Park Young-sook, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member: "Resident Autonomy Must Be Led by Residents"

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Park Youngsook, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Seo-gu Council, emphasized that "for resident-led self-governance to be realized, people must be prepared first."

On the 14th, Councilor Park made this statement during a 5-minute speech at the 1st plenary session of the 281st extraordinary meeting.

Councilor Park explained, "The full implementation of the transition to resident self-governance councils aims to realize 'people-centered citizen autonomy where residents become the owners,' but currently, projects suitable for practical resident self-governance councils are allocated from the neighborhood budget. The four neighborhoods that have transitioned to resident self-governance councils (Chipyung-dong, Kumho 1·2-dong, Pungam-dong) have yet to fully enhance the capabilities of their resident self-governance councils."

She continued, "Currently, Seo-gu aims to convert all 18 neighborhoods from resident self-governance committees to resident self-governance councils by January next year," adding, "Rather than an administration focused solely on administrative procedures and performance, for resident-led self-governance to be realized, people must be prepared first."

She also pointed out, "As seen in the actual projects of the four neighborhoods that have already transitioned, the budget is still organized from the neighborhood budget rather than private subsidies," highlighting that "this reflects the reality that the capabilities of the resident self-governance councils have not been fully enhanced."

She then stated, "We should not be obsessed with the visible achievement of 'full implementation of the transition to resident self-governance councils,' but rather expect an administration where the private sector leads all aspects from planning to operation, making people the center and ultimately residents the owners."

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