Kiosk petition fails to collect enough signatures for a referendum

A petition to hold a referendum on the future of the kiosk at Oberursel’s main station has failed to collect the required number of signatures.  The kiosk had closed in the middle of December and was removed early in the new year.

The “Bürgerbegehren” required 10% of those living in the town and eligible to vote  to sign with their full name, address and date of birth.  The deadline ran out yesterday: Thursday, 17th January, 2013, when one of the organisers of the petition, Angela Stohrer, submitted the 189 pages to the town hall.  It was 8 weeks to the day since the town council had rejected a motion by Ingmar Schlegel of “die Linke” to stop the kiosk’s closure.

However, many of those who had downloaded the petition from the internet and printed it off had often not filled out all of the columns on the form, especially the date of birth, making their voting status difficult to confirm for the town hall and thus invalid. [Read more…]

Can the bus drivers save the kiosk from closure?

A bus in front of the kiosk at Oberursel's main station

A bus in front of the kiosk at Oberursel’s main station

The workers’ council (“Betriebsrat”) representing local bus drivers handed in a petition containing 100 signatures to the Mayor of Oberursel, Hans-Georg Brum, against the closure of the kiosk at the town’s main station.

The kiosk is due to close in the middle of December as part of the re-development of the station area, leaving the drivers without a public toilet to use on their routes.  The toilets at the station are too far away, either to leave the bus unattended or for the amount of time that the drivers have when they stop here.

The kiosk serves around 300 people every day, many of whom are waiting for buses or the U-Bahn trains, and has itself collected approximately 1,300 signatures.  “How many signatures does it take before the town’s administration takes notice?”, asked Christoph Alles who runs the kiosk with his wife Daniela.

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