Designated green areas and parks in Munich will be protected even more and more generally than before. The city council has decided on the corresponding demands of the citizens’ initiative “Preserve green spaces”, a vote by the people of Munich is no longer necessary. The approximately 60,000 signatories and the approximately 60 organizations behind them can feel like winners – or not?
The planning department is of the legal opinion that individual cases must be examined and that there is also room for maneuver to deviate from the specifications of the referendum in the case of legitimate interests. With their majority, the Greens and CSU pushed through that ongoing proceedings should be exempted. During the debate, several speakers stated that they would therefore agree. Only the concrete handling of the decision in the city council will show whether the joy about the victory was not premature. An exemplary look at other successful citizens’ initiatives shows how different and difficult the implementation can be.
High up – or not?
The high-rise decision of 2004 is not only one of the best-known Munich referendums. It is also an example of how seriously such a vote can be taken, even though the result was extremely close. 50.8 percent said that no more houses should be built that are more than 100 meters high – higher than the towers of the Frauenkirche. Even if the result, as with every referendum, was only binding for one year: Politicians have been sticking to it for almost two decades.
But now an investor is pursuing the idea of building two towers on the old parcel post hall in Neuhausen. Planned height: 155 meters. The city council is ready to give up the height limit. On the other hand, a group has formed around the member of parliament Robert Brannekamper (CSU) and the former city councilor Wolfgang Czisch (SPD). They have been collecting signatures for a new citizens’ initiative since May last year, and they see the planned high-rise buildings as “a breach of the dam to the high-rise metropolis”. The question they want to ask: “Are you in favor of the city of Munich taking all legally permissible measures so that NO high-rise building is built in Neuhausen in the vicinity of the parcel post hall that is over 60 meters high?”
It remains to be seen whether – and if so, by when – the approximately 35,000 necessary signatures will be collected. The high-rise issue shows that citizen surveys on such topics are more complex today than they used to be. At that time it was about preserving the cityscape (for the opponents) and developing the business location (for the supporters). Today there are other issues that come into play: Can affordable living space be created in a building like this, for which there is otherwise less and less space in the city? And what about sustainability with such towers?
Clean air or an air number?
In November 2016, the alliance for clean air “Sauba sog i” began collecting signatures. The demand was: By 2025, only a maximum of 20 percent of Munich’s traffic should be handled with combustion engines. 80 percent would then be done on foot, by bicycle, by public transport or with emission-free drives such as electric motors. With a traffic turnaround, the pollutant load in the air should be reduced. According to a study from 2017, 34 percent drive in Munich; if you include the surrounding area, the car accounts for a share of 46 percent. There are no more recent, reliable figures.
Within six weeks, the initiative collected half of the required signatures. And then it wasn’t long before the black-red town hall alliance took over the demands of the citizens’ petition; the Greens were among the supporters of the citizens’ initiative. The initiators of “Sauba sog i” celebrated this as a great success. Two years later, the euphoria of the then campaign manager Andreas Schuster from the Green City association had evaporated. He found that little had happened to push back traffic. Schuster is now an SPD city councilor himself, and the turnaround in traffic is one of the main goals of the green-red coalition. He can continue to pursue the idea of the citizens’ petition, the decision from 2017 is no longer a major factor.
Cycling decision or cycling frustration?
With two citizens’ requests, better conditions for cyclists in the city should be enforced. The central requirements: a comprehensive network of wide and safe paths and safe lanes on the Altstadtring. At the beginning of July 2019, the initiators submitted around 160,000 signatures, and three weeks later the city council decided by a large majority to implement these goals. When a majority of Munich residents voted for the Greens and the SPD in March 2020, the way seemed clear for a bike-friendly Munich.
And what about the desired implementation by 2025? “We’re a long way from that,” says Katharina Horn, spokeswoman for the Radentscheid. She is following the development very closely, and those involved in the Radentscheid are even involved in the planning. A few new sections have been completed on the Altstadt-Radlring, one section is clearly colored green. Otherwise: a lot of planning and a lot of frustration. “It takes far too long for something to hit the streets,” says Horn. Nevertheless, she has not lost hope, because from her point of view, the problem is not understanding and usually not the will, but the implementation. She sees progress in planning and knowledge transfer, but she also feels: after the victory, the work for the Radentscheid is far from over, a sure-fire success looks different.
Out of coal or back?
Hardly any citizens’ initiative in Munich has experienced more ups and downs than “Get out of the hard coal”. The alliance needed two years to collect the signatures. In the autumn of 2017, the referendum was won, but the quorum was only just achieved. Stadtwerke München (SWM), as a municipal subsidiary, was now obliged to shut down its hard coal unit in the North thermal power station by December 31, 2022.
But negative signals quickly came from SWM: technically not possible, security of supply would be at risk. A years-long struggle at attrition began in the city council, which the ÖDP in particular led doggedly as once again the mainstay of a citizens’ initiative. In 2019 it was considered a failure, the legal bond had already expired. However, after a tough struggle, the lifetime of the coal block was reduced, first to 2028, then even further. It was decided that less coal could be burned. A new gas power plant came up for discussion. The public utilities gave way slice by slice, until the completely surprising turnaround finally came in October 2021: SWM declared that they could now convert the coal block to gas themselves.
Implementation of the referendum seemed imminent, but then Russia attacked Ukraine. The lack of gas made electricity and heat scarce and expensive. Munich decided to let the coal block continue to run this winter, and it may well remain so in the coming year. When the will of the people will ultimately be implemented remains to be seen.