[Seoul District News] Lee Gijae, Yangcheon-gu Mayor, 100 Days Like 1000 Days, A Strong Leap Toward a New Yangcheon Era! Selection of 5 Major Goals, 19 Core Tasks, and 100 Detailed Projects
On the 7th of last month, Lee Gi-jae, Mayor of Yangcheon District, visited the underground construction site of National Assembly Boulevard.
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Lee Gi-jae, mayor of Yangcheon District, marks his 100th day in office on the 8th. Visiting the field an average of more than 2.5 days a week, Mayor Lee Gi-jae has been working as if 100 days were 1,000 days, focusing his efforts on drawing the blueprint for a new era of Yangcheon.
In the 8th term of the Yangcheon District government, the catchphrase “A city where everyone wants to live and a good place to live, Yangcheon” was established to embody the will to become a city where anyone wants to live and that is good to live in. Based on this vision, five major goals were set: a clean city, a healthy city, a safe city, a warm city, and a happy educational city, which leverages Yangcheon’s characteristic as an educational city accumulating internal capabilities.
As a concrete implementation plan, a '4-year district administration operation plan' was established, selecting 19 core tasks and 100 detailed projects, presenting a 4-year roadmap for Yangcheon District. The 100-day journey of Mayor Lee Gi-jae and the five major goals and 19 core tasks established based on it are as follows.
Clean City
Mayor Lee stated, “Although the mayor’s authority to resolve major projects such as reconstruction, redevelopment, and regional transportation issues is limited, the role is infinite,” and has been maximizing his political and administrative capabilities as a CEO mayor over the past 100 days.
Since immediately after his election, Mayor Lee has held successive meetings with Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul, and visited practical departments such as the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Housing Policy Office, Urban Planning Bureau, and Transportation Policy Division to explain project feasibility and conduct close consultations for the prompt promotion of key Yangcheon issues such as easing reconstruction safety inspection standards, relocating the light rail and Sinjeong vehicle depot, and establishing Sinwol Intersection Station.
Regarding the improvement of the safety inspection system announced in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘8.16 National Housing Stability Realization Plan,’ a proposal to designate the district mayor as the authority to request appropriateness review by public institutions for reconstruction was submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council of District Mayors, adopted, and formally recommended to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport under the name of the Seoul District Mayors Council.
Healthy City
Yangcheon District will avoid showy, fashion-driven administration and promote practical administration based on cost-benefit analysis to create an environment where residents can enjoy a healthy life locally. The planned performance hall, originally to be installed in the space donated by the Western Truck Terminal, will be replaced with a cultural and sports facility that offers much greater resident benefits based on feasibility review considering location. The Mokdong Stadium area, which has low utilization, will be transformed into a complex sports park equipped with community sports facilities for residents.
Additionally, to create an environment for a healthy city, the district plans to expand spaces and programs where residents can actively participate in ‘community sports’ and enjoy culture and arts in their daily lives.
Safe City
Mayor Lee has emphasized that protecting residents’ lives and property is the foremost duty. Starting with a visit to the Sinwol rainwater retention drainage facility before his inauguration, he has carefully inspected damage and recovery processes at sites such as road subsidence during heavy rain, apartment exterior wall detachment, flood recovery work at Anyangcheon Stream, and construction sites in front of Nammyung Elementary School.
In August, he hosted a meeting with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and in September met with the president of Korea Airports Corporation to discuss measures to support residents affected by airport noise, actively proposing △expansion of noise control areas through relaxation of noise standards and △reduction of aircraft operation hours.
Going forward, Yangcheon District plans to establish a foundation for a safe city by expanding practical support that residents can feel, such as a 40% property tax reduction for single-home residents in airport noise control areas and the establishment of an airport noise monitoring system, as well as creating a convenient and pleasant living environment.
Warm City
On September 26, the Yangcheon District Community Social Security Plan was established, overseeing safe care, self-reliant welfare through jobs, and proactive customized support. This will serve as the foundation for creating a warm city Yangcheon in the future. Mayor Lee has personally visited four facilities for the disabled and 45 senior centers in the district to listen to on-site complaints and carefully manage necessary facility improvements. He plans to promptly proceed with expansion and reconstruction of old public senior centers and begin providing equipment support to private senior centers.
Yangcheon District plans to create a robust safety net for life by providing customized welfare services reflecting diverse needs by age and class to ensure that socially vulnerable groups are not marginalized in the ‘warm city’ initiative.
Happy Educational City
Yangcheon District aims to solidify its brand as an education-specialized city, accumulated through internal capabilities, to differentiate itself from other districts. To this end, Mayor Lee has visited facilities such as the Yangcheon Lifelong Learning Center, Smart Creative Talent Center, Future Education Center, Yangcheon Central Library and some small libraries, and the Career and Vocational Experience Support Center to review their roles and utilization.
Yangcheon District will continue to build an environment conducive to raising children and lifelong education infrastructure by hosting a nationwide-scale ‘Edu Yangcheon Festival (tentative name)’ where many citizens can participate and exchange information on various education-related topics such as self-directed learning, college entrance and career planning, and lifelong education, thereby advancing as a happy educational city.
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