Gunnar Wöbke sees a policy of preventing imperialism in the management of the Frankfurt SPD. Head of Planning Mike Josef prepares a magistrate’s proposal for the stadium location. In Hattersheim there are, among other things, concerns about the traffic development for the project of “The Dome”.

Gunnar Wöbke held back for years. The managing partner of the basketball Bundesliga club Frankfurt Skyliners has expressed his displeasure because a multifunctional hall in the city has not been progressed for years, but he has never blamed it. In an interview with the “FAZ”, Wöbke has now attacked the SPD parliamentary group management, namely Ursula Busch and Holger Tschierschke. “Unfortunately, the SPD parliamentary group has this policy of preventing Kaiserlei. We have the impression that the ‘Kaiserlei’ option is blocked solely by the SPD parliamentary group leadership,” said Wöbke.

In addition, the offer to build an arena at the Kaiserlei was boycotted. By that he meant the veto of the SPD in February 2021 against the transfer of the area to the Kaiserlei Projektentwicklungsgesellschaft mbh von Wöbke. This means that necessary tests such as an environmental report would have to be carried out there. The Australian coalition partners Greens and CDU were in favor.

Ursula Busch did not want to comment on Wöbke’s statements. “The Skyliners are also in a difficult situation,” said the SPD parliamentary group leader in Römer. The basketball players have been relegated, but can hope for a wild card, for which they would have to pay 700,000 euros if they received it from the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). “I wouldn’t put every word on the gold scales,” said Busch, who has spoken out in favor of the “The Dome” project at the airport in the past.

This, after the airport has been dealt with, is now apparently realizing its project between Sindlingen and Hattersheim. A hall for 23,000 people, one for 4,500 people and a hotel. However, for such an instance, a building area in Hattersheim’s district is not provided for in the regional land use plan, nor has it been clarified how the traffic should be developed. “There would be no direct access from the motorway to the planned location,” sees the Hattersheim SPD as a problem. Apart from a request, there were no specific discussions with the city, as Mayor Klaus Schindling (CDU) reported.

Call a coalition

Julia Frank, chairwoman of the Frankfurt Greens, considers the idea of ​​a hall in Hattersheim to be absurd. Even the ball sports hall in Unterliederbach is too far out. “The large halls that have been built in Germany in recent years have been built centrally in the cities,” says Frank. That is why the Greens also prefer the Kaiserlei, but also consider the stadium to be a good location. “We are currently discussing this in our specialist groups and when do we have to exchange information with the head of the planning department about which points need to be checked,” she said. Among other things, the afforestation of the Isenburger Schneise see Greens like the SPD as questions that need to be clarified.

Head of Planning Mike Josef (SPD) is in the process of introducing a magistrate’s proposal for the stadium location, which should be ready in a few weeks. Then the Roman coalition of SPD, Greens, FDP and Volt is in demand. “We will fully support the efforts to build the arena at the stadium, just ask that the necessary structural investigations at the Kaiserlei are finally started as Plan B and that the promised installation decision is commissioned,” said Gunnar Wöbke. These investigations are necessary for any type of use at the Kaiserlei anyway, “because we cannot afford to lose any more years if, for whatever reason, the stadium does not work out after all”.

It is questionable, however, whether the coalition WILL support this. Holger Tschierschke said to the “Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz”: “Assuming that all questions should be clarified in Hattersheim and that there is actually an exact date for the groundbreaking at some point, the hall project in Frankfurt should be practically dead.” SPD faction deputy alone from the statements of his own party in Hattersheim know that one is far from it. And that one expresses oneself as a Frankfurt local politician while one’s own planning department has shown a more than promising alternative is strange and should raise a few questions in one’s own party and coalition. Gunnar Wöbke’s impression is obviously not entirely wrong.