A 35-member residents' pledge evaluation panel held its first meeting to assess the feasibility of projects and the appropriateness of pledge adjustments under the district's ninth elected-term administration.
Jungnang-gu commissioned 35 residents on Wednesday to form a pledge evaluation panel and held its inaugural meeting, as the district marks 100 days since the launch of its ninth elected-term administration and moves to assess its campaign pledge action plan from the residents' perspective.
The panel was established to allow residents to participate directly from the pledge-planning stage, reviewing the feasibility of projects and the appropriateness of any pledge adjustments, and to propose improvements to the pledge action plan.
Panel members were selected at random from Jungnang-gu residents aged 18 and older through an automated response system and telephone interviews conducted by the Korea Manifesto Practice Headquarters, with gender, age and neighborhood taken into account. At Wednesday's inaugural meeting, participants received training on the manifesto movement and the panel's role, were presented with appointment certificates, and formed five working subgroups for discussion.
The ninth-term administration's campaign pledges comprise 70 projects across seven areas — education, economic development and urban planning, transportation, residential environment, culture, welfare, and walkability — under the district's governing vision of becoming "a top education city, a self-sustaining city of growth, and a city where everyone is happy through culture and welfare." In July, the district reviewed its pledge projects through the Jungnang Donghang Vision Committee, gathered 75 improvement suggestions and recommendations, and examined detailed implementation plans and project feasibility by department before finalizing the 70 pledge projects.
The panel is scheduled to hold a second meeting on Oct. 21, when relevant departments will present their pledge projects and take questions, followed by a third meeting on Nov. 4 to deliberate on the appropriateness of pledge adjustments and draw up recommendations for improving the pledge action plan. The district plans to review the panel's input and incorporate it into the pledge action plan, with any pledge adjustments and recommendations to be made public on the district office website in December.
"The ninth-term pledges are a promise to residents, so it is important to listen carefully to their voices throughout the process of carrying out each project," District Mayor Ryu Gyeong-gi said. "I hope the panel will scrutinize the pledge projects closely and offer diverse opinions, and we will faithfully reflect their input in the pledge action plan."
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