Dobong-gu to Hold 'New Year's Meeting' at Seoninbong Hall, Dobong-gu Office on the 19th... Over 1,500 Residents and Various Figures Attend, Pledging a Hopeful Start to the New Year in Dobong
Oh Eon-seok, Dobong-gu Mayor, Announces Key Tasks and Major Projects in Six Areas for This Year
Oh Se-hoon, Seoul Mayor, Presents Administrative Direction for 'A Special City of Charm Created Together with Dobong-gu'
Dobong-gu is focusing on creating a new turning point for the great leap forward of Dobong, soaring even higher this year, and enhancing urban competitiveness.
Dobong-gu (Mayor Oh Eon-seok) announced this on the 19th at the ‘2024 Dobong-gu New Year Meeting’ held in Seoninbong Hall on the 2nd floor of Dobong-gu Office through Mayor Oh Eon-seok’s New Year address.
On this day, Mayor Oh Eon-seok, along with about 1,500 attendees including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, members of the National Assembly, city councilors, district councilors, heads of professional organizations, and resident representatives, shared the hopeful start of the new year for Dobong and introduced the key tasks and major projects for Dobong-gu in 2024.
This year, Dobong-gu will promote projects in six areas: ▲a balanced development city with convenient transportation ▲a vibrant co-prosperity economic city ▲a safe and secure city for residents ▲a warm welfare and education city that supports the vulnerable ▲a cultural and leisure city with rest ▲and a transparent and innovative communication city.
First, Mayor Oh outlined the vision for a ‘balanced development city with convenient transportation,’ stating that they will overcome the geographical conditions of being located in the northern part of Seoul and achieve regional balanced development through the establishment of a metropolitan transportation network.
Mayor Oh said, “For the past 34 years, residents have faced many restrictions on exercising property rights due to the Bukhansan altitude district regulations. To resolve this, continuous consultations with Seoul City have resulted in a new Bukhansan altitude district plan announced last year, which raises the height limit of individual buildings from 20m to 28m and allows a maximum height of 45m for housing maintenance projects.” He added, “Along with this, following the review by the Seoul City Urban Planning Committee on the 17th, the 45m height allowance, which was originally applied only to Type 2 general residential areas, has now been expanded to Type 1 general residential areas. For example, in Ssangmun-dong’s Ui Green Villa, housing maintenance projects can now build up to 45m.”
Regarding residential environment improvement measures, he said, “Currently, residential environment improvement projects such as reconstruction, redevelopment, Moa Town, small-scale housing maintenance, and urban complex projects are actively underway in a total of 77 locations including Samhwan Dobong Apartments. We will assist the smooth progress of maintenance projects through support programs such as our neighborhood maintenance project consultation office and resident briefings.”
He mentioned one of Dobong-gu’s greatest achievements last year: the confirmation of the full undergrounding of the GTX-C line throughout Dobong-gu. “This was an achievement made with the united will of all Dobong residents,” he said, pledging, “Together with the extension of the SRT from Suseo to Chang-dong, we will revolutionize Dobong’s transportation environment.”
Next, regarding ‘Dobong as a vibrant co-prosperity economic city,’ he declared the leap to becoming the central city of northeastern Seoul based on the development of the Chang-dong area, various youth policies, and regional economic revitalization policies.
Mayor Oh said, “The construction of the Chang-dong private investment station, which was halted in 2010, resumed in 2022. We will continue to pay attention and make efforts to ensure its completion as planned by 2026. Additionally, we will create the Chang-dong Station complex transfer center, which includes transfer facilities, commercial facilities, and office facilities, to establish a growth base for the regional economy.”
As a support measure for youth employment and entrepreneurship, he said, “Through the ‘Dobong-gu Youth Employment Support Center’ to be established on the 1st floor of Dobong-gu Office, we will practically assist young people in preparing for employment. We will also set up a youth startup center equipped with startup spaces and multipurpose studios on the 4th floor of Seed Cube Chang-dong to actively support prospective and early-stage entrepreneurs.” He added, “Furthermore, based on the Dobong Campus of the Youth Employment Academy, which opened on the 7th floor of Seed Cube Chang-dong in December last year, we will nurture practical talents tailored to companies.”
He also announced plans for future cultural industry infrastructure, including the Seoul Robot Artificial Intelligence Science Museum and the Seoul Photography Museum, which will be established in Chang-dong this year.
He emphasized the importance of local government safety management in relation to the 2022 Itaewon tragedy and the 2023 abnormal motive crimes. He stated that the monitoring system for rapid response in disaster situations will be further strengthened, and a dense safety network for residents will be established throughout Dobong-gu by expanding CCTV, increasing security lighting, and replacing old security lights with LED.
He raised his voice particularly for welfare projects aimed at ‘walking together with the vulnerable.’ Mayor Oh said, “Our district has developed its own welfare brand called ‘Oh! Sabang Welfare’ to promote flawless welfare administration in all directions.” He added, “This year, two new facilities, Ssangmun 1-dong District Senior Center and Chang-dong Senior Welfare Center, will open, and we will manage them safely and cleanly along with existing facilities.”
Regarding the quality of life for the rapidly increasing single-person households, he said, “We will implement practical support policies that residents can feel, such as a single-person household item rental project and support for the guarantee fee for returning the deposit of monthly rent for middle-aged single-person households.” He also expressed his ambition about the ‘Seoul-type Kids Cafe’ operated in six areas within Dobong-gu this year, saying, “Since we have the most among Seoul’s autonomous districts, we will make it a model of exemplary success.”
Regarding the residents’ improved living standards and greatly increased cultural demands, Mayor Oh said, “This year, while enhancing the substance of existing festivals, we will hold new genres of cultural and artistic events that residents can empathize with and enjoy.” He added, “We will put much effort into building Dobong as a tourism city that opens the path for the next 100 years by designating Dobong as a tourism special zone, promoting Dobongsan Cable Car and Peace Culture Base as tourist attractions, and creating experiential tourism exploration courses linked with newly opened cultural facilities such as the Photography Museum.”
Finally, he introduced policies embodying the philosophy of empathy and communication in district administration. Mayor Oh said, “We will operate district administration to increase trust in administration and enable residents to feel changes through creative administration together with residents.” He added, “We will incorporate residents’ opinions into policies through the Dong District Advisory Group and on-site complaint consultations, and operate a proposal system that continuously collects creative ideas from residents and public officials to ensure that residents’ ideas lead to highly effective policies.”
Meanwhile, the New Year meeting began with a joint performance by the Dobong-gu Philharmonic Orchestra, Dobong-gu Children’s Choir, and Dobong-gu Women’s Choir, followed by the mayor’s New Year address and New Year greetings from distinguished guests including Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon. In particular, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s announcement of the administrative direction titled ‘Seoul, a Special City of Charm in Partnership with Dobong-gu’ received great applause from attendees. The event concluded with a rice cake cutting ceremony praying for the happiness and well-being of Dobong residents.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
