Gwangju Seo-gu Promotes 'Dialogue with Residents' for Communication

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Shin Dong-ho] Seo-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City (District Mayor Seo Dae-seok) is promoting the ‘2021 Dialogue with Residents’ to share the direction of district administration with residents and to have frank communication about the overall operation of the district administration.

According to Seo-gu on the 14th, the ‘Dialogue with Residents’ was conducted by visiting public and volunteer organizations in 18 neighborhoods within the district in turn, listening to residents’ suggestions, and explaining the direction of district administration to the residents.

Last year, it was not held as all administrative efforts were focused on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and recovering from flood damage caused by heavy rain.

This time, the dialogue with residents was conducted by the district mayor visiting the site according to the regular meeting schedules of public and volunteer organizations in each neighborhood, instead of the previous method where many people gathered, in accordance with social distancing measures, to listen to difficulties and share district administration.

Residents also made various suggestions regarding village issues.

In the case of Yudeok-dong, the head of the relevant department directly explained the progress of resident-requested projects related to the construction of the Line 2 vehicle depot to resolve questions, and for the urban regeneration projects in the Nongseong-dong and Yang-dong areas, solutions to the inconveniences residents had felt were also presented.

Seo-gu has currently collected 162 resident opinions from 38 organizations, of which 34 were immediately addressed after on-site inspections.

They plan to actively review and resolve the remaining suggestions, and share the progress and results not only with the suggesters but also with the organizations that made the suggestions.

Also, since most of the 162 resident opinions so far have focused on park management, transportation, roads, and cleaning environment, it is expected that resolving these suggestions will greatly improve the actual satisfaction of residents’ lives.

Regarding the village resident-requested projects, they plan to provide active support so that residents can maintain continuous interest, establish concrete promotion plans, and carry them out.

Seo Dae-seok, Mayor of Seo-gu, said, “Despite difficult conditions, it was a meaningful time to resolve residents’ questions about district administration,” and added, “Based on this, we will do our best to create a people-centered Seo-gu, and actively reflect residents’ valuable opinions in future district administration.”