The dispute over Barbarossaplatz is entering the next round. An alliance of civil society organizations, including the district group of the FUSS eV association, the Akazienkiezblock and the adfc local groups in Schöneberg and Tempelhof, have written an open letter to the district and regional associations of the SPD, Greens, CDU, Left and FDP in the district. The issue is once again the redevelopment plans for Barbarossaplatz in Schöneberg.
Conversion version does not correspond to the result of the public participation process
As a reminder: In the transport committee before the summer break, the CDU, SPD, Left and FDP voted for a reconstruction version that does not correspond to the result of the public participation process in March. The version favored by the parties provides that motor vehicle traffic can continue to drive along Eisenacher Strasse around the square in a north-south direction.
In the public participation process in March, however, 51 percent of the 375 participants voted for a variant in which the entire area around the square is reserved for pedestrians and cyclists, while all access roads for motorists become dead ends. The Barbarossaplatz Alliance is also advocating the latter version.
Vote against barrier-free mobility for primary school children and senior citizens walking
Barbarossaplatz Alliance
“In fact, we are dealing with a backward-looking departure from a design-wise possible climate- and stay-friendly conversion of Barbarossaplatz,” the alliance’s letter states. The version favored by the CDU, SPD, Left and FDP is “a vote against barrier-free mobility for elementary school children and senior citizens walking.”
CDU criticizes citizen participation process
The CDU had criticized the public participation process in March, among other things because people all over the world could vote on the project and not just selected residents around Barbarossaplatz. It had therefore initiated its own survey, in which two-thirds of the 300 respondents voted for the version in which Eisenacher Strasse remains open to motor vehicle traffic.
In its letter, the Barbarossaplatz Alliance also criticizes the CDU’s approach of independently initiating a new survey and giving more weight to the new results. “Deciding ad hoc that the multiple votes of citizens and civil society groups do not count is not a good way of dealing with one another,” the letter states.
And further: “The chosen approach raises the question of why anyone should even get involved in citizen participation if citizens are subsequently told that they voted incorrectly. This understanding of democracy shocks us.”
The so-called open space planning competition for the redevelopment plans for Barbarossaplatz according to the version that was approved by the Transport Committee in July has already started. The deadline for participation in the competition, in which landscape architecture firms can take part, is October 24th.
Next Tuesday, September 10th, the Barbarossaplatz Alliance wants to demonstrate at 4 p.m. for compliance with the results of the citizen participation process from March.
This text comes from the District newsletter for Tempelhof-Schöneberg, which from now on belongs to our digital offering Tagesspiegel Plus (T+) – as well as the newsletter editions from the other eleven Berlin districts. Can be ordered under this link here.
