Yom Tae-young Mayor: "I thank the citizens who have led me well over the past 12 years"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jeong Jun-sung] "I express my gratitude to the citizens who have guided me well over the past 12 years"

Suwon Mayor Yom Tae-young participated on the 7th in the '2022 Open Dialogue with Citizens (Paldal-gu·Yeongtong-gu)' held at Paldal-gu Office and Yeongtong-gu Office, introducing projects promoted together with citizens during his 5th, 6th, and 7th terms of elected office, and expressed gratitude to citizens while reflecting on his three consecutive terms in office.

Mayor Yom introduced governance policies including 500-person roundtable discussions, urban policy citizen planning groups, good governance committees, and citizen participation budgets, as well as major policies and projects including ▲multi-child Suwon Human Housing ▲voluntary closure of Suwon Station sex industry district ▲introduction of Suwon e-taxi ▲groundbreaking of Paldal Police Station (scheduled) ▲adjustment of unreasonable administrative boundaries ▲development of MICE complex ▲opening of Suwon High Court and Prosecutors' Office ▲realization of Suwon Special Metropolitan City, and citizens who participated in these projects shared their thoughts.

A (moved into unit 1 of 'Multi-child Suwon Human Housing' in November 2018) who participated in the Paldal-gu open dialogue said, "In 2017, I was a basic livelihood recipient, and raising many children was so difficult that I sometimes felt the children were a burden," and added, "When Suwon City contacted me saying they would provide housing to multi-child families, I met with the Mayor and gained a lot of strength from that meeting."

Kim Young-eun (resident of Cheongmyeong Centrevill Apartments, head of Yeongtong 1-dong 33rd district) who participated in the Yeongtong-gu open dialogue said, "Due to unreasonable administrative boundaries, my children had to attend an elementary school in Yongin City 2km away, rather than Hwanggok Elementary School which is a 4-minute walk away," and added, "I raised complaints continuously for 6 years, but no one showed interest."

She then expressed gratitude, saying, "Mayor Yom Tae-young made great efforts to adjust the unreasonable administrative boundaries, saying that 'administration exists for citizens.'"

Mayor Yom Tae-young said, "When I took office on July 1, 2010, I promised to 'enrich the dining table of Suwon citizens,' and I always worked with the idea that the citizens are the owners of that dining table," adding, "I continuously communicated with citizens and made efforts to open my heart and requested participation."

He continued, "Administration must start from the work of opening citizens' hearts," and stated, "To open citizens' hearts, I introduced various 'citizen participation' administrative methods and created many stages where citizens become the main actors."