Even if the 2022 Wiesn was rather quiet due to the weather and corona, the local politicians in the Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt district committee see their fellow citizens unnecessarily left alone with the side effects and propose improvements: That garbage cans and recycling containers around the fairground must be removed for safety reasons, understood. From BA’s point of view, it remains unclear why this happened around the St. Paul’s Church, but not at the Bavariaring.
If dismantling around St. Paul is still necessary, the BA asks that the area be thoroughly cleaned afterwards and the containers set up again immediately. In the church area, but also on Esperantoplatz, at the corner of Bavariaring/Pettenkoferstrasse and at the “Forum” corner of Schwanthalerstrasse/Theresienhöhe, this took 10 days.
An even more disgusting disposal problem is the emptying of all digestive organs around the fairground. Mobile toilets would help here, as would warning signs indicating the corresponding fines – with text, pictograms, and preferably also in English and Italian. The roadblock signage for motorists should also be multilingual, as they might not be forced to turn around at the end of dead-end streets if the police were already checking access authorizations at the entrances to the restricted area. The BA also warns that there should be more police presence in the area, especially in Landwehrstraße, where experience has shown that “everything comes together” in terms of traffic chaos and nuisance to residents.
The committee lists other suggestions for improvement, from faster collection of the e-scooters at crowded collection points, to increased protection against noise from the surrounding restaurants, to better trained security guards on the subways.
While the local politicians are hoping for one or the other concrete step here, they are aware that their “No” to the 18-day Oktoberfest 2023 will probably not be heard. Since October 3rd, 2023 falls on a Tuesday, the festival will likely be extended by the two days, by special permit, like 2000, 2006 and 2017. So the bonus time should at least be offered in the form of family days. In addition, the BA advocates letting the residents benefit from part of the additional income, as financing for the measures required in the catalog – and preferably also as a donation to local institutions.
The residents’ representatives hope for a more relaxed discussion in the future: also because the most recent Wiesn was so subdued, the economics department is pushing for an urgent decision on the upcoming extension. When you look at the calendar, this really doesn’t have to be the case, explains the BA and already points to 2028, when the Day of German Unity falls on a Tuesday again.