As of: March 25, 2024, 9:03 a.m
By: Ulrike Osman
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Space for residential modules: 14 residential modules are to be set up on the currently 'green' area behind the grinding path from autumn onwards.
© Schwaiger
Accommodations for refugees are to be built on the Schleifweg.
Not all residents like this. Sharp words were spoken at an information event organized by the city and district.
Landsberg – 14 residential modules for four people each are to be built in the southeast of a property that belongs to the Upper Bavaria district.
A total of 56 asylum seekers can be accommodated in the fenced area.
The modules each have two bedrooms, a small kitchenette and a small bathroom.
This means they guarantee a minimum level of privacy and are suitable for accommodating families with children, explained Stephan Mies, head of integration and asylum matters in the district office.
But whether families will actually move into the accommodation depends on who is assigned to the district.
What one can say with certainty is that no unaccompanied minors - i.e. young people - will be accommodated in the modules.
Criticism of the planned asylum accommodation in Landsberg: Alternatives possible?
This assurance was unable to calm some of the angry audience in the auditorium of the vocational schools, especially since there is no security staff for the accommodation.
If young men moved in there, it would hardly matter whether they were under or over 18.
The location is near a playground that older children would go to without parents.
“Children must be able to play there safely,” said one outraged participant.
“The location is the worst of all solutions,” added resident Gerhard Strobl.
The neighborhood park is already a “hotspot”.
There are alternatives “that do not have this explosive nature” – for example the property of the Ruethenfestverein, the Penzinger Feld and areas on Schwiftinger Straße and the campsite.
District Administrator Thomas Eichinger explained that all possible locations had been examined.
There is “no meadow” in Landsberg that the district office has not yet looked at.
When it comes to the grinding path, it is no longer a question of “if”, but only of “how”.
When asked what the residents can now do about the plans, Eichinger replied with a curt “Nothing,” which resulted in whistles, boos and the heckling of “Mr. District Administrator, you are very condescending.”
“Asylum accommodation is an emergency measure, not a voluntary service,” replied Eichinger.
He also rejected the prejudice that young men per se pose a danger to children.
“I find such allegations unbearable.”
Some of the residents, on the other hand, felt ignored in the planning and criticized that they had been presented with a fait accompli.
Some of the almost 60 people present left the event indignant after the verbal exchanges.
Residential modules in Landsberger Schleifweg: “The key to a good neighborhood is the neighborhood”
After that it became quieter and the exchange became more objective.
Jost Handtrack, the city's representative for asylum and integration, called for people to turn to the people in the accommodation and to form groups of helpers instead of building up fears and prejudices.
“The key to a good neighborhood is the neighborhood,” said Eichinger.
Coexistence succeeds wherever contact is established and maintained between residents and refugees.
However, one listener demanded that more should be invested in this “bridge building”.
People are needed to implement this.
Eichinger should “not brush off the question of problems so quickly,” demanded a resident.
The truth was probably somewhere in the middle, the woman suspected.
Eichinger replied that he had no interest in sugarcoating anything, as he, as CSU district administrator, was very critical of refugee policy.
But he lives with his family next to accommodation and there are no problems.
According to Stephan Mies, construction of the modules should begin in the next two to three months.
Completion is expected in the fall.
The accommodations should be in operation for at least two and a half to three years.
Mayor Doris Baumgartl is happy that smaller residential units are being built.
“This can be a building block for integration and ensure networking with the neighborhood.” Eichinger took up a listener’s suggestion to invite people to a feedback session after the accommodation had been in operation for a few months.