By Gunnar Schupelius
The politician gives tips on Twitter on how to have illegally parked cars towed away in residential areas. She does not mention other administrative offences, such as by cyclists. With this one-sided partisanship, you lose credibility, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The city councilor for order, streets and green spaces in Mitte, Almut Neumann (Greens), urges vigilance against illegally parked cars. On Twitter, she wrote: “I often get asked by you what is the best thing to do when you see a parking violation.”
Then she recommends three possible reactions. First: You should “contact the public order office or the police directly by phone so that they come to tow you”.
Secondly you can tell the regulatory office in general areas where “increased controls would be desirable”. The third option Ms. Neumann puts it this way: “You can use apps like weg.li to report the administrative offence.” She recommends: “Take a picture of the wrongly parked vehicle for this purpose”. If you have any scruples, she takes away your worries: “That’s legal.”
All three tips are not particularly original. Most residents will call the police or the public order office themselves if they want to report illegal parking. The city councilor does not have to ask for this.
However, if she does, then her request should relate to all administrative offences. But Ms. Berger only mentions cars. For example, she doesn’t write: “Report cyclists who endanger pedestrians.” We wanted to know why not. There was no answer to our inquiry at the time of going to press.
The councilwoman claims that she is “often asked” what to do about illegal parking. Is she not asked about other administrative offences? That’s unlikely. Doesn’t she want to hear other complaints?
That is probably. Because Almut Neumann announced the anti-car fight immediately after taking office in 2021. In the summer of 2022, she followed suit: In traffic-calmed areas, “vehicles that park outside of the marked areas will, as a matter of principle, be moved with immediate effect for a fee”. She wants to force drivers to “be aware of the rules and to comply with them”.
Traffic rules must be obeyed, that is clear. City councilor Berger makes it sound as if drivers are willfully disregarding the rules.
The reality looks different. In the residential areas, drivers are overwhelmed because there are too few parking spaces.
Then one or the other parks too close to the corner or too far on the sidewalk. It’s not okay, but it’s not bad intentions.
The mood in the residential areas is therefore already tense. If you then ask the neighbors to report it, it creates additional discord.
Ms. Neumann should use the regulatory office in a targeted manner, that’s part of her job. However, your call to the neighbors to report each other clearly goes too far.
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