Contribution photo: Free Voters Day 2024
Table of Contents
Fire letter
The parents of the students at the Wartberg School also wrote a letter to the local councilors of the city of Heilbronn on November 23, 2023 - probably in the hope that they would advocate for their concerns. I became aware of this letter today when the city administration actually responded to this request on March 6, 2024 and informed them that they now also wanted to inform the local councils about it.
... Of course, we know that the city of Heilbronn is responsible for the maintenance of many schools. The Gerhart Hauptmann School has received a completely new building and the construction of another, complementary primary school is also planned.
Alexandra Link (Parents' Advisory Board) and Christoph Streng (Parents' Advisory Board Chairman), November 23, 2023
The question that arises here is why essential innovations are not planned at the Wartberg School. We are of the opinion that the existing schools must first be maintained and all dangers eliminated before further costly construction projects are implemented. …
The local councilors could definitely already know about the conditions in our schools if they were interested in it - but visiting buildings in Amsterdam, among other places, is more fun. The local councils are also known to prefer to spend our money on other things, although sports facilities are simply not the focus of us in Heilbronn.
In the end, on the advice of the mayor, the local council simply buys a few ready-made competitive athletes for Heilbronn and everything is completely right for us again.
Intercity Express
Just another election campaign chatter or should it come true, Heilbronn should be connected to the rest of the world by rail. Not only are we citizens promised not to get stuck in Mannheim or Würzburg straight away, but after a few decades a real train should stop regularly again and even at the main station.
It would only be stupid if this actually happened in a few years and not only is the main train station too small for it, but all other infrastructure has also been dismantled so that every ICE just waves past there and then lets people get off in Neckarsulm. Which would only be okay if we incorporated Neckarsulm and the train station there was expanded into the new main train station.
Speaking of the main station, the railways, our state government and the city of Stuttgart have completely overextended themselves with the Stuttgart 21 project. As recently reported, the bad planning - which comes as no surprise if you know how to become a railway board member or minister - now means that Stuttgart 21 can only be completed in a few years. Some think it won't be until the 2030s. But that's what it's for now the first additional cost estimates: A good 400 million euros are expected annually for the maintenance of the unused and already completed systems alone.
Free Voters Day
I was unable to take part in the last Free Voters Day, which was my first responsibility as club chairman, because I was sitting at the airport at the same time, waiting for my connecting flight. And so today I took part in my first Free Voters Day in Winnenden, together with my better half and Herbert Burkhardt. Since I became chairman, the three of us have become a well-coordinated team when it comes to the regional association, necessarily because the member originally intended for this role unfortunately cannot find time for his voluntary work. But it could just be because of how I understand volunteer work and how I like to keep pay and expense allowances close to zero in my area of responsibility.
I guess I'm still from the old school: if you want to earn money, you should learn something decent and work hard - volunteering should continue to be an honor and a pleasure at the same time, money only gets in the way!
In any case, it was an exciting two days, because the day before there was a board meeting, which I was able to attend as a guest, and the obligatory executive board meeting. Which led to my better half and I doing this Castle hotel and restaurant Nice view were able to get to know. A very quiet hotel with a slightly different atmosphere and has been in family hands for 100 years. Unfortunately we didn't have time to enjoy the spacious room and especially its terrace - even with a heater; but the kitchen at a shared dinner.
At the Free Voters Day we had our own corner in Heilbronn, which was suddenly and completely unexpectedly strengthened by a long-time, good acquaintance. Never, ever - we have sat together in countless EUROPA-UNION meetings - would I have thought that he was also a free voter. Herbert Burkhardt said succinctly that I should chat a little more with my fellow human beings. Even though I'm always amazed at what people know about themselves after just sitting together for five minutes, it's actually enough for me if I know that the person I'm talking to is a really nice person and that I also care about him can leave.
I can't report much about the Free Voters' Day itself, as it was organized and took place like almost all other meetings and party conferences. With the difference perhaps that the Free Voters are very mayor-heavy and they are mostly all little kings. And so the Free Voters Day still had its own charm. And even if I talk my mouth off, I am still convinced that government, parliamentary and administrative positions must be expressly limited to two electoral terms, because on the one hand this prevents prima donnas and on the other hand it ensures that the world is adequately formed can develop further.
By the way, I wasn't the only one who missed the most well-known prima donnas among the mayors at the Free Voters' Day.
