The argument about relocating the Wolfratshauser Marienbrunnen in the direction of Marktstraße is making waves. In the city council on Tuesday, he triggered a heated debate at times, which went as far as fundamental questions about the understanding of democracy by individual elected officials. There was also talk of injured vanities. Only after an unscheduled verbal discussion between the parliamentary group chairmen and Mayor Klaus Heilinglechner (citizens’ association) was a difficult compromise found. He declared the citizens’ initiative “Protection of the historic old town” initiated by the Wolfratshauser list to be permissible because the number of signatures collected was sufficient.
So on Sunday, December 11th, there will be a referendum in the Waldramer gymnasium, where the people of Wolfratshausen will decide whether the ensemble of Marienbrunnen, Mariensäule and partnership plane trees should remain in place. The referendum should in turn be countered by a “council request”, an instrument anchored in the Bavarian constitution that could represent a counter-proposal by the city council to the result of the referendum. This in turn would have to be checked by the district authority as legal supervisor. In the event of an objection, there would finally be a new vote in the city council – a laborious procedure for which a majority of 15 to four votes was finally found.
There was no lack of arguments and pointed formulations in either camp. As one of the initiators of the signature list, Manfred Fleischer (Wolfratshauser List) asked the question about the “Cui bono”: Who would benefit from the relocation of the fountain, which was agreed upon in the public participation in the redesign of Marktstrasse. If the controversial building project were actually to take place, Fleischer believes it would be “certain death for the two old plane trees”. Wanting to deny this is “crude nonsense”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/wolfratshausen/.”Seize the opportunity and turn back now,” Fleischer appealed to his council colleagues, otherwise “it would be out of the trees a more than 100-year-old historical ambience has also been lost”. In conversations with Wolfratshausern, he heard an overwhelming number of voices that voted to keep the current place. In the run-up to the meeting, it was not at all clear from the agenda what momentous decision was now pending for the city council.
Helmut Forster (also from the Wolfratshauser list) brought the social aspect to the fore. “A lively meeting place for young and old, where children splash and play” will be destroyed. Despite this, the dense flow of traffic on Marktstrasse will not be reduced at all. Forster’s advice: the 300,000 euros that the transfer will cost at least could be invested much more sensibly for the preservation of the Bergwaldbühne. Fritz Schneller (SPD) was unusually clear to Fleischer. With a look at his political career, one can already see “that it is not about the Marienbrunnen, but about something completely different”.
Mayor Heilinglechner (BVW) put the economic aspect of the planned measure in the foreground. “We have to upgrade the historic city center,” he demanded, because the business people in Marktstrasse are already in a difficult position. For them, it is “particularly important that more guests come to the city”. The mayor accused the opponents of a redesign of having unilaterally informed the people of Wolfratshausen. With such a tendentious presentation, everyone was immediately ready to sign the lists of signatures that were laid out. He indicated to BVW spokesman Josef Praller that he was prepared to bow to any decision by the city council. “Everyone should vote as they want.” He also thinks a request for advice makes sense. His parliamentary colleague Ulrike Krischke, who declared that “it would be best if the citizens’ initiative was accompanied by a council initiative,” expressed a similar opinion. If the worst comes to the worst, you have to “make a runoff election to determine which decision should apply.”
Despite all the disagreements, the city council agreed on at least one thing: In view of the global political situation, one should be happy to live in a democracy in which everyone can criticize as they please.