Today in Rhein-Main: garden guerrillas against guardians of the bureaucracy

Good evening,

Well-intentioned civic engagement meets stubborn national bureaucracy. In Darmstadt's acacia garden, the question of who actually owns the public space is being debated. Or more precisely: is it right to embellish something that those responsible seem to have forgotten? After the responsible Landesbetrieb Bau und Immobilien Hessen (LBIH) had neglected the park for years and more and more trees perished, the "revolutionary acacia garden front" was formed. A name that sounds more like a challenge than a peaceful sapling action. The members of the association planted ten bushes and seven small trees to revitalize the park after several trees were felled. In the eyes of the state company, that was not laudable, but cross-border. The actors would have acted criminally ..

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Official director Thomas Platte has now presented plans for the future of the park - and is still trying to smooth things over.

But in the background there is still penning.

Hans Dieter Erlenbach took a closer look at the case and shed light on the situation both from the point of view of the authorities and from the perspective of the guerrilla gardeners.

There are also hardened fronts in road traffic again and again. Cyclists argue with drivers about all sorts of things. Sometimes about space on the narrow streets, sometimes about the question of who is behaving like a rowdy towards whom. Almost half a year ago the city of Frankfurt started to rebuild the Oeder Weg. The plan bears the signature of a woman. And our author Mechthild Harting met with her. It is Beatrix Baltabol, architect and studied urban and traffic planner. She has supported the Radentscheid initiative from the start. Your basic work was incorporated into the city's planning. Baltabol observes what has happened (and still has to do) since the city parliament decided in 2019 to create the "Bicycle City Frankfurt".The plans include, for example, the redesign of eleven streets into "bicycle-friendly side streets". This does not happen silently. Those who want to see car traffic roll in as they did before are alerted. The main argument is that retail is losing customers. Baltabol would like a more positive way of thinking from some critics: "We talk too little about what we gain if we redesign popular and lively streets with shops and restaurants such as Oeder Weg or Grüneburgweg." Your prognosis will be like citizens and commuters in 30 years she revealed in an interview with the FAZ.Baltabol would like a more positive way of thinking from some critics: "We talk too little about what we gain if we redesign popular and lively streets with shops and restaurants such as Oeder Weg or Grüneburgweg." Your prognosis will be like citizens and commuters in 30 years she revealed in an interview with the FAZ.Baltabol would like a more positive way of thinking from some critics: "We talk too little about what we gain if we redesign popular and lively streets with shops and restaurants such as Oeder Weg or Grüneburgweg." Your prognosis will be like citizens and commuters in 30 years she revealed in an interview with the FAZ.

Incidentally, adding good news to this newsletter from time to time also inspired the team of authors. So the editorial team has put together several pieces of good news. According to the motto: 2021? It wasn't that modest! Did you know that the Hessians moved closer together during the crisis? And yes, that is to be taken literally. More babies were born than in 2020. There were 46,200 - almost 1,100 more than in the previous year. In contrast, the number of unemployed has fallen. The unemployment rate has slipped back below the five percent mark. In return, wages have risen in many industries. The Rhein-Main editorial team has even more good news for you. That was - to everyone's astonishment - not that difficult.

In addition, colleagues are concerned with the question of what (apart from a year) everything can end.

The answer: pretty much everything.

Besides the Wurst +++, Managing Director Alexander Skipis is leaving the German Book Trade Association after 16 years.

The association is facing turbulent times.

It is also about the future of the book fair +++ the higher regional court in Frankfurt is overloaded.

Because a large number of costly state security and diesel proceedings lead to delays.

Stay healthy,

Marie Lisa Kehler

The

for Thursday

On Thursday the sky will be full of clouds again and it will rain extensively.

Later, with spring-like values ​​of up to 17 degrees, it is then drier.

Birthday

on December 30th

Ralf Scheffler

, concert organizer and operator of the Frankfurt music club Batschkapp (73);

, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Estonia, Frankfurt, Managing Director of the network "Women with Format", Kronberg (63);

, spokesman for the Siemens branch in Frankfurt (51);

,

General Manager of

the Hotel and Gastronomy Association Dehoga Hessen , Wiesbaden (42);

, Managing Director of the Rheingau Music Festival, Oestrich-Winkel (36).