10 Ideas To Make Pyeongtaek a Better Place
2. ONE BIG CITY PARK - Plant lots of native grasses, flowers and trees. No more concrete, please.
OK, so I know it’s hard to plant lots of grass, and landlords don’t want it since land prices are too high. But the city is throwing loads of money at a new park, why not make it at least 50 % green. It’ll create jobs.
3. A DANCE HALL / JAZZ CLUB- No pop, just a place for teaching and playing samba, swing, tango, jazz, where people can let loose to something that requires learning a skill, is rewarding and fun.
4. ONE BIG INDOOR/OUTDOOR SWIMMING POOL - with waterslides and hot tubs. Maybe 4 lanes for laps, the rest is for fun.
One alternative would be to take out the lanes and just make a play area, basketball hoops and all. But those lanes are packed and all those swimmers would backlash. There are only a few pools near Central Pyeongtaek, even though they’re building an outdoor one up north a ways.
5. PRESSURE WASHERS - To make downtown buildings clean and beautiful again.
The city would have to provide incentives, since building owners don’t want to pay out of their own pockets. Also, it would have to be an annual routine, because of yellow dust, air pollution and snow in the mix.
6. KOREAN CLASSES - For all international residents, early in the morning or late at night when the majority of us get off work. Would be tight.
You would need to gather enough foreigners who are interested and find a volunteer.
7. CULTURAL CLASSES - That teach us more than the qualities of kimchi, and instead engage us with descriptions of all the nuances of the Korean history, culture, tradition, current issues, political parties, sociological cross-sections, habits, what’s expected of us and why, etc. Place for healthy venting and dialogue.
What the hell are Korean public servants doing?
8. CLOSE HOGWAN’ S EARLY - Let your kids play more. It’s a necessary part of being human. And they’ll do better in school and retain more than if you shove them in a hogwon until 10.
This is difficult. The new law does state that they need to close by 10. Would be nice if it were earlier. Maybe they could after CLIL is deeply rooted in the system. And after we oust SKY universities from the monopoly. I think 99% of law makers graduated from SKY, so a revolution of some sort is needed.
9. REWARD BUSINESSES who give foreign workers decent wages and hours. Make a list, call it THE GOOD LIST, and offer something like a fair trade logo for them to promote themselves.
Yes! Companies need to become more transparent, a good opportunity for healthy reform and for them to show their true colours.
10. CLIL - Grow CLIL organically into the education system. CLIL (content language integrated learning) requires the retraining of subject teachers to teach their subjects bilingually.
Yeah, the president is or was pushing this. But he was like, ‘Ppalli, ppalli!’. Things like this take time and need to grow organically from the ground up. But this could dramatically ease dependence on high-cost English education, make learning more democratic and context laden. Lower-class Koreans will be able to afford it, as it won’t require a high cost English teacher. You’ll find kids retain more.
11. BONUS: PARKING GARAGE AT TONGBOK MARKET - I hear ajjuma’s dying for this all the time. People just park for ever on each side of the busy two-way street, essentially turning it into a game of chicken.
12. BONUS: MORE GARBAGE CANS - At times it is definately a treasure hunt, but it is improving.
