Bad bruckenau: cars yes, but not in the afternoon

More than 30 people came to the georgi hall to listen to the city council's debate on the pedestrian zone. The city councils took an hour and a half to discuss the issue. After statements by volker wedde, managing director of the bavarian trade association for lower franconia, and police chief herbert markert (see below), karlheinz schmitt (CSU) opened the speeches. The traffic officer put the explosive topic on the agenda again a good year ago.

"My personal opinion is: a pure fubganger zone is the further death of our single traders", said karlheinz schmitt. But it was never intended that the marketplace would become a parking lot. He spoke in favor of traffic surveillance by own forces. For adelheid zimmermann (FDP) the trial phase has been preserved. The passability of the pedestrian zone is an important criterion of how handicapped-friendly the city is. But she also said that there is a need for a new concept for the pedestrian zone.

Kindergarten speaker florian wildenauer (SPD) pleaded for the protection of children: "a pedestrian zone should be a pedestrian zone", he said, but signaled to agree to the compromise of an opening until 1 p.M. Almuth bauer (CSU) disagreed: "no matter what we decide, we do it wrong for some and right for others. But we can't just ignore the retail trade." She spoke out in favor of keeping the opening until 18.30 o'clock.

Displeasure with businessmen

"It doesn't matter what we decide here today", said benjamin wildenauer (SPD). Actions and appeals have had no effect, making structural measures all the more important. He spoke in favor of returning to the old regulation. Birgit poeck-kleinhenz (PWG) also felt that the test phase was negative, especially for older people who could no longer see and hear well.

"We've been dragging our feet for a year now", kurt abersfelder (CSU) spoke out. He reported that a spa guest had asked him why the retail trade in the city was ruining everything. He himself accused the businessmen of not doing anything to revitalize the city center, apart from opening it up. "The pedestrian zone is the city's living room, and you don't drive through a living room," said benjamin wildenauer, he repeated a well-known sentence, which has probably already been used in earlier debates.

Third mayor dieter seban (CSU) reported that he had since changed his mind. As a real estate agent, he regularly hears questions about the passability of the city center. "At every store in ludwigstrabe we have parking spaces 150 meters away. But that is no longer enough", he said. He spoke out in favor of dealing with short-cut traffic not only by signs, but by posts.

Attempt by the city came to nothing

Even second mayor jurgen pfister (PWG) is not among the friends of a drivable pedestrian zone. However, he spoke in favor of the compromise. He again pointed out that the passability could only be a mosaic piece and regretted that the meetings initiated by the city with individual traders and building owners had come to nothing. "Only together can we solve this difficult situation", he said and appealed to the advertising community: "i can only ask: don't break up!"

Dirk stumpe (PWG) recalled that 160 signatures had been collected four years ago against the opening of the fubganger zone. He criticized that for the recently submitted signatures for the opening only targeted traders and restaurateurs had been addressed. He brought up a game penalty as a suggestion to possibly shorten the fubganger zone. Heike kotzner (CSU), on the other hand, advocated trafficability until the evening.

"We are going around in circles", petra hirschmann (CSU) finally moved an end to the debate. The council followed this proposal. Retention of the opening until 18.30 o'clock failed with 9:11 votes. By a vote of 11 to 9, the majority of the council was in favor of allowing cars to drive until 1 p.M. After the end of the public meeting, emotions ran high in front of the tur: volker wedde from the trade association reacted irritated to the decision. There were no happy faces among the individual traders.

It also became clear that abersfelder's accusation had hurt the business people. Sentences like "there are only a handful of us left" and "we do actions like the spring market and then have to listen to us, we were not doing anything were heard. But there were also other voices. The burghers, who are against vehicles in the fubganger zone, were satisfied with the fact that there will be no more cars in the afternoon. "It just has to be kept."

Hartmut bos (no party affiliation) would like to apologize. The speaker for tourism and economy had appeared several times as an opponent of the passability. In the run-up, he had sent a position statement to the town councils, but the editors did not receive it.

First of all, volker wedde thanked the city council on behalf of the retailers for making it possible to open the pedestrian zone on a trial basis. He argued that in the future, too, the trafficability of the 7 to 18.30 o'clock. "In today's world, accessibility is a very important criterion, because customers no longer have to come, they want to come", said wedde. He was alluding to online trading and well-developed markets on the outskirts of town. Retailers are aware of the ambivalence of the issue: on the one hand, the pedestrian zone is perceived as livelier; on the other hand, there are problems with short-cuts and speeding drivers. Therefore, it would make sense to better control the driving behavior with suitable measures.

This is what the police say the police stopped an average of eight drivers per hour during their checks. Just as many had slipped through the fingers of the civil servants. "Most drivers did not make a fuss about speeding at all", reported herbert markert. Even a return to the old regulation did not change this behavior. Barrier posts – either already in the old town or in the alleys – could solve the problem. Police chief says speed camera has positive effect on drivers. But he also made it clear that the police have more important things to do than patrolling the pedestrian zone. "From the police's point of view, this is not an issue that is at the top of the agenda.", said markert – especially as there had only been one accident with a lightly injured person within ten years. That was in 2009.

According to the measuring system, the average speed of cars in the fubganger zone was 11 kilometers per hour.

63 kilometers per hour was the peak value recorded by the measuring system. However, this motorist was on the road at night.