[Photo] Yeongdeungpo-gu Wins Excellence Award at the 8th Local Government Policy Awards

The Korea Local Government Association's 'Local Government Policy Award' First Entry Wins Excellence Award... Praised for 'Yeongjung-ro Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project' Achieved through Communication and Cooperation... Recognized for Efforts to Expand Street Vendor Permit System Across Seoul and Transform Streets into Safe and Pleasant Spaces

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (District Mayor Chae Hyun-il) won the Excellence Award at the 8th Local Government Policy Awards hosted by the Korea Local Government Association for the ‘Yeongdeungpo Station Area Pedestrian Environment Improvement’ project.

The ‘Local Government Policy Awards’ were established to widely promote outstanding policy achievements nationwide that have significantly contributed to regional development or are exemplary policy cases among policies independently implemented by local governments in the past three years.

Since its establishment in 2013, the Local Government Policy Awards, now in its 8th edition, are given through a fair evaluation of all areas of policy implementation, including ▲appropriateness of policy formation process ▲adequacy of execution process ▲effectiveness of outcomes, to discover leading policy cases that can serve as models for other local governments.

Last December, the district submitted the Yeongjung-ro Pedestrian Environment Improvement project under the name ‘Reborn through Communication and Coexistence! Open Yeongjung-ro,’ receiving high scores across all areas such as policy purpose, background, execution process, and outcomes, earning the honor of the Excellence Award.

The Yeongjung-ro Pedestrian Environment Improvement project is one of Yeongdeungpo’s proud initiatives that thoroughly cleaned up illegal street vendors around Yeongdeungpo Station, a long-standing wish of Yeongdeungpo residents, introduced a street vendor permit system, and transformed the area into a coexistence street where street vendors, pedestrians, and residents live together harmoniously.

Moreover, the significance lies in the fact that all these achievements were made through over 100 rounds of communication, consultation, and compromise with various stakeholders including street vendors, nearby store merchants, and local residents.

The district cited as the background for the project the fact that complaints requesting the regulation of street vendors on Yeongjung-ro were the most frequently received on Yeongdeungpo 1st Street, a communication and empathy platform established and operated since the 7th local government administration, and that the Yeongdeungpo Newspaper’s public petition window recorded over 1,000 sympathies within eight days of its opening, gaining public support for the project.

Additionally, the formation and activities of the Coexistence Autonomous Committee, close collaboration with related organizations, major execution details such as sidewalk maintenance and consolidation/closure of bus stops, the project’s role as a catalyst for spreading the street vendor permit policy throughout Seoul, improvement of local residents’ satisfaction, and securing district revenue were also highly evaluated as remarkable policy achievements.

The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on February 19 at Korea Maritime University in Busan, but may be subject to change depending on the spread of COVID-19.

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “This honor is thanks to the hard work of local residents, merchants, and staff who actively cooperated with the open transformation of Yeongjung-ro,” adding, “We will continue to diligently implement various excellent policies that can serve as models for local governments nationwide through the power of communication and coexistence.”

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