Schillchaos in Saarbrücken: Citizens' forums required for clean city center!

Schillchaos in Saarbrücken: Citizens' forums required for clean city center!

In the past few months, numerous municipalities in Saarland have struggled with an alarming increase in vandalism and garbage. The city center of Saarbrücken and the outdoor districts are particularly affected, where carelessly thrown away waste and unpleasant graffiti cloud the cityscape. Despite the installation of around 1,700 wastebasket with ashtrays and countless information campaigns from the ZKE disposal company, the situation remains tense. The city administration emphasizes that this is not due to inadequate city cleaning, but rather on poor behavior of the citizens.

of the city of Saarbrücken was not necessary less than 55,000 euros to remove the smearings last year. Daniel Schumann, a spokesman for the city, made it clear that it was important to distinguish between urban art and vandalism: "Smokes are not art, but property damage," he said. In order to counteract this form of destruction, the city advises the owners to report the damage immediately and to remove them themselves.

coping with vandalism and increasing the inhibition threshold

This problem can not only be observed in Saarbrücken. In Neunkirchen you are also concerned about the events. Here Mayor Jörg Aumann explains that he advises vandalism in severe cases. Instead of imposing higher fines, he relies on an increased awareness of the citizens: "In a clean city, the inhibition threshold of throwing away trash increases," said Aumann.

The so-called "Broken Window theory" underpins this argument. If visible damage such as broken windows are not repaired immediately, this is often accompanied by further destruction. Aumann describes it as follows: The inhibition threshold of simply throwing away its chewing gum is higher on a clean road than in a place that is already littered. This topic must be considered in a broader social context.

long -term solutions and educational work

in St. Ingbert, vandalism caused a few thousand euros in damage last year. However, Mayor Florian Jung communicates that the city does not want to rely on a tough course. Instead, the focus is on educational work and sustainable development. There are already initiated projects of the sustainability officers: "We have implemented measures such as the garbage fire and mobile graffiti removal devices," said Jung.

The situation is complex and is influenced by various factors. Aumann emphasizes that in larger cities with dense development there are often too few garbage containers available, which exacerbates the problem. Already two decades ago, it was found in Saarbrücken that the parking of garbage in underground garages had become an issue.

Those responsible in the cities concerned try to meet these challenges with various measures. It remains to be seen whether they want to rely on the combination of education and preventive approaches or take harder measures. However, it is clear that the citizens have to be actively responsible so that the cities not only remain clean, but also be beautiful.

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