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fromFabian Scheuermann
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shut down
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Dirt and noise from young people occupy some residents at Rolandpark. The SPD demands street workers, but the city struggles to find them.
Young people often meet in and around the Roland Park in Offenbach. Sometimes they hear loud music, sometimes they leave garbage. And sometimes they smoke marijuana – and there are always residents who complain about it. Local residents who sometimes threaten to leave the neighborhood. “There is an urgent need for action, the Senefelder district is about to tip over,” warns the SPD parliamentary group leader in the city parliament, Martin Wilhelm. In an application, his parliamentary group asked for a full-time social work job for Rolandpassage and park – and more cleanliness.
The densely populated Senefelder district is south of Offenbach city center. Hegiss urban development funding has been flowing into the district since 2013. At that time, the conversion of the Manroland factory premises in the middle of the quarter began: Hundreds of apartments, shops and restaurants, a daycare center and the first park in the district – the Rolandpark.
Politicians are also aware that this project did not develop as hoped. In the passage you come across dried plants and dirty benches, in the adjacent parking garage you find a repulsive mixture of urine, pigeon droppings and rubbish. Nevertheless, young people also meet there. The police speak of a “retreat”. Martin Wilhelm says that some of the residents perceive the situation as threatening.
One problem is that the passage and parking garage are not the responsibility of the city, but an investor. In addition, the city was unable to fill a 75 percent job for social work in the district because an applicant had bailed out. “There should be talks before the summer,” says the responsible department.
The SPD does not go far enough, it demands a full-time position. Because street workers are in demand and this increases the chance of finding someone. The Social Democrats see that after an SPD event in May a public discussion of the city in the car park on Friday was well attended as confirmation that the topic is a matter of concern for many people.
“As expected, the debate was heated,” says quarter manager Michael Englert. One noticed that “people dread this summer”. Probably also because in the past few months, due to the lack of alternatives, even more young people than ever found their way onto the site. Nevertheless, it must be clear that the city does not pursue the goal of “permanently pushing young people out of the park”.
The mood is heated up. At least since the SPD described the parking garage as a “drug handling center” in autumn; a condition that the police denied. She found marijuana at controls, but only for her own consumption, “but not for trade,” says a spokesman. There was also no knowledge of aggressive adolescents.
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