Yeongdeungpo-gu Mayor Cha Hyeon-il Conducts Comprehensive Cleanup of 30 Street Vendors in Yeongjung-ro Area

On the 13th, about 30 street stalls in Yeongjung-ro and Yeongdeungpo-ro areas were removed and debris cleared... Achievements through communication and coexistence... Coordination with related agencies, resident briefings, Street Vendor Coexistence Autonomous Committee reviews for permit-based street vendor installations, and efforts to create pedestrian-friendly streets including maintenance of street trees, sidewalks, and streetlights

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Chaehyunil, the mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, has once again opened up the Yeongjung-ro area.

The changes in Yeongjung-ro achieved in 2019 through dialogue and compromise without physical conflict are being reproduced once again in the remaining sections of Yeongjung-ro and Yeongdeungpo-ro.

Yeongdeungpo-gu announced on the 13th that it had removed about 30 street vendors in the Yeongjung-ro and Yeongdeungpo-ro areas and completed the cleanup of debris.

The cleaned streets include the 300m section from Yeongdeungpo Market Station to Yeongdeungpo Market Intersection and the 640m section on both sides of the road from Yeongdeungpo Market Intersection to Yeongdeungpo Rotary. The cleanup took about three hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 13th.

Before the cleanup, just as in the 2019 cleanup, local residents, merchants, and the district office gathered in one place to exchange mutual opinions and worked hard to create a street environment that satisfies everyone through repeated communication and consultation.

Accordingly, since March, pre-meetings for smooth cleanup were held with collaborative departments and related organizations, and on March 16-17, a project briefing session was held to inform nearby merchants and interested residents about the purpose and details of the project.

At the end of June, a meeting of the “Street Vendor Win-Win Autonomous Committee,” composed of residents, merchants, street vendor operators, and officials, was held to explain the urgency and necessity of the cleanup and to encourage voluntary removal of existing street stalls.

The fact that street vendors who had occupied the area for over 30 years agreed to the cleanup and that it was completed in just three hours without any physical conflict was possible due to continuous communication and compromise.

The cleanup involved a total of 33 personnel, including maintenance workers from the district office’s street landscape and cleaning departments, a mobile unit, and sanitation workers, along with two forklifts, five street maintenance vehicles, three cleaning trucks, and one water cleaning truck. After removing all street vendor facilities, the streets were washed with water to thoroughly collect debris.

Going forward, the district plans to accelerate the pedestrian-friendly street creation project through collaboration with related departments and organizations by ▲maintaining street trees and creating street flower beds around the rotary ▲completely replacing sidewalk blocks ▲installing LED streetlights and pedestrian lights ▲carrying out water, sewage, and electrical facility construction for street vendor installations.

Additionally, the district will focus on supporting and managing livelihood-type street vendors within the pedestrian-friendly street project area. Among street vendors who applied to operate street stalls, 15 candidates for conversion to a permit system were selected after property investigations.

Based on the street vendor location selection, design, and specification plans reviewed and decided through the Street Vendor Win-Win Autonomous Committee in June, the new street stalls are expected to be placed and operated on Yeongjung-ro and Yeongdeungpo-ro around November, when all obstruction removal works are expected to be completed.

The district expects that expanding the pedestrian environment improvement and friendly street creation projects based on the values of communication and coexistence, which began with the Yeongjung-ro street vendor cleanup, will secure safe pedestrian rights for residents and greatly improve the deteriorated urban image.

Chaehyunil, mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, said, “Based on close cooperation with related organizations such as Seoul City and Korea Electric Power Corporation, we will support the smooth progress of future cleanup processes,” and added, “We will continue to strive to improve basic administration such as cleaning, parking, and pedestrian environment, as well as the operation of resident-centered local government that residents can feel directly, to create a more pleasant, safe, and livable city Yeongdeungpo.”

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