From the town council: Swimming, Sewage, the Station, and the Saga of the Bärenkreuzung

The last meeting of the town council in Oberursel was a long, drawn out affair, which even prompted Mayor Hans-Georg Brum to refer to part of the debate as a “Gebetsmühle” – literally a “prayer wheel”, ie. a discussion that was taking a long time and going round in circles.

It was also the point in the council year for treasurer Thorsten Schorr to make his annual budget speech, the debate on which was deferred to a later date after the Bürgerversammlung about the proposed savings.

Part of that budget may have played a role in the OBG asking what the pre-requisites are for town employees taking on committee roles in charities such as the Förderverein Taunabad during their work time and whether this was not something that the town was doing voluntarily and hence should possibly be reduced or stopped altogether under the budget constraints. [Read more…]

How Oberursel is planning to re-develop the station area with the help of its citizens

The discussion taking place in Oberursel about the re-development of the station area is not new.  In fact, it has been going on for several decades as Mayor Hans-Georg Brum reminded local residents at a meeting in the Stadthalle this week.  He had even brought along a copy of the 1976 traffic concept to prove it!

But whilst some members of the town council may still be reminding people of how expensive the plan was to put a tunnel under the Nassauer Straße and join the road coming from Bad Homburg with the Weingärten by-pass, others – indeed a group of ordinary people from the town – had brought along suggestions of their own. [Read more…]

Spielplatz am Rosengärtchen to remain a playground

When I first heard about the plans to build a new Kindergarten on the playground “Spielplatz am Rosengärtchen” in the Neuhausstraße, I was horrified.  Not only because I had received incorrect information about the location from the Ausländerbeirat, but because I felt personally affected by it more than by many of the things that I write about on this site.

This is the playground that I take my children to and we even held a birthday party there once.  It has a variety of things for children to do and play on, including a large basket for a swing, a roundabout, two slides, a “bare foot path” (created incidentally by a local Scout group) and a couple of climbing frames.  It also has places for parents to sit down and even a few tables, and in summer the trees provide shade for most of the playground.

All of a sudden this was under threat, with the reason given that the number of new homes built at the northern end of Oberursel would, one day, require further child-care places to be available in the area. [Read more…]

When the Ausländerbeirat visited the FIS…

It was a meeting of the Ausländerbeirat like no other that I have visited until now.  Not only where all the members of the foreigners’ sub-committee present for the entirety of the meeting, but 16 guests turned up as well.

Admittedly those 16 included the press and members of the town council, with all of the parliamentary groups except the CDU represented, but at least half were simply members of the public who had come along to see the committee in action and to pose their questions.

The reason for such interest in a committee whose guests don’t normally make it into double figures was very likely due to the meeting place: Frankfurt International School. [Read more…]

Camp King archive officially opened

Last Saturday (16th March, 2013) saw a day arrive that many people associated with the Camp King area had been waiting for, none more so than local history Manfred Kopp, when the Camp King archive finally moved into its permanent home at the “Kinderhaus”.

Except that the “Kinderhaus” was not always called that.  On the map it may now have the address “Jean-Sauer-Weg 2”, but it was originally called “Haus am Wald” and had the address “Außerhalb 7”.  In the post-war period it was called “Haus Florida”, and the U.S. army later called it simply “Haus 997”.

At 11am a group gathered around the entrance to the cellar, next to the artwork “Don’t look back”, among them Mayor Hans-Georg Brum and Deputy Principle Officer of the U.S. Consulate General in Frankfurt, Charisse Phillips. [Read more…]

Carnival Procession 2013: Magistrat der Stadt Oberursel

(Click to enlarge)

A Really Useful Evening of Information about Local Trains

It was an evening that many users of public transport had been waiting for, even since the possibility of it taking place was announced last summer when discussion about the length of the U-Bahn trains during the holidays was in full swing.

The town’s administration had brought together representatives of both the train operating company, VGF, and the local transport association, VHT to explain something of the way the line is run and to answer travellers’ questions.

The town itself will by paying 1.4 million Euro this year towards the running costs, and is proud of the fact that all of the local stations have been modernised to make them wheelchair-accessible, but they also regret the loss of the 7½ minute service that used to run as far as the main station at peak times. [Read more…]

September: Stadtradeln – cycling for the climate

Alderman Christof Fink with some of the Stadtradeln participants (Photo: Stadt Oberursel)

In June this year Oberursel took part in the “Stadtradeln” competition, where members of the town council and other citizens of the town switch from their cars to bicycles to save carbon dioxide.

18 members of parliament and a further 153 people from the town took part in 17 teams and cycled a total of 27,039 kilometres, saving 3.8 tonnes of the gas.

The photo shows Alderman Christof Fink with the some of those who took part.

The winning team came from the town’s fire brigade (Freiwilligen Feuerwehr Oberursel), who managed 693km per person, followed in 2nd place by City, Bike & Fun and 3rd place by the company “Hydrodata”.

Ask the people what they want!

Last month in Oberursel the draft version of the town’s budget for the year 2013 was published, including the details of how it will need to spend more than it earns in taxes and other fees.

It is clear that savings need to be made and a “Haushaltssicherungskonzept” needs to be developed.  But where can the town raise taxes or cut services without alienating the population?

That is probably one of the most difficult questions that a town administration faces, so maybe that is the reason why – for the first time – the town’s residents where invited to a “Bürgerversammlung” at the town hall to discuss precisely that. [Read more…]

Children make their wishes known at the Dornbachwiesen

Children handing over their wishes at the Dornbachwiesen (Photo: Stadt Oberursel)

A new playground is planned on the Dornbachwiesen to replace the one that was lost when the Kita Regenbogenland was extended.

Local children gathered to present Alderman Christof Fink and the planning office their wishes and ideas for the new playground, which will be built along the Eschbachweg between the Heidegraben and Lahnstraße.

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