When the entourage stops next to a small field with community gardens, basic knowledge of botany is required. Federal Building Minister Klara Geywitz points to a bush and wants to know: “Does anyone know the name of the herb?” Someone shouts, “Dill.” City councilor Elisabeth Merk makes a different suggestion: “It could also be fennel.” However, that remains a minority vote. Mayor Dieter Reiter plays it safe, points to a bush full of ripe currants and says: “I’ve got a good hit rate there.” He also takes this opportunity to mention how well-tended the green areas are here in the new development area of Prinz-Eugen-Park. The group agrees that this shows that people feel comfortable here and also feel responsible for the place.
On this late Thursday afternoon, there is – there is no other way of putting it – for the city of Munich to get to know the still relatively new minister from Berlin, who is practically a social democrat like the mayor, a thoroughly successful meeting, which creates a relaxed atmosphere from the very first moment. The ecological model settlement on the former barracks site in Oberföhring with a total of 1800 apartments, 600 of which were built in wood, has been the clear favorite for some time when guests are to be shown the advantages of local urban planning from the outside. Hardly a month goes by without delegations being funneled through.
And on this day everything is perfect: the wildflower meadows are bursting with blooms. The Federal Building Minister sees (careful, symbolic picture) happy children with a whole battery of excavators in the sandpit. Later, when an eight-year-old tells me that she likes going to all-day school because you have a lot of free time there and that the lunch tastes good, “there is rice pudding and spaetzle”, the big city idyll is perfect. Bullerbü auxiliary expression, it could be called by the writer Wolf Haas.
Geywitz, whose main task is to combine the mass construction of affordable housing with climate-friendly construction, is extremely impressed. “In addition to the large amount of wood, the large amount of greenery and the biodiversity are impressive,” she says, turning to Mayor Reiter: “If you were a butterfly, you would be lucky.”
With so much harmony, it is almost forgotten that Geywitz brought warm words and a lot of goodwill for the work of her party colleague and his people from the city administration, but no new news on the housing policy issues that are burning on the city’s soul. Geywitz’s ministry has drafted a new bill on the municipal right of first refusal for residential buildings in conservation statute areas, which the Federal Administrative Court has largely overturned, but the support of the Greens is certain. But that has been put on hold by the FDP-led Federal Ministry of Justice. Geywitz does not respond directly to the question of whether it is true that the topic should soon be negotiated in the traffic light coalition committee. She says that she is in regular contact with Justice Minister Marco Buschmann on this and other issues, such as the cap on rent increases – and that she is in good spirits to come to an agreement. However, she does not want to commit herself to a time goal, such as returning the right of first refusal to the municipalities this year.
Another major topic appeals to riders. Not only had he had more contact with this federal government in the few months than with the governments before all the time. He also recently spoke to the new head of the federal real estate agency, the Bima. “He wants to have it checked which areas of the federal government in Munich are suitable for new residential construction,” reports Reiter. He hopes to get a first interim report by the end of the year. “And I have promised that we as a city will then help with the rapid creation of new building permits.” Geywitz nods in agreement and adds that many federal employees in cities like Munich also need affordable housing. Geywitz got to know a role model for such new quarters on this day.