A couple of weeks ago, OH Se-hoon was grilled by a JoongAng Daily reporter about previous Seoul Town Meetings, which didn't always give enough time for interactivity between city officials and international residents.
Kicked off by the Mayor himself, this edition was clearly a success : more time for Q&As, high ranking officials from all key departments with precise answers to all questions, and lively presentations by Hong Suk-ki (whose future report on Foreign communities should be a very interesting read - I hope it will be published in English as well) and Koo A-mi (confirming the city's ambitions in sustainable development - see all posts related to environment on Seoul Village). Under Alan Timblick's always careful watch, the show went just fine and on schedule, following a dense program but also a pleasant rythm.
I really appreciated the honesty of city officials : service and result oriented, never distant nor arrogant, never trying to dodge their responsibilities, frankly answering and acknowledging issues that can be improved, pledging to call back when they don't have the answer...
And that's the way Seoul works: the city wants to know what can be done to improve its global profile. A lot has already been achieved over the past few years, but more than ever, every citizen is invited to voice out suggestions or complaints 24/7/365 (as usual, Dasan 120 and the Seoul Global Center are the easiest entry point to get answers).
2010 Seoul Town Meeting program:
. Opening speech - Mayor OH Se-hoon
. Seoul Town Meeting updates - Alan Timblick
. Multiculturalism - presentations by Hong Suk-ki, Blaz Kriznik, and Tatiana Primakova
. Seoul's air quality - presentations by Koo A-mi, Nguyen Duc Luong
. Q&As
Seoul Village 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
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Thank you for your comments and remarks. Also for your patience (comments are moderated and are not published right away - only way to curb the spam, sorry). S.