoods,

and expand odor reduction projects.

We will pilot a car-free street on Yeongjung-ro, a pedestrian-friendly street,

and systematically resolve illegal street vendors and roadside clutter,

making Yeongdeungpo a city where people want to walk.

Additionally, we will ease parking difficulties through creating parking lots using abandoned private and leftover land, and sharing parking lots by opening public and private facility parking lots.

We will create safe school routes where parents and children can travel comfortably by installing traffic safety facilities and maintaining roads around daycare centers, elementary, middle, and high schools.

Furthermore, we will steadily proceed with demolishing the Yeongdeungpo Rotary overpass, which has the highest traffic accident rate in Seoul,

creating a green space the size of Seoul Plaza and securing a safe pedestrian path to Yeouido, making it a representative landmark of Yeongdeungpo.

Fourth, we will realize a welfare city where all residents prosper together.

We will build a thorough welfare system covering all generations including the elderly, disabled, women, and children, and strive to improve residents’ quality of life.

We will support a secure old age by constructing a comprehensive senior welfare center and social welfare complex facilities for the elderly’s health and various leisure activities,

and create 3,880 senior jobs, an increase of 316 from last year.

We will also expand facilities supporting the independence of the disabled and newly create a women’s cultural welfare space in Dangsan-dong.

We will expand seven public daycare centers and one Mom Dundeun Center,

and establish six elementary school care ‘Island’ centers to build a Yeongdeungpo-style care system.

Finally, we will advance as a democratic city of communication and cooperation.

We will continuously expand communication with residents through visiting transparent district office, Yeongdeungpo 1st Street, Yeongdeungpo Petition Box, and town hall meetings.

Also, we will prepare a resident community space called Yeongdeungpo 1st Street in the district office civil affairs office to serve as a space for candid communication with residents.

This year, pilot projects for resident autonomy councils will begin in five neighborhoods.

We will provide full administrative support so that grassroots democracy can be realized through active resident participation.

We will steadily proceed with constructing public complex offices to replace the old and cramped district offices in Yeongdeungpo-dong, Singil 4-dong, and Daerim 3-dong.

Honorable and beloved residents!

And Yeongdeungpo staff!

In the new year 2020, we will surely restore Yeongdeungpo’s old reputation as the head family of the southwest area.

We will make Yeongdeungpo once again the center of Seoul, a landmark city of Korea, a city where people want to live, and a community that takes pride in itself.

Together with you, we will create a pleasant and prosperous

transparent Yeongdeungpo.

We ask for your active participation and interest in the new year as well.

On the occasion of the Year of the Rat, a symbol of abundance and wisdom,

I wish you a year of even greater prosperity in all your endeavors.

Thank you.

Happy New Year.

2020. 1. 2.

Yeongdeungpo District Mayor Chae Hyun-il

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.