Green OB shoots at FDP's pro-car plan
How to make cities more attractive? More cars, says the FDP. Free parking is desirable, pedestrian zones are not. The green mayor of Hannover shakes his head. A policy purely for cars does not strengthen retail in the center, but endangers it, says Belit Onay.
The mayor of Hannover sharply criticizes the FDP's plans for more car-friendly cities. "It is a dangerous misconception that more car traffic creates more economic strength in the cities," said Belit Onay to the Funke media group newspapers. The key lever for the revival of the cities is not more cars, but the transport turnaround.
"A policy purely for cars means a danger to the location and retail. Studies show this, and it is also consensus across parties at the municipal level - for example in the German Cities Association," said the green mayor further. Customers can only be brought to the cities if there are places where they like to stay, such as gastronomy, playgrounds, cool, shady places. "The competition is online retail," said Onay, "and the cities only exist if people like to be there."
While cities with regional significance should also remain accessible by car, this does not mean more parking spaces and more through traffic. "That's a waste of resources."
Free parking instead of pedestrian zones
The "Bild am Sonntag" had reported at the weekend that the FDP leadership plans to pass a pro-car plan that makes driving in cities more attractive. The resolution paper proposes that municipalities attract more cars to the cities by offering free parking. Alternatively, a cheap, nationwide flat-rate parking fee should be introduced, similar to the 49-euro ticket. "We don't need an anti-car policy," said FDP general secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai to the newspaper.
At the same time, the FDP wants to reduce the number of bike lanes and pedestrian zones, and if they are created, only with the direct involvement of citizens. With the help of digitization, the resolution paper states, car traffic should be guided with green waves, thus minimizing traffic jams and emissions and reducing the risk of accidents.
According to the newspaper, the proposals are explicitly a counter-proposal to the plans of the Greens. The FDP also wants to allow supervised driving for young people from the age of 16. Furthermore, the party expresses its support for motorsport, which it says is an innovation driver for the automotive sector.
The FDP's pro-car plan, as reported by "Bild am Sonntag", includes making cities more attractive to cars by offering free parking, a move that the green mayor of Hannover criticizes as potentially endangering city centers and retail. Despite this, the FDP also proposes to reduce bike lanes and pedestrian zones, a move that could increase road accidents due to increased vehicle traffic.
