Clear victory for the parking lot opponents in Diessen

Created: 08/08/2022, 08:42

By: Dieter Roettig

That would have been your price... the makeshift car park on Rotter Straße in Dießen will not be expanded according to the result of the citizens' and council's request.

The planning of the redesign as shown in this illustration will be stopped after the unequivocal vote.

© MG Diessen

Dießen – The result is not surprising after this “election campaign finale”: In the citizens’ initiative to expand the makeshift parking lot on Rotter Strasse decided by the market community, 70.56 percent or 2,313 of those entitled to vote decided against it.

The opposing council request for the expansion got just 30.59 percent or 1,019 votes.

Even the key question was in favor of the expansion opponents with 70.03 percent or 2,372 votes.

The "citizens' initiative against surface sealing" has thus clearly prevailed.

Of the 8,584 eligible voters in Dießen and the districts, 3,441 voted, which corresponds to a turnout of 40.09 percent despite the holidays.

The necessary quorum was thus reached.

Mayor Sandra Perzul was of course disappointed with the result, but accepted this democratic form of citizen participation: "I think it's a pity that years of climate-friendly and natural planning was in vain." “ bound.

Solveig Grundler, with her climate lobby co-initiator of the referendum, hoped during her flying visit to the counting room of the town hall, "that the community will stick to the clear vote of the citizens and stop the expansion." , climate lobby, youth advisory board, Wednesday disco and the Ammersee Alpine Club section welded together: “We will continue to exist with our eyes wide open.

The council must accept

As reported, after years of planning, the market community council, with the exception of the Greens, had agreed to expand the area previously used as an alternative parking lot on Rotter Straße, to optimize the problematic drainage and to set up a crossing island to the girls' secondary school.

Contrary to the first claims of the citizens' initiative that a "meadow is being concreted over here", the plans provided for just 34 percent of the area to be sealed.

Nevertheless, the parking lot opponents managed to collect the necessary signatures for a citizens' initiative with a moralizing forefinger.

Your second argument of "unnecessary costs of at least 760,000 euros" also found open ears among many citizens.

The town hall bashing in the final spurt of the election campaign probably also helped.

The administration was wrongly blamed for the non-functioning QR code on the election notification, as well as an example illustration of the future planting of the parking lot, which was unfortunately used by the graphic designer of the flyer.

A through ball for the climate lobby Dießen, co-initiator of the citizens' initiative: "Hopefully just another faux pas from the town hall ... But it shows how little understanding of nature there is in the town hall and how half-heartedly people deal with it".

In contrast to the provocative election campaign of the parking lot opponents, the market town of Dießen probably argued too well for the expansion.

The facts in favor of an expansion were explained in detail at the citizens' meetings, at a special event, at information stands and in the flyer, but this did not convince those who were undecided to side with the community.

Especially since the informative flyer was printed much too late and was then only incompletely distributed by the post office.