On the 20th, Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon District, delivered a policy speech at the 282nd regular session of the Nowon District Council regarding the submission of the 2024 budget proposal.
First, Mayor Oh stated, “We have prepared next year’s budget plan with careful consideration to ensure that the hard-earned taxes of our residents are not wasted, seeking expenditure efficiency while not missing policies essential to daily life.”
This year, the district has created many changes and received positive evaluations from 87.5% of residents in the first anniversary policy survey of the 8th local government. In January, the district succeeded in easing the standards for reconstruction safety inspections, allowing 13 complexes to pass the safety inspections. Additionally, through a signature campaign urging the revision of Seoul city ordinances, it became possible to support the costs of reconstruction safety inspections. The redevelopment of the Kwangwoon University Station logistics site, which emitted dust and noise for over 40 years, recently finalized the blueprint for a luxury cultural complex residential district with up to 49 floors.
The life-oriented childcare policies proved Nowon to be a child-friendly city, ranking first in Seoul’s total fertility rate and receiving the Minister’s Award at the Local Government Management Competition. Efforts to strengthen public support systems for out-of-school youth earned the district the only Presidential Citation among local governments nationwide for 'Youth Development and Protection Merit.' Cultural activity allowances of 100,000 KRW were provided to 5,000 unemployed youths in their 20s, and free shingles vaccinations were supported for 12,000 seniors aged 75 and above.
Moreover, a walking trail and picnic area were created in Byeokun Valley of Suraksan Mountain, transforming it into a waterside healing town. The poppy flower field along Jungnangcheon Stream and the European garden-themed flower beds at Danghyeoncheon Stream left memorable life moments for residents. Beautifully and elegantly maintained riversides and circular walking trails have added joy to walking for residents, earning Nowon the top spot in Seoul for walking practice rates for three consecutive years and the grand prize of the 'Korea Healthy City Award.'
Furthermore, cultural and artistic elements were infused into natural healing spaces, hosting the Wolgye Cherry Blossom Concert, Danghyeoncheon Water Music Concert, Suraksan Sunset Concert, and Gyeongchun Line Forest Autumn Concert. Events such as the Craft Beer Festival, Dancing Nowon, and Nowon Moonlight Walk have energized residents’ daily lives. Efforts to incorporate culture into everyday life extended to transforming the district office lobby, once merely an administrative space, into a cultural communication space, earning the 'Seoul Metropolitan Government Architecture Award.'
The 2024 Nowon District budget, including special accounts, is set at 1.3268 trillion KRW, an increase of 99 billion KRW compared to this year. Social welfare accounts for 64.2% of the total budget, amounting to 851.6 billion KRW, a 13% increase of 100.3 billion KRW from this year. Despite difficult financial conditions due to economic crises that have most severely impacted the vulnerable and low-income groups, the district plans to strengthen support for vulnerable groups and protect socially disadvantaged individuals.
Additionally, the budget for disaster and crime prevention capabilities has been increased by 22% compared to this year to protect residents from abnormal motive crimes occurring indiscriminately across regions and targets. The cultural and arts sector for the cultural city of Nowon will see a 2% budget reduction to allocate funds to essential areas for residents.
For 2024, the district’s administrative direction includes, first, enhancing urban competitiveness through the 'Future City Dreaming a 100-Year Leap.' Residents identified rapid redevelopment and reconstruction as the most critical areas to focus on in the second year of the 8th local government. As the first in the nation to start interest-free loans covering the full cost of safety inspections, the district will continue to promote rapid reconstruction by pre-supporting safety inspection costs for 24 complexes that have completed on-site investigations. The Kwangwoon University Station area development plans to approve the project plan next year and break ground to develop a future complex city. Redevelopment of Baeksa Village, the redevelopment promotion districts of Sanggye 3 and 4-dong, as well as the rapid integrated planning in Sanggye 5-dong and the ongoing Moa Town projects in Wolgye 1-dong and Sanggye 2-dong, will be actively supported to speed up improvements in poor residential environments. The urban space of Nowon will be extensively reorganized, planned three-dimensionally from the perspectives of nature and the future, laying the foundation for an attractive future city.
The creation of a bio-medical cluster is a core project for Nowon’s 100-year future, aiming to transform it into a self-sufficient city with proximity between residence and workplace. Fortunately, progress is being made with the relocation of the licensing examination center, and the district plans to overcome challenges with even more urgent efforts for a future-oriented growth city.
Local small businesses and alleyway merchants are the backbone of the regional economy. Based on this year’s survey results on small business conditions, the district will establish a specialized support system for small businesses, including visiting small business managers. Furthermore, a local brand development project based on the Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail will be actively promoted, and 20 billion KRW worth of Nowon Love Gift Certificates will be issued to support residents concerned about inflation and small business owners.
Moreover, to achieve the essential generational transformation of carbon neutrality, the district established the Carbon Neutrality Promotion Team in January this year and launched the '2050 Carbon Neutral City Comprehensive Plan.' Next year, it plans to operate the Carbon Neutrality Support Center, selected through the Ministry of Environment’s competition, to strengthen greenhouse gas reduction, management, and research activities. Civil-government cooperative bodies such as the 'Carbon Neutral 2050 Residents’ Council' will continue active engagement.
Second, the district plans to create a 'Faster and More Convenient Transportation City.'
This aims to overcome the geographical bias toward the northeastern part of Seoul and leap forward as a future industrial hub. The GTX-C line stopping at Kwangwoon University Station is scheduled to begin construction in the first half of next year. The Dongbuk Line light rail, started in 2021, is currently 32% complete and will open in 2026, allowing travel from Sanggye Station to Wangsimni in 26 minutes. The underground construction of the Dongbu Expressway section from Wolreung Bridge to Daechi-dong is set to start in December this year, with a target opening in 2028, and ongoing coordination with related agencies.
Ongoing construction projects for the Dongbu Expressway?Nowon Bridge section and the Bukbu Expressway?Hwarang-ro section, including new entrance and exit ramps, are scheduled to be completed in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The expansion of the Bukbu Expressway between Taereung and Guri IC, a chronic congestion area, began this year and is expected to be completed in 2025, alleviating traffic congestion and resident inconvenience. To ensure safe passage for Wolgye-dong residents, repair work on the aging Kwangwoon University Station overpass is underway, and a pedestrian bridge connecting Sanggye Neighborhood Park and Dobong-gu Samsung Apartments will be installed to reconnect areas separated by Jungnangcheon Stream.
Additionally, to promote interaction among bicycle users and provide diverse experiences, the district is preparing to start construction of a Bicycle Culture Center in the second half of next year, aiming for its opening in 2025.
In a pedestrian safety index survey conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety this year, the district received the highest ratings for accident safety and policy efforts. The district plans to continue improving facilities in school zones and road management for pedestrian safety, maintaining its reputation as a pedestrian-friendly city.
Third, the district will create a 'Cultural and Sports City with a Pause for All Residents' as universal welfare.
First, it is expanding various cultural hub spaces that encompass all generations. Construction of the complex experience facility ‘Jump,’ where infants to adolescents can enjoy unique leisure sports, will begin in the second half of next year. The Junggye Cultural Health Center, equipped with a living culture center and youth cultural facilities, will start construction next year and establish itself as a hub for promoting living culture. The Nowon Culture and Arts Center will complete remodeling of its first-floor performance hall in the second half of next year to lay the foundation for attracting world-class performances, and the second floor will be remodeled into a public art gallery to host exhibitions by high-level domestic and international artists. The traditional culture experience hall, Dawan-jae, on the sixth floor is scheduled to open next year, serving as a venue for traditional culture experiences and exchanges, including tea ceremony and etiquette education.
To build balanced sports infrastructure, the district is steadily progressing with the construction of regional sports centers. The Sanggye Community Sports Center is scheduled to open in March next year, the Gongneung Community Sports Center and Seoul Eoullim Sports Center are expected to be completed in 2025, and the aging Junggye Community Sports Center is currently in the design phase, with construction set to begin in the second half of next year.
The district is also promoting a project to establish library infrastructure within a 10-minute walk through regional hub libraries. Following the remodeling of Wolgye Library, remodeling of Sanggye Library and Nowon Central Library will proceed sequentially. Additionally, a new Taereung Eoullim Library will be established on the site of the Gongneung futsal field.
Furthermore, the district aims to foster and spread diverse cultural content to create a city full of everyday enjoyment. The Craft Beer Festival, Dancing Nowon, Nowon Moonlight Walk, and Bulamsan Azalea Festival, which received enthusiastic responses from residents this year, will be further solidified as representative cultural contents of Nowon. The Suraksan Sunset Concert and Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail Concert will be enhanced as representative outdoor concerts. The neighborhood water playground and water park, which attracted 110,000 visitors over two months, will be newly introduced next year to be even more welcomed as a local retreat for children.
Fourth, the district will continuously develop a 'Healing City Adding Rest to Nature.'
Nowon plans to go beyond being a City in a Garden by connecting parks with tree-lined streets and green belts, linking small gardens in apartments and buildings, ultimately creating a vast urban forest?a City in Nature.
First, unique leisure facilities exclusive to Nowon will complete its distinctive healing city. The Suraksan Natural Recreation Forest, opening in the second half of next year, will be the first recreation forest within Seoul’s city center and a new model for leisure life. Additionally, the Choa Mountain Healing Town is being developed to provide rest spaces for residents of the Wolgye area, which has relatively lacked such spaces. The construction of a 1.8 km circular walking trail around Choa Mountain will begin, completing Nowon’s four major forest trails following the four major river walking trails.
The Hwarangdae Railroad Park was selected as one of the 'Top 100 Regional Cultural Attractions' by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and will be promoted domestically and internationally. Following the Swiss Pavilion at Nowon Train Village, the Italian Pavilion will open in the second half of 2025, and in 2026, the Gyeongchun Line Forest Trail will be extended to Kwangwoon University Station, completing a pleasant walking trail.
Furthermore, improvements to the aging Madeul Sports Park facilities will be completed by the end of the year, and the green connection between Junggye Park and Deungnamu Park will be completed in the first half of next year, becoming a representative park of the district. Design work has begun to extend the Danghyeoncheon Stream walking trail to Danggogae, aiming to revitalize Danghyeoncheon and Uicheon as attractive waterside vitality hubs. Correspondingly, the Danghyeoncheon music fountain will be upgraded, and resting facilities at the Jungnangcheon Meeting Square will be established. The Nowon Safety Patrol will regularly patrol trails, walking paths, and parks to ensure the safety of residents enjoying daily rest.
Fifth, the district will establish an 'Innovative Talent Development Education City' to solidify Nowon’s status as an education city.
The Math Culture Center and Astronomy and Space Science Center nurture students’ intellectual curiosity through experiential and exploratory activities. The Nowon Education Platform shares career concerns and responds to diverse educational demands. Native English camps and youth science camps are conducted, and educational expense subsidies are provided to 157 educational institutions in the region to create a student-centered, safe, and comfortable educational environment.
Additionally, at the Nowon Lifelong Education Center, Gongneung Lifelong Education Center, and Jangmi Practice Center, about 6,000 residents annually realize self-fulfillment through lifelong learning in over 130 programs including arts, foreign languages, barista training, and sports courses. In addition to the existing three lifelong education centers, the district plans to establish the Sanggye Lifelong Education Center for residents in the northern Sanggye area. The district also operates seven universities and the Nowon Lifelong Learning University, and supports learning for various age groups and fields at the Nowon Women’s Education Center and neighborhood learning centers. In the future, a Lifelong Education Support Center for slow learners will be operated to support education and independence for individuals with borderline intellectual functioning.
Sixth, the district will create a 'Warm and Caring Healthy Welfare City with Sharing.'
Through services such as the Child-Friendly Taxi, Safe Childcare Centers, Expansion of Co-Parenting Rooms, Childcare Centers, 1,000 KRW Children’s Cafeterias, and Sick Child Care Centers, the district will strengthen a dense public care policy from pregnancy to childbirth and childcare.
Active efforts will be made to address various difficulties faced by the youth generation in areas such as jobs, housing, and mental health. Along with establishing youth stores, a Youth Startup Support Center will be created in Gongneung-dong, and policies to discover youth potential will be explored through the Youth Policy Governance Center and the 2nd Youth Basic Plan. Cultural activity allowances and study cafe vouchers for unemployed youth will continue to be supported.
Middle-aged and older adults, often overlooked in policy support, are addressed by the establishment of the Middle-aged Support Team in January this year. The Nowon 50 Plus Center operates to support life redesign, and a second 50 Plus Center will be established in the upcoming Hagye 1-dong complex office building to help prepare for a second act in life.
Nowon District, which has the third-largest elderly population in Seoul, will build a Senior Citizens’ Hall equipped with a sports center and cafe within the Nowon Residents’ Hall, and meet health care and learning demands through senior rest centers and the Senior Happiness University. To promote social participation among seniors, a one-stop senior job center will operate, discovering Nowon-style senior jobs that residents can participate in regardless of income. Free shingles vaccinations will be expanded next year to include seniors aged 65 and older.
Additionally, the district will enhance mobility convenience for people with disabilities by creating an electric mobility driving practice center, and operate a second branch of the disability-friendly beauty salon, which was the first in the nation and received explosive responses, further enhancing its image as a disability-friendly city. Lifelong education for people with disabilities will be supported through the Brain Lesion Disability Vision Center and the Developmental Disability Lifelong Education Center.
Furthermore, a pet-themed playground will be created in Bulamsan Healing Town, and the Dangdang House pet culture center will serve as a hub to realize animal welfare where people and animals coexist.
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