In the early morning, Matthias Weinzierl sits at a long table with other supporters, residents and neighbors and once again advertises the Wagenburg housing project “Stattpark Olga” in front of a good dozen interested parties. For several years he has been involved in the project’s support group and provides information about the current relocation plans directly on the site at Gottfried-Böhm-Ring in Sendling-Westpark.
Currently, 20 adults and seven children live on the site in converted trucks and restored construction trailers, some of which are brightly decorated. There is also a bicycle workshop, a self-service shop and a small events center where concerts, discussions and readings take place regularly. It is already the fourth wagon space since the association was founded in 2010. Because a school will be built on the current site next year, the space must be cleared by the end of the year.
An uncertain move
But the new location on Heinrich-Wieland-Strasse, near the Michaelibabad in Neuperlach, has a catch. The unused parking lot, which is to serve as a new place of residence, has a total usable area of 1600 square meters. Less than half of the area at the current location in Sendling.
“That’s simply not enough,” says Paula Brücher, who, like many other residents, has been part of “Stattprk Olga” since the founding days and has already witnessed four moves. “Without another open space, the socio-cultural claim of the project is missing. There is a lack of usable space for our cultural program, for the bicycle workshop and the free shop. Just for everything that makes this project special.”
Right next to the allocated parking space, however, there is still wasteland that the association would like to use. However, these areas are reserved for a need that the department for education and sport and the horticulture department of the building department have registered. If you want to claim this place, you need an agreement – but that hasn’t been done yet.
A letter to the mayor
This is also a problem because moving with all the trailers is a logistical challenge for the residents. At least ten weeks are estimated for the move, says Weinzierl. That is why representatives of the wagon construction project have now sent a fire letter to Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) and the city council. Together with the supporter initiative “Munich needs Olga”, they called on the city representatives to “make intensive efforts to find a solution”, otherwise the project would be threatened with failure.
Support for the club comes from the immediate neighborhood. A local resident praises the project and the many social contacts that result from it. “One wishes every district in Munich to be shaped by such alternative projects as this one.” Another supporter rode her bike from Neuhausen to the site to find out about the current status of the move.
Even if essential questions about the new location are still unanswered – one thing always remains the same: the association is optimistic about the future. According to the association, an initial discussion with the department for education, urban horticulture and representatives of the city went quite positively. A result on the initiated area expansion is expected in the course of this week.