The local politicians in the Untergiesinger district committee (BA) are fighting almost as much as the climbers with gravity for the location of the popular bouldering block “Dicker Hans”, which can only remain on the Theresienwiese until spring. Last summer it was set up there by the “Kraxlkollektiv”, a group of Munich climbers supported by the German Alpine Club (DAV), who have set up free, freely accessible walls all over the city and are also planning more.
The air might be too stuffy under the candid bridge
The volunteers working with the young architect Maximilian Gemsjäger first looked at the car park under the bridge on the Mittlerer Ring at Candidplatz. The candid bridge offers protection from the weather, and the team from the neighboring youth center “akku” could also take care of the maintenance of the climbing block. Melanie Kieweg, the district activist known for her art events at Hans-Mielich-Platz and Kolumbusplatz (“Halt 58”), sees things differently in the BA “Gans woanders” or “Hexenhäusl”, which has been attracting guests and looks since it opened in summer 2020.
Kieveg and some BA members consider the location under the Candidbrücke to be unsuitable – because of the stuffy air polluted by exhaust fumes, but also because drug clients hang around here. In addition, at least six car parking spaces would be eliminated, which is all the more serious as the parking lot under the bridge offers the last free parking spaces for commuters in a wide area. The railway bridge on Pilgersheimer Strasse would offer equal protection against the weather, in Kieveg’s opinion. The green-red majority in the BA said she could quickly overcome the administrative hurdles at the railways that the green-red majority in the BA promised.
The January meeting of the district committee ended in an uproar
At an on-site meeting at the beginning of January, the BA nevertheless made a preliminary decision for the candid place, albeit not a really meaningful one, since, as Greens representatives also admit, not all parliamentary groups were correctly informed when the invitation was given. The January meeting of the BA was supposed to bring clarity, but it ended with the last point, “Fat Hans”, in the conflict between Kieveg and her colleagues. Kieveg left the room to protest against the conduct of the discussion, which she felt was unfair. The plenum, which had been reduced due to the corona, was therefore unable to make decisions.
Since the contract for the use of the Theresienwiese expires on March 31st, the decision must be made at the next meeting on February 15th. In the meantime, the Kraxl collective has applied to the responsible BA in Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt to be allowed to set up the block under the northern arches of the Hackerbrücke – not to give the discordant Untergiesingers the cold shoulder, as Gemsjäger emphasizes, but to have a location checked that could possibly be could also play with another boulder block. From the operator’s point of view, the first choice of location for the “Big Hans” remains the Candidbrücke, where the “akku” supervisors could ensure safe and clean bouldering fun.