Goyang Mayor Min Gyeongseon Gets 6,800 "Direct Text" Messages... Residents' Voices Changed Things on the Ground

Goyang City Runs “Direct Text Message Service to the Mayor” for Three Months

Resolved 96.7% of 914 General Complaints

Messages Focused on Transportation and Development Issues

Residents’ Proposals Led to Site Visits and Budget Reviews

Mayor Min Gyeongseon: “We Will Reflect Residents’ Voices in City Administration”

Broken streetlights along Changneungcheon Stream in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, were repaired, and the venue for the National Makgeolli Festival was changed to Ilsan Culture Plaza. The changes were prompted by text messages sent directly to Goyang Mayor Min Gyeong-seon by residents. A request to visit a school library led to an on-site visit by the mayor, while a proposal to hold a commemorative event led to a decision to include it in next year's budget.

Mayor Min Gyeongseon visits Jungsan Sports Park. Provided by Goyang City.

Goyang City said on October 8 that it received a total of 6,800 messages through its "Direct Text Message Service to the Mayor," which operated from July 1 to September 30. The city received an average of about 70 messages a day, including around 900 on weekends.

Under the "Direct Text Message Service to the Mayor," the mayor personally reviews and responds to messages from residents. The service accepts policy proposals and concerns about local issues, as well as reports of everyday inconveniences such as roads in need of repair and uncollected garbage. When a matter requires further explanation or an on-site inspection, the city official in charge of communications and collaborative governance calls the resident to clarify the details and coordinates a response with the relevant department.

Mayor Min Gyeong-seon said, "This is the most direct channel for residents to convey their views to the mayor and receive a response. I will carefully review every message and do my best to ensure residents' voices lead to concrete administrative action."

Messages focused largely on expanding transportation networks and major development projects. By category, roads and transportation accounted for the largest share, with 2,385 messages (35.1%). Jobs and the economy followed with 2,314 (34.0%), and housing and construction with 1,642 (24.1%). The three categories together made up 93.2% of all messages.

There were also many group and repeated messages about major local issues. Messages concerning the four most frequently raised issues, including calls to pass the preliminary feasibility study for extending Incheon Subway Line 2 to Goyang, expedite the K-Culture Valley project, and form an emergency response task force related to One Mount, totaled 5,563, or 81.8% of all messages. The city said it did not reply individually to group and repeated messages, but held separate meetings with representatives and others, depending on the issue, to discuss possible solutions.

Mayor Min Gyeongseon visits the site of Yonsei Villa in Haengsin-dong. Provided by Goyang City.

Excluding group and repeated complaints, the city received 914 individual complaints. Of these, 884 (96.7%) had been resolved, while 30 were under review. Roads and transportation was also the largest category among individual complaints, with 322 cases, followed by housing and construction with 116 and education and culture with 110.

Some messages led to on-site visits. After the library at Seojeong Middle School in Haengsin-dong requested a visit, Mayor Min coordinated a schedule with the school and went there to hear its views. He also inspected Cherry Tree Park in Ilsandong-gu, the electronic display board at the entrance to Aenigol, Ilsan Culture Plaza, and a small stream near the Wondang Flower Complex.

Some residents' proposals led to policy reviews. After receiving a request to hold an event in Goyang to mark the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, the city reviewed holding an event in accordance with a related ordinance enacted this year and decided to include it in the 2027 main budget. A request to move the National Makgeolli Festival from Singing Fountain Park to Ilsan Culture Plaza resulted in an actual change of venue.

The city said it received messages saying "Thank you" and "We support you" after resolving problems such as stream maintenance, streetlight repairs, and household waste collection.

In some cases, the city cleared up misunderstandings. After receiving a message opposing a tree burial site, it found that the sender had mistaken an application for approval of an arboretum development plan for a plan to create a tree burial site. The city said it provided accurate information, preventing further complaints and conflict.

Goyang Mayor Min Gyeongseon inspects the site for the planned Hwasu Station on the Goyang-Eunpyeong Line. Provided by Goyang City.

Goyang City plans to continue following up on opinions submitted through the direct text service with on-site inspections and consultations with the relevant departments, and to reflect them in city administration.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.