Gwangju Dong-gu, 2-Year Evaluation of the 7th Local Government... Hosting 'Sweet and Bitter Feedback'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Dong-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (Mayor Im Taek) announced on the 19th that it held a ‘Sweet and Bitter Voices’ discussion forum to evaluate the second year of the 7th local government term in the large conference room of the Sansu-dong Pureun Village Community Center.

Hosted by the Dong-gu Development Innovation Committee, an advisory and policy proposal body for district administration, the forum was organized as a communication platform under the theme “Two years walked together, two years to move forward together,” seeking the vision and direction of future district administration.

In particular, this forum was meaningfully structured not as a performance-oriented report attended only by public officials, but as a time to hear voices from various sectors including experts in each field, village and youth activists.

To prevent COVID-19 infection, only a minimum number of participants attended the forum, and thorough preparations were made for a substantive discussion by collecting residents’ opinions through pre-surveys and interviews.

In a mobile app ‘Dudream’ survey evaluating the second year of the 7th local government term, conducted from the 4th to the 12th with participation from 503 Dong-gu residents, 86.5% responded that the district administration was well managed over the two years, showing high satisfaction.

The urban environment sector (29%) was selected as the best policy project area, and the projects to be prioritized going forward were surveyed as follows: revitalization of downtown tourism in the Culture Complex area (38.6%), job creation such as startup activation (33.2%), and creation of a people-centered humanities city (30.2%).

At the forum, various opinions on the direction of district administration for the next two years were presented, including ▲establishment and transition of a unique Dong-gu residents’ autonomy council based on the Village Sarangchae ▲need for post-COVID-19 era measures such as development of non-face-to-face living manuals ▲holding preliminary subcommittee meetings for in-depth discussion of the 7th local government term’s pledged projects.

Kim Young-jip, chairman of the Dong-gu Development Innovation Committee who presided over the forum, said, “With the creative and innovative advice and proposals of the Dong-gu Development Innovation Committee, we will faithfully perform the role of a driving force for district development in the remaining two years.”

Im Taek, mayor of Dong-gu, said, “This was a meaningful occasion to hear diverse policy advice from experts and residents in various fields on the second year of the 7th local government term,” adding, “We will keep in mind the bitter voices of residents from the forum and survey and create a Dong-gu that takes a leap forward through innovative district administration over the next two years.”

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