As of: February 1, 2024, 1:52 p.m
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Handover of the signature lists in the meeting room of the town hall (from left): Stefan Geisser, co-initiator of the citizens' initiative, BI chairman Michael Kümpfbeck and mayor Michael Stolze.
© Stephan Goerlich
The citizens' initiative “Burgerfeld becomes Bürgerfeld” collected 1,850 signatures against a new refugee accommodation in Markt Schwaben.
Markt Schwaben - It all started on December 19, 2023. Mayor Michael Stolze and District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß invited people to an information evening in the theater hall at Burgerfeld.
The only topic: the settlement of up to 120 asylum seekers on the Atron company premises at Am Ziegelstadel.
Over 200 citizens came and wanted to find out more details about the “deal” from the two.
Citizens' initiative collects 1,850 signatures against refugee accommodation in Markt Schwaben - handover to mayor
But the residents of Bürgerfeld were not satisfied with the statements from Stolze and Niedergesäß.
Two days after the information evening, the citizens' initiative “Burgerfeld becomes Bürgerfeld” was founded.
Their goal is to use a referendum to prevent the project for 120 residents in the middle of the densely populated family residential area.
In order to make political decision-makers understand "the seriousness of the situation", the citizens' initiative invited District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß, Mayor Michael Stolze, Second Mayor Valentina Dahms, and other market town councilors from various factions to an on-site appointment on January 8, 2024.
They were able to find out “up close” how close children’s rooms, gardens, apartments, playgrounds, houses and school routes are to the Atron site.
From January 12th to 22nd, many committed Swabian residents distributed the official flyer of the citizens' initiative throughout the market town and actively collected signatures - with overwhelming response.
In these ten days, those responsible were pleased to receive 1,777 signatures and handed them over to Mayor Michael Stolze.
“There are currently 1,809 letters,” says BI chairman Michael Kümpfbeck, chairman of the citizens’ initiative. “We were positively surprised by the response.”
And that can definitely be the initiators - after all, there are almost twice as many as are needed (nine percent of the municipal citizens eligible to vote).
“Around two thirds of the signatures were submitted to me personally - many from citizens from all over Markt Schwaben, who also personally inspected the location,” says Kümpfbeck.
The initiative received support through a joint proposal from the CSU/FDP and Free Voters factions, which was discussed at the market town council meeting on January 18th.
Its formulation: “The market town council rejects the facility at this location (Am Ziegelstadel, Markt Schwaben).
At the same time, the market town council is actively committed to finding another location in the municipality.
When choosing a location, the needs of the community's citizens and the refugees to be accommodated must be taken into account” was approved with 13:10 votes.
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The citizens' initiative writes in a press release: “We encourage the local council, with the support of the signatures submitted, to adopt the citizens' initiative and to get involved in the planning measures.
The strong opinion from the population should now be taken seriously at all political levels in order to correct incorrect decisions in the interests of the citizens.
We are aware that the citizens’ initiative is only an important first step.”
“We hope that District Administrator Robert Niedergesäß stops building up his threatening backdrop – “District Office overrules possible local council decisions against the location” – and takes the decisions of the citizens and the market town council seriously,” says Michael Kümpfbeck.
He fears that as the debate continues, it will soon no longer just be about the “location at Ziegelstadel” issue, but rather about the state authorities trying by all means possible to prevent precedents and fight against them.
Kümpfbeck says: “Apparently the decision should be pushed through with all the power of the state, even though the district administrator no longer considers the decision to be politically correct, even though the local council speaks out with a majority against the location, even though around 1,800 citizens are against it Pronounce location.
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