Park Hye-jeong, Suncheon City Council Member, Points Out Budget Waste on Installation Costs of Suncheon Disabled Parking Lots

Suncheon City Criticized for Administration Detached from the Essence of Universal Design

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Generally, disabled parking spaces are located at the entrance of buildings or parking lot entrances, and are easily recognizable as disabled parking spaces due to the blue markings on the ground.

Recently, cutting-edge IoT illegal parking guidance systems for disabled parking have been installed, which automatically issue voice warnings to prevent non-disabled persons from parking in disabled parking spaces.

On the 13th, Park Hye-jung, a member of the Suncheon City Council, pointed out during a city administration inquiry that "the disabled parking lots managed by Suncheon City are marked with blue paint, equipped with IoT illegal parking guidance systems, and have 2.5-meter-high red U.D balls installed on the fine notice boards, which is an excessive budget waste and an administration far from universal design."

She particularly argued that the U.D balls do not effectively serve the original purpose of preventing misidentification of disabled parking spaces as general parking spaces, providing nighttime and long-distance identification of disabled parking spaces, facilitating disabled mobility, and preventing illegal parking, thus lacking practical effectiveness.

Councilor Park stated, "The U.D balls have no nighttime identification function at all. We recommended modifications and improvements to make them identifiable during the 2019 administrative audit, but no improvements have been made. While the installation company claims free defect repairs, the budget allocation has actually increased, representing another example of wasteful administration deviating from the essence of universal design."

The disabled parking spaces managed and installed by Suncheon City cost about 5 million KRW including the installation of the IoT illegal parking guidance system, 180,000 KRW for U.D balls, and approximately 6 million KRW per parking space when including painting and signage costs.

Meanwhile, the departments related to the installation of disabled parking spaces include the Senior and Disabled Affairs Department responsible for U.D ball installation, the Information and Communication Department for the IoT illegal parking guidance system equipment, the Permit and Civil Affairs Department for signage, and the Road Management Department for ground painting, highlighting the need for integrated management.

Councilor Park Hye-jung said, "Despite markings and enforcement using various facilities in disabled parking spaces, illegal parking in disabled parking lots has not been eradicated but rather increased," demanding rational operation of disabled parking lots.

In response, Suncheon Mayor Heo Seok stated, "A universal design city is a representative inclusive policy of Suncheon City that pursues a comfortable city for all, including men and women, the elderly, disabled, and non-disabled. We are applying this concept to all fields such as roads, transportation, education, welfare, urban regeneration, and tourism, incorporating Suncheon’s ecological and environmental principles to create a universal design city."

Councilor Park concluded her city administration inquiry by proposing improvements and the creation of a universal design city that citizens can feel in their daily lives, and it is reported that Suncheon City is seeking improvement measures in response to her criticisms.

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