Yeongdeungpo Sinmungo Petitions Most Processed by Seoul Districts... 481 Petitions (53.9%) in Living Environment and Traffic Safety Fields Most Common

A total of 893 Resident Petitions with 36,092 Supporters... 14 Petitions with Over 1,000 Supporters Answered Directly by the District Mayor via Video... Record Highest Number of Responses in Seoul

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Yeongdeungpo-gu (Mayor Chae Hyun-il) announced that over the past three years, its citizen petition platform, ‘Yeongdeungpo Sinmungo,’ recorded 893 petitions and 36,092 participants, making it the district with the highest number of petitions among Seoul’s autonomous districts.

Yeongdeungpo Sinmungo is a communication and empathy platform where if more than 1,000 citizens agree on a petition, the district mayor responds. It was established and has been operated since October 2018 to gather diverse opinions from residents for the development of district administration.

At its inception, Yeongdeungpo Sinmungo attracted attention as a petition met the requirement of over 1,000 citizen agreements within just eight days. The district actively reflected citizens’ opinions in policies, such as implementing the ‘Yeongjung-ro Street Vendor Permit System’ to improve street vendor conditions around Yeongdeungpo Station and establishing a ‘Sex Trade District Improvement Plan’ by 2025 to eradicate sex trade in the Yeongdeungpo-dong 4-ga area.

Over the past three years, a total of 893 petitions were submitted to Sinmungo, with 36,092 citizens expressing support. Among these, petitions related to living environment and traffic safety were the most numerous at 481 cases (53.9%), receiving support from 15,571 people.

Next were petitions concerning ▲urban issues with 153 cases (17.1%), ▲welfare, health, and multiculturalism with 117 cases (13.1%), ▲education and culture with 62 cases (6.9%), ▲autonomous administration with 52 cases (5.8%), and ▲local economy and jobs with 28 cases (3.1%).

The petitions mainly addressed daily inconveniences such as pedestrian environment improvement, fine dust, parking, and noise. There were also various policy proposals requiring mid- to long-term review, including ‘library construction and changes in educational environment,’ ‘transportation system improvements for regional development,’ and ‘public redevelopment for a pleasant residential environment.’

The district differentiates itself by having the mayor personally respond via video to petitions that meet the threshold of over 1,000 supporting signatures, and by posting the original response documents on the official website.

Since the first response, the mayor has posted replies to a total of 14 petitions, including ‘early commencement of Shingil Specialized Library,’ ‘relocation of fine dust measurement stations,’ ‘utilization plans for donation lands in Shingil New Town,’ and ‘regulations on building permits for new villas in public redevelopment candidate sites in Shingil-dong.’

This is the highest number of responses among Seoul’s autonomous districts. The responses include practical and detailed content developed through on-site visits and public discussions with experts and residents, which has drawn citizens’ interest in district issues.

The district is exploring various ways to further activate the online communication and empathy platform and to plan regular non-face-to-face community communication spaces suited to the untact era, continuing active communication with residents.

Chae Hyun-il, Mayor of Yeongdeungpo-gu, stated, “Over the past three years, we have continuously communicated through citizen participation channels such as Yeongdeungpo 1st Street and Yeongdeungpo Sinmungo, leading Yeongdeungpo’s growth and change together with residents. We will continue to do our best to realize empathetic policies that citizens can feel and to create an open Yeongdeungpo centered on its residents.”

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