Is Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, truly dreaming of ‘Yangju, a cultural city with beautiful everyday life’?

 

We urge you to make every effort to ensure that cultural events that cost 60 million won of taxpayers' money truly take root among citizens, rather than just in terms of quantitative results.

 

 [Contribution = Full-time Professor Myeong-Geun Kim of Seojeong University] At around 6 PM on April 29th, the author was informed by the director of Yangju City that the “Busking on the way home from work” performance on May Cultural Day was being held at the outdoor performance hall of the Administrative Welfare Center in Hoecheon 3-dong. I received a phone call inviting me to attend.

 

At the scene of Oulrim Madang, where I rushed to join the group, putting off other prior commitments, the only citizens watching the professional singers sing passionately were 40 adults and 4 children.

 

 As a member of the transition committee for the 7th mayoral position in Yangju, I participated in setting city administration goals and was in charge of welfare and culture. As I was involved in the process of setting the slogan at the time as “Yangju, a cultural city with beautiful everyday life,” I was concerned about the citizen indifference that is happening right before our eyes. The opera gala concert performed by six vocalists raised deep doubts about whether Yangju truly aims to be a cultural city.

 

 Aside from the shabby stage without even lighting facilities, it should be seriously pointed out that Yangju City, which has a poor financial independence of 26.2%, spends 60 million won per year on monthly citizen events that are limited to a 'show-off' event with only about 50 people participating. This is something you need to see.

 

 How has the city promoted cultural events that attract citizens, and how much effort has been put into networking with citizens? We cannot help but ask what kind of implementation strategy is in place to make it a civic event to increase efficiency, keeping in mind the results that result from the investment of the budget.

 

 In 2022, to commemorate the 19th anniversary of Yangju City's elevation, a summit stone was installed at the top of Gamaksan Mountain, one of the top 100 famous mountains in Korea and the representative mountain of Yangju City.

 

The 18 million won investment project to promote citizen pride and increase external awareness by establishing the landscape identity of Yangju City will be sufficient to create an effect worth billions of won.

 

Additionally, on the 25th, a plaque was unveiled at Yangjumok Government Office, which was the administrative office of Yangjumok, the center of northeastern Hanyang during the Joseon Dynasty. The signboard, which cost about 6 million won, is evaluated as a sufficient achievement to not only show off Yangju City's status as the main city of northern Gyeonggi Province and its status as the center of a historical and cultural city, but also to become a photo zone for citizens and establish itself as a famous tourist attraction.

 

Taking this cultural event as an opportunity, we urge the Yangju City executive department to make a concerted effort to ensure that the cultural event, which cost 60 million won of taxpayers' money, is truly 10 or 100 times more impressive to the citizens than in the quantitative sense of the performance. .

 

[Please note that this contribution may differ from the editorial direction of this magazine]