Good evening,

Manfred Koehler

Head of department of the Rhein-Main editorial team of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

  • Follow I follow

Frankfurt's Lord Mayor announces his retirement at the end of January.

Reaction one: Yes, finally!

Reaction two: Why only in more than half a year?

This question remained unanswered on Tuesday after Peter Feldmann (SPD) let it be known at 10.24 a.m. that he did not want to stand in the way of a restart in the Römer.

Since nobody really trusts the mayor anymore, the coalition in Römer still reserves the right to initiate a voting procedure at any time.

What is certain, however, is that Feldmann's last seven months in office will be a major struggle.

The Rhein-Main-Zeitung reports and comments and looks back on Feldmann's ten years in office.

Colleague Matthias Trautsch tipped anyway that Feldmann just wanted to celebrate again on the Roman balcony after the undoubted World Cup triumph of the national soccer team in Qatar.

Speaking of celebrating:

The Emser Bridge is free again.

Okay, not everyone is interested in that now, but anyone who wanted to get from the Autobahn 648 to the Gallus district in Frankfurt had to take a long detour in the past few months.

Now it's a quarter of an hour faster.

FAZ editors also benefit from this, as they now have 15 more minutes a day to work on fantastic newspaper articles

, but only marginally.

The Emser Bridge is really an important connection.

Of course, living in Frankfurt is

even better than commuting to Frankfurt.

But the number of building projects is too low, and if one is to be tackled seriously, it takes too long to be realised.

Why this is the case was the subject of a discussion in the Chamber of Industry and Commerce

, reported by colleague Günter Murr: Environmental protection often stands in the way.

Some say: rightly so, because

318 species have become extinct in Frankfurt in recent years.

The others say: If a sacred cow is seen in every point of a procedure, one never gets to building.

Difficult to find a solution.

And

the lions in Frankfurt Zoo are also getting a larger outdoor area

+++

the economic prospects in the region are becoming increasingly gloomy

+++

the Thomanerchor Leipzig is a guest in Wiesbaden, Guido Holze introduces Thomaskantor Andreas Reize.

I wish you a pleasant evening

Yours, Manfred Koehler

You can also read current reports from the region in Skyline-Blick, our live news blog for the Rhine-Main region, and on the Rhein-Main-Zeitung website at www.faz.net/rmz

The

weather

for Wednesday

Lots of sunshine at first, cloudier as the day progressed, but mostly dry.

Highs around 24 degrees, light to moderate wind.

birthday

on

Wednesday

Peter Grella

(CDU), city elder, former head of department of the city of Wiesbaden (75);

Bodo Kirchhoff

, writer living in Frankfurt and on Lake Garda, winner of the German Book Prize and the Goethe Plaque of the City of Frankfurt (74);

Paul Weimann

, state chairman of the social association VdK Hessen-Thüringen, Frankfurt (66);

Bernd Neuendorf

, President of the German Football Association, Frankfurt (61);

Gaby Hagmans

, Director of the Frankfurt Caritas Association (55);

Nadia Doukali

, children's book author and entrepreneur, Frankfurt (51).