Dachau: This is how the first real citizens’ meeting went since the pandemic began – Dachau

When Mayor Florian Hartmann (SPD) closes his report and the visitors to the town hall meeting this Tuesday evening in the Thoma-Haus can speak up, Ludwig Stöckl is the first to raise his hand. He speaks into the microphone and introduces himself, although most people should know him: Ludwig Stöckl, a jeweler with a shop on Augsburger Strasse, “I’m the end of the one-way street in the old town,” he says.

Stöckl had sued against the one-way street regulation in the old town because he feared a loss of sales. A court then overturned the regulation because, from a legal point of view, the city could not provide enough data to justify the one-way street. The rest is, well, Dachau town history. The city councils felt compelled to lift the regulation, which had only been in effect since October 2021. Traffic has been flowing in both directions again since mid-March. It was the second time that the one-way street in the old town flopped. As early as 2003, the city council canceled the measure after protests from Dachau business people.

But Stöckl does not see his personal mission as fulfilled. At the citizens’ meeting, he asked whether the mayor and the administration had received his e-mails in which he had pointed out the lack of traffic data before the one-way street was introduced. Hartmann replies that Stöckl’s e-mails are known in the town hall, but that the arguments of the police were followed at the time, which advocated the one-way street for reasons of traffic safety. Hartmann, who regrets the end of the one-way street, even congratulates Stöckl on his success and says: “We take it sportively.” But Stöckl remains stubborn. Again and again he asks: “Did you follow my advice?” A war of words developed between Hartmann and Stöckl, which lasted more than ten minutes. They keep throwing the same arguments at each other. Many visitors are annoyed and shake their heads. “Now it’s quiet,” calls a woman.

Open detailed view

Open detailed view

The first “real” citizens’ meeting in the city of Dachau since the pandemic began two years ago begins with loud noises. In front of the Ludwig-Thoma-Haus, the assembled town band blows marching music into the Dachau spring sky, while the visitors to the meeting walk past them. Around 80 people came. He is very happy “to finally be able to welcome everyone back to a normal town hall meeting,” says Hartmann. So he says it’s “a hundred times better” than in the past two years. The city was planning a digital event in 2021, but it had to be canceled due to technical problems. Everything worked on the second try. Hartmann spoke into a camera and his speech was broadcast live. The Dachau watched their mayor from home, there was no exchange. In 2020, in the first Corona year, the assembly took place in person. But only 28 visitors came to the Thoma-Haus, the risk of infection deterred many. The atmosphere was almost spooky, Hartmann recalls. Hardly anyone would have dared to talk to their neighbors. Now, in April 2022, people are sitting together at tables of six upstairs in the hall. Many are chatting animatedly, most are not wearing masks.

It is the first of five town hall meetings. It is intended for the residents of the old town and the districts of Udlding, Webling and Mitterndorf. The dates for the remaining quarters will follow in the next few weeks. In his report, Hartmann touches on the most important topics: Corona (“We got through the crisis relatively well financially”), Ukraine (“the people from Dachau were fantastic to help”), the increasingly expensive new construction of the indoor pool (“a long, sad story for itself”), lack of affordable housing (“It must be the aim of a city to offer all citizens affordable housing”), the planned citizens’ beer garden on the former site of the Schlossberg brewery (expected to open in “early summer 2023) and of course the fiasco around the one-way street in the old town.

But in addition to the one-way street, visitors are also concerned with other topics, such as the playground near the monastery school, which is often soiled with rubbish and faeces, or the planned construction of 30 social rental apartments by Stadtbau GmbH on the Udldinger Hang, a municipal property. Ulrike Baumgartner wants to know how the planning is progressing. She heard rumors that the city had sold the property. Hartmann also knows the rumor, but can refute it. “The property is not being sold,” says Hartmann. Any urban space is far too valuable to sell. There are only rough ideas for the construction project on the Udldinger Hang. City master builder Moritz Reinhold expects that apartments could be built there at the earliest in 2026.

Another topic are the e-scooters in Dachau. According to the regulatory office, there are 280 of them from three different providers throughout the city. A middle-aged gentleman complains that the scooters are parked “wildly and criss-crossed” throughout Dachau and block sidewalks. Hartmann explains that the fatal thing is that the providers do not need a permit. Main office manager Josef Herrmann says that the city is in contact with the providers. We now want to wait and see how the situation develops. If the situation does not improve, the city will consider whether to designate extra parking spaces for the scooters, as in Munich. This would nevertheless be a “huge expense for the municipality,” says Hartmann.

The town hall meeting is over in two hours. Chairs are quickly moved, the tables empty. Occasionally citizens are still looking for a conversation with Hartmann or administrative staff.