Is the city of Gmünd more livable without short-term parking spaces?

The (PARK)ing Day 2024 with various activities on short-term parking spaces in Ledergasse leads to discussions among organizers, passers-by and traders.

Swabian Gmünd. It is intended to be a sign of a “more livable city center, a more livable future.” Says Andrzej Sielicki. The spokesman for the mobility working group initiated the “(PARK)ing Day 2024” on Friday in Gmünder Ledergasse. For three hours, artists designed the space that would otherwise be filled with cars in short-term parking spaces. Sielicki, he emphasizes right at the beginning, is not interested in banning cars from the city center. He advocates a “healthy mix of pedestrians, cyclists, buses and cars.” Because good accessibility to the city center, says the working group spokesman, is also possible with different means of transport.

Book flea market which is

Those who take part in “(PARK)ing Day” see things the same way as Sielicki. Uwe Rüfle from the unemployed self-help organization, for example, who, together with a colleague, offers literature and films from the huge Also collection of around 100,000 books. Not novels or stories, but specialist literature, including on the topic of “(PARK)ing Day.” No, he has not been criticized by passers-by for his participation. But they have asked him what the purpose of the campaign is. He explained this to these passers-by.

Mix for mobility “step by step”

Martina Häusler, a Green MP, takes a completely different view. One of her interlocutors told her about the organizers of the campaign that they are the ones who want to take away our parking spaces. I replied that in return he had gained a “different feel-good aspect in the city.” There are more and more cyclists in the city, Häusler observed. And it is clear that the mix of mobility from cyclists, pedestrians, buses and cars is coming “step by step.”

Dealers disagree

Sielicki, Rüfle and Häusler talk to Kirsten Markowetz about the “Gallery of the Senses” on the other side of the street. “We need these short-term parking spaces,” she says. Many customers in Ledergasse use them. Markowetz reminds us of the development in Schmiedgasse. There, cafés were replaced by parking spaces. However, this development was reversed due to losses for retailers and café owners. Markowetz sees the situation in Ledergasse as critical anyway. She also mentions posers who drive their cars through Ledergasse and are hardly checked. Steffen Dosch, who has a dentist’s office in Ledergasse, also believes that retailers need the parking spaces. The Remsgalerie is not a sufficient replacement, especially since the access there is too narrow.

50 percent of customers use short-term parking

Daniel Moriello, the operator of the ice cream factory, is also aware of the problems outlined by Markowetz. Regarding the parking spaces, he says that around 50 percent of his customers from Waldstetten, Mutlangen, Bettringen or even Schorndorf use these parking spaces. “If these parking spaces are eliminated, our income will decrease,” says Moriello. He goes even further: “This would destroy Ledergasse.”

“We’re only doing it for three hours,” says Veronika Maria Krauß, who works voluntarily in the “unpacked” store, about Friday’s campaign. In principle, however, she is convinced that it will only be difficult for retailers in the short term. I think that if people not only move towards cars, but also towards bicycles, something will change in the long term. Because what kind of world do we want to live in, asks Krauß. And answers: In one “with fewer cars and less greenhouse effect.”

Pictures for children’s accident assistance

Dragana Damjanovic-Schachner, who paints pictures with her eyes covered in Ledergasse with Toby Gray, agrees. The colorful pictures are auctioned off. The proceeds go to the children’s accident relief organization. There are parking garages for cars, says Damjanovic-Schachner. A city center like Gmünd’s was not built for cars. Gmünd has become so beautiful since 2012, and it should continue like this.