Article photo: Back of fine notice
As we Heilbronn citizens have long known, the city administration is not in a position to ensure peace, order and cleanliness in Heilbronn. They prefer to harass the citizens and create one new position after another. And because Heilbronn City Hall has been bursting at the seams for some time, sub-authorities and other administrative structures are being created that constantly provide new city employees who, out of sheer boredom, get involved in matters that should not concern any authority or administration - we Germans have already had enough unpleasant experiences with block wardens.
And so I am increasingly asking myself whether our city administration even has the necessary competences to be able to carry out its original tasks; harassing citizens is usually a sign that one is overwhelmed with one's own tasks.
The whole thing is also shrouded in a veil of total lack of transparency, so that we citizens have little or no idea how bad things are for our administration. However, the failure to empty garbage cans and other containers can be seen as a sign of administrative deficiencies - and it doesn't help that the local court reporters praise a digital defect reporting system that has only led to even more administrative employees being unable to carry out their actual duties.
If you take a closer look at the self-praising "digital" city administration, you will quickly see that things are not going very well with digital technology in Heilbronn. It would already be enough for me if the city of Heilbronn at least complied with the General Data Protection Regulation - unfortunately, I am still being harassed with countless completely useless letters, which also constantly point out to me that there are duplicate mailings due to technical defects - and when I have calmed down again, I even get the letter delivered by post.
So it is no longer worth mentioning that I cannot do anything with my digital ID card in Heilbronn. My digital passport was already digital junk when it was handed over and so I could not even use it to identify myself on a social media account. Computers and everything related to them are simply still "new territory" here in Germany (Angela Merkel) and so our city administration does not have to continue to make any effort to perhaps still keep up with the 21st century.
But now back to the core tasks of an administration. This should include, among other things, petition handle. Since she has been doing this in secret for weeks and at least I have not read anything about it in the Heilbronn city newspaper, it seems likely that our city administration cannot get this right either - but it could be that the city administration does not want this at all, as it also involves a reduction in administrative positions, and one crow does not peck out another's eye.
However, the whole thing is now taking on tragic traits, because our local council election on June 9, 2024 is still not quite over, and we already have to prepare for the upcoming federal election on February 23, 2025. And if this is handled just as amateurishly as the local council election, then I'm slowly becoming afraid and worried about our democracy!
I had already reported that on November 16, 2024 (letter dated November 13.11.2024, 250) I received a fine notice in the amount of 278,50 euros, the amount of which, if you also read the back of the notice, increases to XNUMX euros, as fees and expenses of the city administration are also added.
Since the city administration continues to insist on its fine, even though I assured their employees months ago that I not in the city at all at the time of the crime and did not accept that I was unable to identify any "perpetrators" despite asking questions, although even today I do not really understand why city employees make life difficult for their fellow citizens who work on a voluntary basis during the election campaign - the high point of every democracy - I wanted to lodge an objection again.
First, as offered by the city administration, "electronically with a qualified electronic signature", which interestingly enough my own digital equipment prevents, although it is still not clear to me who in the city administration could even process this, and then via eBO - the electronic citizen and organization mailbox. The responsible city employee provided me with a corresponding hyperlink for this - it will certainly not surprise any of my readers that the link offered leads to digital nirvana.
If you want, you can try it yourself: https://ejustice-bw.justiz-bw.de/pb/,Lde/Startseite/Buerger+und+Organisationen/Elektronisches+Buerger-+und+Organisationspostfach+_eBO_ — this is no joke, this is official German for us!
I then changed this link a little and finally ended up on an official website, which was not very helpful either.
In any case, the fine notice issued to me is not legally valid, at least formally. But let's just say that today the city employee received my objection in advance in a signed PDF in a "simple email" - which, however, is not permitted according to the Heilbronn city administration; I doubt whether that is still permitted today.
I could have faxed the objection, which is permitted by the city administration. But I didn't want to go down that route and decided to send a good old letter, complying with the request of a clerk at the city hall who had been told to me beforehand - I can be nice too.
Since the post office in Heilbronn sometimes needs days or even weeks to be able to deliver a letter, I will now personally post it in the mailbox of the public order office at Weststrasse 53. I briefly considered taking up another offer from the city administration and depositing my objection in writing at the town hall or public order office while I was there, but with my luck I would have caught the only employee who cannot write.
Now I'll see what happens with my objection - 169 days after the local council election, Heilbronn should also have been able to complete an election!
But that brings me to the real point: Is the mayor and his city administration still capable of ensuring fair, free and secret elections?
That's why I used my objection to find out from the city administration how many fines were issued to Heilbronn parties and voting groups in the course of the local council election on June 9, 2024. To be on the safe side, I took a copy of the faction leaders of the Heilbronn local council and asked them to support my request. A little bit of transparency shouldn't hurt anyone in Heilbronn either!
And so I sincerely hope that, as the former chairman of the Free Voters in Heilbronn, I am not the only Heilbronn citizen who received a fine for allegedly putting up incorrect posters during the election campaign. The city administration is unanimous in its opinion that the party posters directly in front of primary schools, which were even there until after the election, are worthy of a fine - at least I had to immediately remove our posters, which were only near a vocational school (citizens eligible to vote), under threat of punishment.
Because if I were actually the only democrat with a fine, then the mayor and his city administration would have committed a criminal offense - in a democracy, elections may not be obstructed, nor may the city administration exert one-sided influence!
In addition, every administration can be required to ensure that elections are actually completed after six months and that they can be transparently proven to all citizens.
How glad I am now that the upcoming federal election will pass me by without a trace!
“But bureaucracy is known to be a system with very little susceptibility to disruption.”
Niklas Luhmann, Social Systems (1987: 525)
Interesting perspective. Perhaps there is a magnetic citizen similar to the mons magnes who attracts mischief from the authorities. A phenomenon worth researching.
In this case, I was only involved as chairman but also responsible; I even tried to mediate between the active election campaigners and the city administration.
I can't do anything about the filth in the city, stupid or even corrupt employees and civil servants. I can understand why they are taking out their anger on me and not on a local council, because I expect nothing less from stupid people.
Admittedly, I am controversial, but what I am experiencing here in the city tops everything that has come before. And the way things are currently, we have a real democratic deficit in the city.
This is precisely why research and education are necessary.
Hello Heinrich! I thought the Schildbürgers only existed here! But the bureaucracy is getting worse and worse, and they manage themselves, create new forms and think they're very important.