In mid-July, a dialog forum was held in Frankfurt's station district, to which about 80 participants from various sectors such as commerce, gastronomy and residents were invited. The event was organized by the city's Prevention Council and its managing director Klaus-Dieter Strittmatter and took place at the premises of Deutsche Vermögensberatung.
In addition to Mayor Mike Josef, the department heads Annette Rinn (order and safety), Elke Voitl (social affairs and health), Wolfgang Siefert (mobility) and Marcus Gwechenberger (planning and building) as well as Claudia Gabriel, head of the "Clean Frankfurt" staff unit, and police chief Stefan Müller took part in the talks. The chairmen of the Regional Council Bahnhofsviertel, Christine Heinrichs and Arno Börtzler, moderated the event.
The discussions revealed the complex situation and the multi-layered contexts of the issue. The participants agreed that the measures already taken, such as the establishment of the coordination office Bahnhofsviertel, the increased deployment of city and state police, regular street cleaning and the establishment of a hygiene center at the center Weser 5, have already shown initial success. However, it was emphasized that further steps are still needed for a comprehensive solution.
Mayor Josef summarized the discussions: "There are no patent remedies for our station district. We must dare to implement and test measures. This is the only way to achieve an improvement. In the end, it's all about making progress with the various conditions in the station district. That's why I'm grateful for every good idea."
Parallel to the current measures, the Urbanista urban development office is being commissioned by the City of Frankfurt to develop a long-term target vision for the Bahnhofsviertel. The aim is to develop realistic future scenarios for the district in the coming decades. "Our measures in the Bahnhofsviertel to date are effective in the here and now. For a long-term improvement, however, we also need resilient future theses," explained Elke Voitl, the social affairs officer responsible.
The office is to start work next September. First, a comprehensive inventory will be conducted, based on the findings of the urban coordination office. Then, by spring 2025, community-based goals and concrete measures will be developed in cooperation with the neighborhood's stakeholders.
The Hamburg-based company Urbanista, one of the leading offices for participatory urban development and urban future strategies, will accompany the project. In the past, the company has already worked on the "Mach Deinen Bügel" project on Ben-Gurion-Ring in Frankfurt.
The urban coordination office, which has been active since its establishment in the spring of this year and is affiliated with the social department, has already made a noticeable contribution to improving the situation in the neighborhood. The office's employees analyze the situation on the ground, are available as contact persons and forward concerns, ideas or tips to the responsible offices.
