Nowon District Mayor Oh Seung-rok Takes On-site Visits to 19 Neighborhoods to Solve Issues

[Seoul District News] District Mayor Oh Seung-rok to Visit 19 Neighborhoods from September 13 to November 9
...First Communication Group of the 8th Elected Term Meets 715 Neighborhood Leaders

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it will begin actively addressing issues after completing a two-month communication meeting with local leaders.

Although there had been occasions to listen to requests from various groups or hold meetings, there was somewhat a gap in in-depth exchanges of opinions regarding overall local issues and residents' inconveniences.

Accordingly, the district planned the 'Local Leader Tongjang Capacity Building Training' for the first time this year to enhance the understanding of district administration among tongjangs, who are local leaders, and to identify residents' inconveniences and on-site problems through tongjangs who are the closest contact points with residents. Oh Seung-rok, the mayor of Nowon-gu, personally took the role of lecturer.

Meeting a total of 715 tongjangs from 19 neighborhoods, the mayor directly explained the district administration vision, and the tongjangs conveyed residents' opinions for the neighborhood's requests and the district's future. The training started on September 13 at Wolgye 1-dong Community Center and will conclude on November 9 at Sanggye 9-dong Community Center.

Now, the district will review and address about 200 requests from local leaders. Each agenda item will be assigned to the relevant department, and department heads will present their review results at the ‘Tongjang Meeting Request Report Session’ chaired by the mayor. Excluding 29 cases classified as unprocessable due to legal or structural reasons or minimal effect compared to the budget input, 38 cases have been completed, and about 130 cases are under review or in progress.

The tongjangs presented various opinions not only about news in their residential areas but also about overall district projects. At the Wolgye 1-dong meeting in September, Mr. A requested an increase in the number of ‘Ai Pyeonhan Taxi’ vehicles. The ‘Ai Pyeonhan Taxi’ project is a service where families with pregnant women and young children use dedicated vehicles provided by the district when visiting hospitals, public health centers, or childcare-related facilities. The Women and Family Division responded that since the project operates by employing elderly drivers, they will comprehensively consider future taxi demand and elderly job expansion when reviewing the increase.

At the Gongneung 2-dong meeting, Mr. B requested support measures for people who are not welfare recipients but need help due to sudden fractures or other emergencies. Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “We operate services such as the Care SOS Center for residents who suddenly need care,” and emphasized, “Above all, active discovery of welfare blind spots by the tongjangs is necessary.”

Additionally, issues such as garbage accumulation, installation of guide signs, road pavement maintenance, and restroom installation were shared?local on-site news that cannot be known from a desk. Each department promised to visit the site with the proposer, check the results, and take proactive administrative actions. Depending on the matter, it will also be reflected in next year’s budget planning.

Along with this, the district is striving to reflect residents’ voices in district administration. It operates ‘Salpimi Teams’ in each department to quickly detect and respond to residents’ inconveniences that are easily overlooked by project departments, such as reporting abandoned bicycles, resolving pet-related complaints, and inspecting facilities on walking trails and streams.

From July to September, residents’ general meetings of the 19 neighborhood autonomous councils were held. Through a process where residents directly proposed, discussed, and deliberated on major neighborhood projects, the 2023 autonomy plan was finally approved.

Oh Seung-rok, mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “We arranged this meeting to directly share the district administration vision with local leaders and to hear residents’ opinions, which form the basis of policies.” He added, “We will continue to actively reflect voices from every corner of the neighborhood in district administration to ensure Nowon becomes a happy place for all generations.”

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