Put an end to “Munich’s despondency”: From the point of view of the deputy mayor Katrin habenschaden, the city needs a liberation for the construction of new high-rise buildings – and a modernization push associated with it. “I’m in favor of loosening our political shackles and no longer relying on stubborn and arbitrary limits such as the height of a church spire,” said the Green politician on Tuesday morning at the “Immobilienforum”, a specialist congress of the industry, in the “Sofitel ” at the Central station.
As an example of the reluctance of many Munich residents, she cited “the public attitude towards the high-rise project at the Paketposthalle”.
The citizens’ initiative led by CSU member of parliament Robert Brannekämper, which is collecting signatures against the construction of the two 155-meter towers at the Hirschgarten S-Bahn station, attested to habenschaden “shy about the future: clinging to the old instead of being open to the new “. She made a very similar assessment of a “number of citizens’ initiatives in our city” and said that they were “predominantly” about “counter-BIs”.
It is well known that habenharm supports the parcel post project and is generally open to a limited number of new high-rise buildings, as does the green/pink list city council faction. What was remarkable was the fundamental importance she attached to the topic and how resolutely she opposed groups that in turn accuse the Greens of neglecting their core issue of environmental protection and nature conservation, as is currently the case in the debate about the preservation of green spaces or high-rise buildings. Critics complain that their CO₂ balance gets worse and worse with increasing altitude.
“For me, the question of high-rise buildings is a metaphor for society and politics in general: What do we still dare to do in our city?” said habenschaden. In recent years it has been “political practice not to bother people with decisions”. That’s why Munich is now “lagging behind in many areas”.
That’s why she’s calling on local politicians, including her own party, to be more willing to engage in conflict. “Only if we don’t always collapse politically at the first tick under a petition, then we’ll work seriously on the future of this city in the coming years.”
In order to underscore their claim, habenschaden compared Munich with other major European cities. “It stinks for me to have to keep reading about Paris, Copenhagen or Amsterdam when it comes to radiant projects of new urbanity.” Apparently, she also sees a problem in the fact that Munich is identified too much with the Oktoberfest abroad. “I want Munich to be a city whose images don’t just go around the world for two weeks at the end of September. We can do more than German Beerfest.”