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Policy
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Economy and Employment
Our Goals:
· The CDU is committed to a socially-conscious
market economy. We hope to expand growth in both traditional and
emerging economic sectors.
· Employment opportunity and security must be
improved. We strongly favor a reduction in the rate of business
taxes.
· Frankfurt should receive unwavering support
as it competes with surrounding areas in attracting jobs and
spurring economic growth.
· The provision of a solid education, as well
as the fight against unemployment amongst the youth, are duties
the city of Frankfurt cannot shirk.
· Certain services, especially in the areas of
traffic and infrastructure, must, because of their importance for
Frankfurt and the Rhein-Main region, be expanded.
· Frankfurt should further develop as a strong
international services and financial center. But there must
always be room left in Frankfurt's marketplace for small business
enterprises.
· The areas of information technology and
communication must be emphasized in Frankfurt. The must be
especially supported because of their global importance.
· We strongly support efforts that aim to
provide greater independence and backing for young entrepreneurs.
Positions
A progressive economic policy must ensure that development of new
economic areas occurs simultaneously with the maintenance of and
growth of traditional enterprises. Only in this way can a
diversified economy, insulated from the constant fluctuations in
the global marketplace, be ensured. For a better investment
environment, the region needs a creative-thinking, non-bureaucratic,
and proactive partner. This partner can be found in the
Wirtschaftsförderung Frankfurt GmbH. Given its crucial role
in protecting the vitality of Frankfurt's economy, we believe that
the agency should be expanded and improved.
Frankfurt's exceptional transportation infrastructure (which
includes airports, high-speed trains, highways, and a vibrant
shipping industry on the Main River), must be further improved in
order to capitalize on Frankfurt's prime position in the global
marketplace.
The massive changes in the banking, stock, and insurance markets
demand that Frankfurt protect its status as a base of
international economic activity by improving city services.
Indeed, the recent merger of the London and Frankfurt stock
exchanges presents a great challenge to our city. And as fiber
optic networks become a requirement for access to a world-wide
information and communications network, it becomes important
for us to pay attention to when and how such networks should be
integrated into Frankfurt's infrastructure. And in order to
ensure Frankfurt's future attractiveness to insurance companies,
we should strive to create strong ties between their educational
institutions and this city.
Today's small businesses face greater global competition than
ever. And the SPD-Green coalition's tax reform plan does little
to help them. It is the CDU's intent to take all politically
practical measures to ensure the future security of small
businesses. Especially important for this goal is the provision
of operating space for firm founders and for expanding craftsmen
and entrepreneurs. Strict adherence to rules regarding commercial
use of residential space must be dealt with carefully in this arena.
This is particularly true when zoned residential spaces have
been used in good faith and without complaint for decades to
house small commercial enterprises.
Because of its exceptional geography and transportation
infrastructure, Frankfurt is well suited for public and private
businesses and organizations with an international focus. To
attract such businesses and organizations to Frankfurt, the city
must treat them as customers. We thus support a Service Center
within the Wirtschaftfoerderug GmbH that could ensure appropriate
actions are taken to ensure this level of treatment.
Industry and commerce play major roles in the economic prosperity
of many people in the city and in the region. Keeping and
attracting varied enterprises from these economic sectors helps
to avoid the problems associated with a homogenous city economy.
Information technology and telecommunications businesses lie
somewhere between industry and service providers. Frankfurt is
one of the leading locations of this growing economic sector.
Two of the greatest tasks for such businesses are the search for
and retention of highly-qualified employees. The CDU additionally
presses for greater city participation in pilot projects and
support programs in the areas of telecommuting and telemedicine.
Moreover, we strive to foster the ability to make activity within
the information technology and telecommunications sectors a
livelihood.
High-quality education is an important prerequisite for
innovation within Frankfurt. We therefore believe that a
discussion concerning education in the regions, one which
includes employers, employees, academics and politicians should
begin.
There is no denying that youth unemployment also exists in
Frankfurt and that it creates formidable social problems. Only
through the cooperative efforts of economic and political actors
can this problem be solved. Opportunities for continued
education should thus be expanded and coordinated. Requisite
educational qualification is the key to ensuring long-term job
security in an age of rapid technological progress.
Safety and Public Order
Our Goals:
· To work in close contact with the federal
government and the state of Hesse to combine policing, social
services, and preventive measures.
· To continue and expand the successful work
of the Council on Preventive Measures as well as that of the
regional councils.
· To increase the presence of uniformed police
in the city.
· To strengthen security in public areas
through the installation of video surveillance equipment.
· To bear in mind the public's objective and
subjective feelings of security as we build a strong police force.
· An expansion of the
"Gefahrenabwehrverordnung" for the protection of citizens.
· To combat the increasing problem of
violence and drug abuse in schools through the cooperative
efforts of all those affected.
· To create a department dedicated to victims
of violent crime that provides such victims with counseling and
access to other necessary resources.
Positions
Internal security and public order are absolutely necessary to
make possible a community free of fear. Without them, the social
and economic prosperity of a city, as well as the quality of
life of its citizens, are in peril.
As history has shown, this cannot be managed by the police alone.
Safe cities only exist to the degree that citizens strive to
make them. It is the duty of every citizen to create safe
communities, from the individual who keeps an eye on his street
corner, to the cooperation of the members of the regional
councils, to the willingness of Frankfurters to serve the public
by joining the police force. Counterproductive developments in
the city must be countered early and utterly.
Through linkages of preventive measures and social programs,
the collective efforts of the police, the citizenry, and public
and private organizations will go a long way to help reduce
levels of crime in the city.
The improvement of safety within Frankfurt is the duty of the
Council on Prevention and its affiliates. It should be
facilitated through the working group on Security and Planning.
This working group is intended to supervise new construction
projects in the city, so as allay any fears about the safety of
new buildings and to ensure that such new projects are not
structurally deficient. Additionally, the working group is
responsible for finding and remedying such deficiencies
throughout the city.
The presence of uniformed police officials throughout the city
must be increased. Specifically, greater patrolling of the inner
city and other problem areas in the evening hours is needed. The
state of Hesse must bear in mind the problems and concerns of
its cities in deciding how and where to allocate police forces.
We believe that the installation of video surveillance equipment
in areas particularly prone to criminal activity and in certain
parts of the city center, such as the Konstablerwache, the
Hauptwache, and near the Hauptbahnhof, is especially needed to
deter crime. Additionally, mobile surveillance equipment should
be used in areas of the city where criminal activity is on the
rise. Any video surveillance program should have appropriate
limits, and should have as its goals to assist the police in
their patrols and to facilitate the capture of criminals. Such a
program should also deter any potential law-breakers, making the
streets even safer.
Upon the completion in other communities of the pilot project,
"Volunteer Police Department," the experiences of such
communities with the project should be evaluated and analysed.
Should such evaluations show that the program is effective, we
strongly support its implementation in Frankfurt. We must always
try to take into account citizens' objective and subjective
feelings of safety in the framework of any crime preventive
program that is implemented.
Recent politically-motivated reforms of the
Gefahrenabwehrverordnung have proven insufficient. The office
is not capable of combating all of the city's threats and
nuisances. We want to work to create a new
"Gefahrenabwehrverordnung," one able to more effectively
accomplish its mission with the help of the city's offices.
Aggressive street begging and the pestering of passers-by must
be curbed. There should also be more protection for children
and youth from this behavior.
The wave of increasing violence and drug abuse in schools must
be faced head on by the coordinated efforts of teachers, parents,
students, and police. Projects such as the "Violence-See-Help"
campaign should be continued and integrated into the curriculum.
The CDU-Frankfurt believes that particular attention must be
paid to the victims of crime. Thus, we are in favor of the
creation of a city service to guide victims to those services
that may be of assistance. From advice on how to prevent future
crime to psychological assistance to crime victims, the service
should be able to effectively guide individuals to the variety
of services available to assist them.
We strongly support providing police officials with a
"Jobticket," in the hopes of increasing safety within the public
transportation system. We should also strive to guarantee the
presence of security personnel on public trains and buses in the
late evening hours.
The courts must ensure that, should a person's guilt be proven,
the appropriate punishment follows quickly. Appropriate and swift
justice serves not only to deter potential criminal behavior,
but also to relieve the burden placed on the criminal justice
system.
City Development and Planning
Our Goals:
· To further the development and expansion of
the convention center.
· To see the manifestation and expansion of
the agreed upon plans for skyscraper development.
· To secure available business and industrial
space, as well as to add new space for appropriate enterprises
within some of the city's communities.
· To provide appropriate building space for the residential needs
of all members of the Frankfurt community.
· To secure the construction of the Fernbahntunnels (a highway
connecting German cities) and an accompanying transformation of
the open land in front of the central train station.
· To complete the construction plans for the
new Europaviertal as well as concepts for the ÖPNV- and IV-E.
· To upgrade the streets and public squares of
the inner city as well as important areas other city communities.
· To modernize the Waldstadion in recognition
of its important role in the region.
Positions
As a vitally important banking and economic center, Frankfurt must
be developed in the interest of those who live and work here, be
they large banking concerns and investors, or middle-class families.
Only a growing economy, anchored in multiple sectors, can provide
the city with the ability to begin new social, cultural, and
housing initiatives. The process of gaining a permit for
commercial and residential construction must be better
coordinated and accelerated.
We believe that the "Hochhausentwicklungsplan" (a plan for the
development of skyscrapers) should serve as a general guide for
the issuance of building permits. However, the
Hochhausentwicklungsplan is not a development plan. Rather, it
represents a basic and fundamental political decision. Thus,
deviations from the Hochhausentwicklungsplan should be permitted
if such deviations prove themselves effective or necessary.
Office and other commercial spaces needed to meet Frankfurt's
economic needs are already either under construction or in the
planning phase. The volume of these projects should be enough to
guarantee adequate commercial space for the coming years. As the
prosperity of the Rhein-Main region continues, the demand for the
high-priced office space within Frankfurt will no doubt rise. In
order to protect the residential zones of the city from pressure
to be converted into commercial space, it is necessary, in accord
with the resolutions included in the Hochhausentwicklungsplan,
to develop additional high-density commercial complexes,
provided they can be appropriately integrated into Frankfurt's
social and transportation fabric. The CDU believes that the area
south of the central train station still remains an ideal
location for high-density commercial development.
The quite promising Europaviertel will provide a rare opportunity
for city development. For the development of the western grounds,
a plan is currently being designed that envisions business and
residential spaces lining both sides of a broad boulevard.
The boulevard would serve not only to permit development of the
area, but would also create a new standard for residential and
business spaces.
We hold fast to our vision of high-density office space use in
City-West. A corresponding number of aesthetically appropriate
residential spaces should also be included in any such
high-density development plan. Such residential space would
effectively combat the desertion of commercial space in the area
should businesses begin to close. We especially support the
planned apartment complexes at Rebstock, after a replacement for
the disappearing parking places is found.
The CDU will see to it that the success of the Frankfurt Messe
continues. In particular, we will work to ensure that the
International Auto Show and the Book Festival remain staples of
the Messe's annual calendar. The expansion of the Messe on the
land of the former Güterbahnhof represents a considerable step
in the right direction.
Special attention needs to be paid to the development of
Frankfurt as a center of information and communications
industries, such as both the print and electronic media as well
as advertising and public relations firms. This burgeoning
sector must be closely observed. In particular, spaces within
the city suited to such industries should be identified, so as to
ensure that such firms can move settle into the city more easily.
Frankfurt International Airport-the largest employer in
Germany-is a major competitor with other large European airports.
The airport's attractiveness, however, is not a given. Rather,
it must be consistently secured.
In recognition of its role as a considerable importance in the
competitiveness and prosperity of the Rhein-Main region, we
therefore support a dynamic expansion of the Frankfurt
International Airport. The (Mediationsverfahren) met the
requirements of such an expansion. It is now time that the legal
requirements for the construction of new runways be met.
Concurrently, the measures contemplated by the Mediationspaket
to minimize the impact of any such expansion on the nearby
citizens must also be implemented.
Frankfurt's role as a gateway point for Europe's train systems
should be secured and expanded through the construction and of an
East-West long-distance train tunnel between the train stations
Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof. At the same time, measures should be
taken to make Frankfurt the focal point of German and European
high-speed train travel and to change the areas surrounding
Frankfurt's large train stations into new areas for development.
As a part of the Rhein-Main-Donau-Canal and in the framework of
the economic integration of Eastern Europe, the River Main should
receive a more important and environmentally-conscious role in the
long-distance transportation industry. As the environmental
decontamination of Frankfurt and its surrounding areas proceeds,
the Osthafen will be an important trading center. The CDU strongly
supports the extension and development of economic activity at
this economically and environmentally ideal location. Those free
spaces that were gained after the city's effort to concentrate
office space in particular locations will remain reserved for
business use. The CDU will strongly support the project Harbor
2000 +. Simultaneously, there must be a guarantee that the plans
for this part of the harbor will be carried out in order to
mobilize the capital necessary to finance its much needed
renovations.
The CDU supports the current development plans for the Westhafen,
which will provide an agreeable combination of residential and
office spaces.
Frankfurt's strength has long been its healthy mixture of trade
and industry, of large and small industrial areas, of local
businesses and international corporations. In light of recent
technological and economic progress, as well as structural
changes in secondary sectors, this healthy mixture must be
maintained for the continued financial and social vitality of
Frankfurt. It is the CDU's duty to help ensure that there a
constant and ready supply of space for business enterprises
within the city. The garnering of new spaces for business should
be intensified as a means of countering the emigration of
enterprises from the city. Only in this way can the city or its
business have some degree of certainty about opportunities for
future growth and development. Indeed, the former U.S. military
camps in the northern and western parts of the city are
particularly well-suited to a mixture of business development.
But within any such mixture, middle-sized enterprises are
especially important to the CDU. Trade parks have proven
themselves successful in Frankfurt. They serve not only to
strengthen the economy, but they also guarantee a provision of
jobs and services for the citizens. Thus, more spaces for such
trade parks should be identified.
The portion of Mainzer Landstraße to Galluswarte, in addition to
the part of Hanauer Landstraße east of the Ostbahnhof, constitute
focal points for high-valued development. The basis for this
assertion comes directly from the City-Leitplan, which was agreed
upon during the CDU's call to governmental responsibility. In
order to eliminate the prevailing East-West disparities in the
city, it is necessary to quicken the development of residences and
businesses in Frankfurt's east.
The new plans for development, such as the construction plans
for the developments "Riedberg" and "Martinszehnten" and the
projects adjoining the Bonifatiusbrunnen, should be carried out
quickly. In light of changing needs due to the recent
availability of former U.S. military areas and in expectation of
partial housing on the current rail field of the Hauptgüterbahnhof,
the density of such areas must be significantly reduced. In this
way, spacious and large-scale constructions for buyers of middle
income can be offered.
In addition to the already identified areas, additional land for
residential construction should be found. Potential candidates
for new residential areas include currently vacant business
spaces, especially those near already existing residential spaces
or in being built in connection with new development areas. To
this end is a competent management authority necessary, one which
can identify the optimal use of available space.
In tandem with the construction of new residential spaces, we
are striving to erect the necessary infrastructure, including
streets and subways, without damaging the fabric of nearby city
communities.
A better job must be done getting rid of vacant, abandoned lots
and modernizing available residential buildings. There exist
opportunities, even within the inner-city, to create new
residential space through this process. It is most important to
take all feasible measures to once again make the inner-city an
attractive place for residences.
The agreed upon plans for the former U.S. military bases should
be implemented without delay so as to make possible the
construction of mixed-use developments. Such developments should
include privately- as well as publicly financed residential
spaces (e.g. university dorms) and spaces for commercial and
service enterprises. Elements of the existing infrastructure,
including schools and kindergartens, should be retained to the
greatest degree possible and reserved exclusively for the needs
of the city.
Currently undeveloped lands should only be used for additional
living and commercial space when there is both an absolute
necessity to build additional space and no other land is
available. Through the decision of Bahn AG to give up the
Güterbahnhof West train station as well as its accompanying
tracks, more space for residences and business have been made
available.
The inner-city remains a challenge for development plans. We thus
support an upgrading of the Zeil, primarily as a means of
maintaining its attractiveness as a major shopping boulevard.
The city planning competition is a step in the right direction.
We must also improve the quality of several of those areas near
the inner city. In the framework of the "Schöneres Frankfurt"
initiative, several new streets and public squares will be
created. As a part of this initiative, the streck between the
Dom and the Karmeliter should be reclassified as a
pedestrian-only area.
The single-purpose function of certain parts of the city, such
as the Banking Quarter, should be expanded to include multiple
types of activities, particularly to ensure that those areas
are active in the evenings and at night. In the evening hours,
certain parts of streets and public parking facilities should be
available for parking.
Locations for privately-financed residential and commercial
skyscrapers should continue to be identified. Indeed, there
remains considerable demand for this form of construction. In
order to generate corresponding building plans, a design
competition should be announced. This sort of development should
be considered to be an option in areas that are currently
under-developed.
Konstablerwache Square should, in the framework of a design
competition for the Zeil, be improved.
Efforts to improve the livability of the inner-city should extend
to the very edge of the Main River. The CDU supports the
planned extenstion of the green spaces between Nizza and Weseler
Werft as well as further measures to improve the shore area. The
Museumufer is not an appropriate place for the flea market.
On both sides of the Main river, the conditions necessary to for
the construction of new restaurants should be quickly met, so
as to enable the shore area to be more effectively used at night.
Additionally, in the already built-up areas, as well as in the
inner-city's residential areas, opportunities to add additional
green spaces should be taken advantage of.
The graffiti which has tarnished so many of Frankfurt's public
and private buildings must be removed. As private homeowners
receive communal subsidies to finance such removal projects, so
must the city and condominium associations also do their fair
share to undo graffiti damage done to their buildings.
Each section of the city should be further developed while
retaining its unique architectural and cultural characteristics.
With this in mind, it is absolutely necessary that the
restructuring and renovation of central squares, historic areas,
and residential quarters within the city proceed. Additional
living space in historical buildings (e.g. Fränkischen
Hofreiten) should be especially supported.
The decades-old plan for a "green zone," particularly in
Niddatal, must be kept and further developed. In any such plan,
the needs of farmers, gardeners, animal breeders, and sport
facilities should be taken into consideration.
Transportation
Our Goals:
· We support an extension of Frankfurt
International Airport and the implementation of the
"Mediationspaket."
· We back the construction of a long-distance
train tunnel between the Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof train
stations.
· New management structures should be put
into place in all transportation areas.
· Transportation planning must correspond to
the various needs of the transportation system in such a way as
to optimally utilize the existing infrastructure.
· The CDU endorses an expansion of the
Generalverkehrsplan to include all methods of transportation.
· Residential areas should be reassured that
necessary bypasses will be built and that major crossroads will
be made more efficient.
· Living and working areas should be combined
in the future as much as possible in order to reduce traffic
levels.
· We strongly favor maintaining the
pre-eminence of public transportation and thus improvements in
the train network.
· The streetcar and bus systems should
optimally complement the train transportation system.
· In the future, we need efficient and
reliable highway systems.
· Frankfurt's bicycle path network must be
expanded and made safer.
· More Park & Ride locations should be built
in the suburbs and directly adjacent to the city's edges.
· Ordinances governing parking lots must be
reworked.
Positions
Frankfurt, a city of approximately 650,000 people, has around
580,000 available job positions. This necessarily leads to a
large number of commuters. Of these commuters, nearly 200,000
use automobiles, while only 90,000 use public transportation.
These 200,000 automobile users significantly burden the city's
highways and streets, and create massive parking problems.
Additionally, Frankfurt must accommodate its considerable
business, airport, and stock market traffic, not to mention its
constant influx of conference-goers. At base, any transportation
plan must ensure that traffic optimally uses the existing
transportation infrastructure. But optimal use of the
infrastructure is not enough-it must be complemented. Steps need
to be taken to hasten commuters' shift from automobile to public
transportation use. It is additionally necessary to combine
business traffic in order to avoid unnecessary encumbrances upon
city residents. Agreed upon measures to improve public
transportation and highway systems should be realized as soon as
possible.
The Frankfurt CDU supports a forward-looking transportation
policy. For us, such a policy means that various demands on the
transportation infrastructure should be harmonized. This means
reductions in the amount of traffic in residential areas as well
as increases in the efficiency of the city's major traffic points.
An expansion of the transportation infrastructure can only succeed
in close cooperation with local, regional, and city-wide planning
authorities. A primary goal in any infrastructure expansion must
be minimization of commuter traffic on the city's streets and
highways. As new communities and residential areas are developed,
there should be an effort made to combine living and working spaces
as much as possible. The Frankfurt CDU strongly supports the public
transportation system und thus a further expansion of the city's
high-speed train network (the U-Bahn and S-Bahn). In this context,
the CDU maintains its intent to correct the planning mistakes made
by the SPD by ensuring that a U-Bahn train station on Eschersheimer
Landstraße in the Dornbusch neighborhood is constructed.
The linking of existing U-Bahn and S-Bahn routes with regional and
long-distance train networks through the use of "mehrstrome" trains
should be intensively researched. But in no way is it the CDU's
intent to create an "automobile-hostile" Frankfurt. We support a
well-balanced mixture of all methods of transportation and welcome
the introduction of modern transportation and communications systems.
It is no doubt vitally important that Frankfurt consistently embrace
mobility. In all areas of transportation, new forms of management
(e.g. Telematik, Infobus, Mobilitätszentrale) should be introduced.
In light of this, the GVPI should soon be expanded to include all
methods of transportation.
The backbone of Frankfurt's public transportation is its train
system, which is completed by the inner-city S-Bahn lines. An
attractive public transportation system must be fast, clean,
safe, and comfortable and must offer predictable and wide-ranging
destination and route alternatives. For this reason, the above
ground train routes should be accelerated and, where possible,
equipped with elevated platforms. The city's train network should
be expanded, and the existing meager and limited facilities should
be used to improve the network's efficiency. In the course of
expansion and restructuring, we should continue to keep an eye to
whether the train network might be able to embrace new functions
(e.g. the transportation of goods).
Frankfurt's CDU supports the completion of the S-Bahn Rhein-Main
in order to attract commuters away from automobile use and to
the public train network. The logistical planning of the
Regionaltangente West's (western regional expressway) routing
should be continued. Continuation of this planning is most
urgently needed for the problematic streck between Höchst and
the airport.
In the future, the street car system will play an important
role in completing the train network, especially in parts of
the city south of the Main River. With the help of the
"Beschluenigunsprogramme," we hope to optimise the street car
system-hopefully with no interferences by the IV.
In general, the city's bussing system should serve to complement
its train network. However, in some instances, the bus network
must be the primary form of public transportation. Newly
developed areas of the city should be connected via buses to
other forms of public transportation. The bus system's night
services should be expanded. In particular, Frankfurt's north
must be integrated.
Mobility for individual motorists is an absolute necessity
within any worldwide economic center. For this reason,
Frankfurt's roads must be both efficient and adequate. If both
these requirements are met, most of the city's traffic problems
will be solved, with the tangential effect that the traffic
burden currently borne by residential areas will be removed. We
strongly support reductions in automobile traffic through
residential neighborhoods. At the very least, entrances to
residential communities should be redesigned and lined with
trees and flower beds. The ugly, so-called "Stellvertreters"
must disappear. We continue to await the soon-to- be-released
decision of the Bundesverkehrsminister (federal traffic
minister) concerning legally permissible parking for neighborhood
residents.
Adequate resources must be allocated to keep Frankfurt's roads
in prime condition. In addition, analyses should be done of the
city's one-way streets to determine which of them might be able
to accommodate two-way traffic. However, no reclassification
should take place if it would have a detrimental effect on
traffic flow or the availability of parking on a street. But
more must be done-indeed, our network of streets and roads must
be sensibly completed. Construction of the Riederwald tunnel
(and thus the undoing of one of the SPD's major planning mistakes)
is of primary importance. The already excavated land should be
brought to the foreseen location and used as noise protection.
Frankfurt's network of bicycle paths should be expanded,
improved, and made safer. We want bicycle paths in the city to
be separated and protected from regular vehicle traffic. We
also support prohibitions on bicycle riding in pedestrian malls
and on sidewalks. Exceptions should be made for bicyclists who
want to ride against the traffic on one-way streets if, taking
the state of such streets and their traffic into consideration,
exceptions can be safely granted.
One of the best remedies for standstill traffic is the
construction of Park & Ride stations that can move commuters
from their cars to the public transportation system as early in
their commute as possible. Such stations should be constructed
in the suburbs or directly on the edges of the city. In the city
proper, above-ground parking lots near already existing parking
garages are needed, especially in the evening hours, to create
short-term parking spots. Indeed the attractiveness of the
inner-city as a place to do business and reside is directly
correlated to the ability of individuals to find parking. The
parking problems of residents who live near the city center can
only be solved via temporary parking garages. Systems of
automatic parking should be implemented. Finally, we support a
reworking of the city's parking ordinances, including a review
of the ordinances pertaining to gardens in the front yard.
Because of increasing automobile costs per household, the city
should plan for parking place costs of 1.5 PKW.
Adequate parking spaces for those visiting residents of
Frankfurt's neighborhoods should be identified. With the
exception of the downtown area, ordinances limiting the number
of parking places permissible within a given area should largely
be repealed. Additionally, in office buildings can be settled
through a long-term provision of "Jobtickets."
The CDU supports the expansion of Frankfurt International Airport
beyond its current boundaries in order to secure its future role
as a leader in global air transportation. All of the measures
laid out in the "Mediationspaket" must be fully implemented. This
is especially true in relation to the introduction of a ban on
airplane travel between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
In addition to the construction of the Köln-Flughafen Frankfurt
high speed route and the expansion of the
Berlin-Fulda-Frankfurt-Saarbrücken line, the Frankfurt
Hauptbahnhof must also be prepared for the train traffic of the
future. Whether the project "Frankfurt 21" will be implemented
can only be determined after the conclusion of the ongoing
research into its effectiveness. We support the construction
of a long-distance tunnel between the Hauptbahnhof and
Ostbahnhof train stations in order to reduce the time it takes
for long-distance trains to traverse the city. We assume that
the Deutsche Bahn's construction of a new high-speed train
network, in conjunction with the airport's train station will
lead to a significant shift of intra-German train transportation.
The Main River, as a part of the Rhein-Main-Donau waterway, will
take on ever-increasing importance in the coming years. Frankfurt
must make certain that future shipping traffic can be properly
handled. Improvements to the city's harbor must be introduced,
including, for example, an expansion of the Osthafen. In the
context of the increasing use of water, road, and train routes,
all of which intersect at the Osthafen, such an expansion will
enable optimal use of the harbor's facilities as well as a rapid
distribution of goods.
Social Policy
Our Goals:
· Aid for self-help
· Implementation of the "Subsidaritaetsprinzip"
· An active citizenry
· More intensive prevention
· An updating of the "Jugendhilfeplan," a
complete reworking of the "Altenhilfeplan."
· Greater elucidation of the availability of
social help services for children, youth, and parents.
· Exhaustion of all the opportunities of the
private market.
· Nursing homes and new residential forms for
senior citizens.
· Integration instead of isolation for the
physically disabled.
Positions
The goal of any social policy should be to make state
intervention or assistance as unnecessary as possible. Social
policy has thus succeeded when each individual is willing and
able to take responsibility for his life. This holds true for
every social group.
When values of personal responsibility and social contribution
can be successfully taught in the family, so has a course toward
individual autonomy been charted. A variety of preventive
programs geared toward children, young adults, and parents
should help to ensure that the family remains the vehicle
through which these values are taught. Through an intensive
collaboration between the Jugendamt, the Sozialamt, and the
schools, the potential corruption of children coming from
difficult family situations can be combated. "Round the clock"
child care centers, staffed with qualified professionals and
dedicated to meeting the psychological and physical needs of
such children, should be put into place. In this way, the
overtaxing of parents-often the primary source of violence
within the family-can be reduced. The costs of any such child
care plans must be reasonable. The best policy for children
and youth is one that creates good living conditions for families.
The CDU's plans to implement the program "Soziale Stadt," which
strives for community improvements in residential areas and in
the various boroughs by dealing directly with problems in the
city's "hot spots." The city's child and youth policy must be one
that acts to make up for deficits in childrens' living
environments and to open up additional doors of opportunity. To
the extent that city programs are offered, they should be
implemented as soon as possible.
The vital contributions made by various civic organizations in
Frankfurt would not be possible without the exceptional
involvement of the city's citizens. The multifaceted cultural
and leisure offerings, the successful child and youth services,
and the exceptional social service work in the city would not be
possible without the hard work of Frankfurt's strong civic
organization culture. The CDU thus puts itself behind efforts
to ensure the long-term ability of these organizations to
continue their work.
Quite often, citizens come together outside of the context of
established civic organizations to create new groups and
initiatives. Their work is project-dependant, and they typically
provide mutual support to each other in areas as diverse as
environmental protection and the provision of playgrounds for
a community's children. The CDU supports this new way of
creating an active citizenry through citizens' voluntary
engagement.
Child Guidance
Our goals
· Adequate staffing of centers for child
guidance should, at the very least, be maintained, and, where
possible, expanded.
· The conception of work should be
conceived such that not only those seeking advice not only
receive it in these institutions, but also such that the
colleagues of those seeking work are also available.
· The linking of child guidance centers
with day cares, kindergartens, schools, and "Jugendhaeuser"
must be continued. The goal of such linkages must be to create,
in a short amount of time, adequate care facilities in each
borough.
Positions
We see a comprehensive plan to help the youth as a prerequisite
for any future youth policy. The plan should secure the living
standard of young people and, where possible, improve it. The
goal of any such plan should be to make the children and youth
capable of meeting the social challenges of our time. A
comprehensive plan to help the youth is more than a mere
statistical game. From the strategies developed through such a
plan, decisions concerning what programs to invest in can be
derived. Thus must youth policy retain its important place next
to social policy.
Despite all efforts, there remains a deep rift between schools
and youth help programs despite the minimal differences between
the two. Better cooperation should be achieved in the interest
of children and youth. This would have several preventive effects
and would lift some burden from the public budget.
All child care services should be combined under the rubric of
"Kommunale Kinder-, Jugend-, und Familienhilfe." Only in this
way can age-integrated groups be built. The offering of child
care services should be expanded to include children above 8
weeks of age in order to cope with changes in society and in the
working world.
Youth centers are places where social behavior is practiced and
additional chances for development can be had. Thus, the
conception of youth centers is, for us, an important matter.
· Offerings in youth centers must be
attractive for all young people. It is especially important to
strive to ensure that children from problematic environments be
able to meet other children in such centers, in order to make
possible mutual social learning.
· There must be course offerings in the youth
centers designed to facilitate young peoples' entrance into their
chosen careers. Here must the cooperation of city institutions
and private trade guilds be particularly supported.
· Exceptional young people should be lead by
social workers to opportunities for a productive and meaningful
workday.
· In the boroughs in which offerings for
youth are lacking, the CDU will get rid of any such deficiencies.
· The support of childrens' clubs and teams
should be another important facet of youth policy. Sport,
singing, and carnival, and church groups play an important role
in binding youth into existing social structures. Thus are they
able to acquire security and acceptance outside of teenage
cliques while simultaneously becoming aware of their strengths
and weaknesses. There should also be an inquiry into the
feasibility of opening even more school gyms in the evening
hours for youth.
Frankfurt's labor market is polarized to a degree uncommon in
most major cities. On one hand, international concerns offer an
abundance of employment positions to highly educated individuals.
Indeed, there is often a surplus of such positions. On the other
hand, the number of long-term unemployed and unqualified laborers
is decreasing slowly. Any labor policy must keep both poles in
consideration.
The social policy of the CDU is particularly concerned with the
plight of the under-qualified unemployed. It will, in
conjunction with professional associations and the
"Arbeitsverwaltung," search for opportunities and create models
that will facilitate direct entrance of the long-term unemployed
into the labor market. In light of changing legal frameworks
(e.g. reductions in unemployment benefits), government-subsidized
jobs can only be continued when they are constructed so as to
avoid the danger of draining the general labor market.
The city of Frankfurt will examine the effectiveness of varied
measures designed to integrate the less qualified into the job
market. In retaining the variety of the its job diversity, the
city will start a new initiative designed specifically for
Frankfurt's special needs. Implementation of any integrative
measures can be accorded to either firms or individual employers.
The sole objective of these measures is integration into the
general job market.
In order to make the financing necessary to begin such
initiatives available, state-subsidized enterprises, which have
traditionally offered considerable competition to small and
medium sized businesses, must be appropriately scaled back. In
the future, they should function as "clearing houses" that
integrate people into the labor market in close cooperation with
private businesses. Salaries in state-subsidized businesses
must remain considerably lower than those in the general labor
market. The Hessian government's "Kombilohn" provides a prime
example.
Offering of social help should only be done after the
availability to find paying work has proved utterly futile.
The red-green coalition's failed state and local policies
concerning school functioning have hindered many young people's
start in the working world and led the way to their unemployment.
Especially disadvantageous for the future opportunities of young
people has been the coalition's animosity toward technology and
its correlated disregard of commercial positions. This is no
longer acceptable.
Youth and young adults must be offered additional programs to
help them help themselves. The CDU expects the economy to live
up to its social role and looks forward to its making
corresponding educational and employment positions available.
The current state of the employment market demands that the CDU
create more educational opportunities for under-qualified youth
and young adults.
The Christian Democratic Union wants to make the support of
recent graduates and those who wish to re-enter the job market
after an interruption in employment (e.g. because of childbirth,
etc) a focal point of its labor policy.
We want to provide incentives to craftswomen and female business
managers to provide recent female graduates with internship
opportunities designed to give meaningful insights into the
workings of a particular trade. Business-oriented careers and
educational paths should regain the status they are due.
Prevention is also a major part of our policy concerning the
physically disabled. Precautionary measures, early detection,
rehabilitation, and the ability of the physically disabled to
lead fulfilling, individually meaningful lives are our focal
points. The CDU demands that building planning and construction
correspond to guidelines to accommodate the physically disabled.
Apartments should be constructed so that they can be made to
accommodate the physically disabled without considerable
expenditure.
The isolation of the physically disabled must be combated
through handicapped-accessible public buildings. The physically
disabled must be able to participate in the general social life
free of constraints. A deciding factor here is the mobility of
handicapped citizens-the public transportation system must work
in concert with groups addressing the needs of such citizens in
order to implement needed changes. The efficiency of
handicapped-accessible transportation should be evaluated and
optimized.
As an employer itself, the city of Frankfurt will do justice to
its obligation to employ the physically disabled. This role-one
of providing an example for private enterprises in the city to
follow-will have to be fulfilled just as hardily in the future.
It must also be ensured that physically disabled individuals
receive adequate access to the city's educational services.
The CDU's policy regarding the elderly is intended to provide
senior citizens with the opportunity to lead meaningful,
independent lives. To this end, it is imperative that the
inclusion of the elderly in the political process, as well as
their contact to the community's social network, be supported
and that their isolation be avoided. We should additionally
strive to support inter-generational solidarity.
A fundamental part of any general policy regarding the elderly
must be the construction of a plan to provide meaningful
assistance.
· An overriding goal of the CDU's policy for
the elderly and any assistance plan should be to allow the
elderly to maintain their personal, chosen living environment
for as long as possible. To the degree that they are able and
choose to do so, individuals should be able to live in their own
homes with the guarantee that they can receive health and
household assistance (including help with the necessary
renovations) when necessary. Rapid provision of this guarantee is,
and should be, an integral part of the city's policy. It is
additionally important that an adequate system of out-patient and
mobile health services be built up.
· Disease prevention and rehabilitation
should be paid particular attention to as means of avoiding
invalidity so that individuals can lead independent lives despite
suffering from chronic conditions.
· Long-term care insurance must be improved.
To this end, the "Personalanhaltswerte" should be reintroduced
to ensure that nursing home staffing adequately corresponds to
the number of patients within a facility. We should thus
consider allowing entrance to public nursing homes only to those
over 84 years of age whose suffering from a continual illness
makes round-the-clock care a necessity.
· Elderly people with diminished cognitive
capacities requiring controlled, cared-for environments are
often unable to find space in an affordable nursing home.
Specialized living communities, to whose founding local
authorities can contribute, can provide a remedy. Mixed-financed
communities of this sort are possible.
· The education of nursing home staff
deserves greater support.
· For elderly foreigners who wish to stay in
Germany, efforts must be made to provide them with the ability
to reside in senior citizens and nursing homes.
· The expansion of gerontology and geriatrics
is critically important. There is currently a lack of qualified
physicians in these areas.
Homelessness has become a problem in our city that can no
longer be ignored. Those affected must be effectively assisted:
through overnighting facilities, provision of articles
necessary for bodily care, medical care, and personal counselling.
The goal of any and all such assistance is to reintegrate these
individuals into society.
Close attention should be paid to the development of new forms
of poverty, whose causes should be found. It is well worth it
to combat these developments.
Integration
Our Goals:
· The integration of foreigners is a
prerequisite for the maintenance of peace within this city,
as well as a major challenge.
· An indispensable requirement for
appropriate integration and for participation in the body
politic is mastery of the German language.
· Integration does not mean forced
assimilation. Rather, it means the coexistence of people from
different backgrounds in our constitutional and legal order.
Successful integration depends as much on the efforts of the
foreigners as on efforts made be German citizens.
· Foreign youths should be supported in their
acquisition of diplomas and vocational training.
Positions
People from 180 nations live and work together in Frankfurt.
The 180,000 foreigners in the city comprise 28% of the city's
population. Of the young people growing up in the city, the
percentage of foreigners approaches 50%. Excluded from these
figures are the thousands of individuals who have received
German citizenship and those SPÄTAUSSIEDLER who migrated here
with their families. It is the integration policy's duty to
secure the peaceful coexistence necessary for Frankfurt to excel
in the next century. Integration of those foreigners who have
settled into our city presents us with a great challenge.
For the future of our city as an international economic center
and European financial metropolis, the success of its
integration policy is vitally important. The CDU has recognized
this, as evidenced by its taking over Dezernat XI, the Office
of Integration.
As a "Europapartei," the CDU supports the strengthening of the
European Union and the growth of all EU-citizens. As members
of our own parliament, these individuals contribute to the
development and slant of the political discourse in this city.
Scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, executives, men and women
from other countries who put their knowledge and experience to
work here in this city should be made to feel at home.
Both an orderly influx of individuals from other countries as
well as a reworking of the laws regulating the right to asylum
to prevent abuse are necessary.
There is much to do regarding the further integration of people
from other cultural and religious traditions who have come to
find their home here in Frankfurt. More must be done in the areas
of unemployment, community development, and schools in order to
level out disparities between foreign-born residents and native
Germans and in order to achieve a harmonious co-existence. The
restructuring of industry has presented social and personal
problems for many foreign-born Frankfurt residents, causing many
to seek security in their ethnic and religious groups. In the
spirit of the tolerance expounded by the German constitution,
we respect the ethnic differences, the care for cultural
traditions, and the practice of religious convictions to the
degree that they are compatible with the rule of law. However,
in the interest of coexistence and of providing all youth with
opportunity, we cannot allow the creation of parallel societies.
Absolutely necessary is a decent education for all foreign-born
youths, 30% of which now receive no high school or vocational
degree. A large part of this education should deal with improving
such youth's knowledge of the German language. Support classes
and measures should be expanded. Simultaneously, parents must be
allowed to bring their children to Germany as soon as possible
and not to wait to bring their children to Germany at an age when
integration into our educational system is more difficult.
Mastery of the German language for everyone who chooses to live
and work here in the long-term is fundamental not only for
career advancement, but also for the advancement of cultural
understanding. Thus the offerings of the program "Mama lernt
Deutsch-Papa auch" should be expanded. For the legal
immigration of spouses, participation in language courses is,
and should be, a prerequisite.
Special challenges are presented at social "flash points"-those
areas of the city with high percentages of foreign-born
residents-where the clashes between underprivileged communities
demands increased social and mediation work.
Here, as in the city overall, it is necessary to take into
consideration the fears of the native German communities. To
this degree it is also necessary that city offices and courts
exhaust the legal means to ensuring the existence of a peaceful
city-including through the identification of illegal aliens.
This is in the interest not only of the city's citizens of
German heritage, but also in the interest of those citizens of
non-German heritage who wish to live their lives with security
and peace.
Environment
Our Goals:
· Ecological, economic, and social
considerations should be viewed with equal weight.
· The quality of our green spaces should be
improved and a plan to develop green spaces in the boroughs
should be developed.
· The construction and equipping of
children's play parks is especially important.
· Small garden and small animal cultivation
should receive further support.
· The consultation garden at Lohrberg must
be retained.
· The planned "Brandschutzzentrum" and other
fires stations should be constructed.
· The water transportation industry should
receive our special attention.
· The trash industry must provide effective
decontamination and be economically viable.
· We support improvements in air quality and
decreases in noise levels.
· The "Lokale Agenda" should be further
developed.
Positions
The environmental policy of the CDU is dedicated to the long-term
protection of our natural resources. Fundamental to our policy is
the giving of equal weight to ecological, economic, and social
concerns. We support personal engagement in environmental
protection as seen, for example, in the awarding of the
Frankfurter Umweltpreis. Local environmental policies should
be geared toward improving the quality of life of the city's
residents.
The appearance of our city, full of parks and green spaces, is
important for its high quality of life. The upgrading of many of
the green areas that we began through new facilities, cleaning
up of ponds, and better sanitation must be continued. The
beautification of the Mainufer and its transformation into an
area for relaxation and evening strolls should be completed and
maintained through appropriate measures of care. The Green Belt
should be further developed and connected to the Regionalpark-all
while paying attention to the concerns of farmers and those who
utilize the city's natural spaces as places for rejuvenation. A
"greening" of the city should be supported with a plan for the
development of green spaces. The "Frankfurt in Blumen" contest,
which was reintroduced by the CDU, is an annual event. After a
renovation of the Palmenhaus, the Palmengarten's attractiveness
is to be secured by a future-oriented development and maintenance
plan and the construction of a butterfly house.
Frankfurt's Stadtwald deserves particular attention because of
its restoration space and in light of its important biological
functions. Forestry should continue.
The conversion of forests from purely deciduous ones into
mixed-life forests through planting programs in currently empty
parts of the forest land should be continued.
The steps taken towards installing contemporary and adequate
playground equipment in children's playgrounds, steps implemented
by the CDU, should be continued. In areas of new development,
children's playgrounds should be completed simultaneously with
the completion of the development.
The Kleingartenvereins' small gardens and other undertakings
are, because they are "Green Oases" and part of Frankfurt's
gardening culture, of particular importance. To the degree they
have not already been, they should be protected through city
planning and should be financially supported. Because of their
importance for those seeking relaxation and for ensuring the
care of the open green areas in the city, Freizeitgaerten
(small gardens operated by individuals in their free time)
should receive our continued backing. We will also continue to
support small animal cultivation within the city.
The city's cemeteries are, as parts of Frankfurt's diversity
and of Frankfurt's cemetery culture, to be preserved and expanded.
A renovation program of the cemeteries should be conceived and
implemented.
Because of its special local meaning, the CDU wants to see the
continuation of the Beratungsgarten Lohrberg, even after the
dissolution of the Umlandsverband Frankfurt.
The new "Brandschutzzentrum" (fire prevention center) should be
immediately constructed to provide an effective defense in case
of fire or other natural disaster. Volunteer fire departments
and relief organizations are vitally important for the
protection of Frankfurt's populace. The modernization of their
fire trucks and ambulances should be continued. A contemporary
prioritization program for fire houses should be conceived and,
to the extent it is financially practical, put into place.
The furnishing of the city with necessities such as trash
receptacles, advertising pillars, and Schaltkaesten, should be
restructured in order to present Frankfurt's best face. Where
a piece of equipment can serve multiple functions, it should be
used so as to reduce the number of furnishings throughout the city.
The condition of public toilets should be bettered. Toilet
facilities worth keeping should be renovated, and additional modern
and handicapped-accessible facilities should be constructed. These
facilities and furnishings should be financially supported as much
as possible by selling their external facades to advertisers.
We have consistently striven for improvements in Frankfurt's
water quality. The reforestation of the Nidda while maintaining
the area's water safety should proceed. Water conservation
among businesses, as well as the use of both used water and
rainwater must continue.
The reorganization of the waste industry has noticeably reduced
clean-up and decontamination costs. Economic efficiency as well
as decontamination should be twin goals in the renovation of the
incineration plant in Nordweststadt. The cost savings potential
in composting through increases in the amount of trash produced
should be capitalized on. Illegal dumping of large item refuse
should be countered by informing citizens of the practice's
illegality and by the work of the "Muellfahnder."
Our foremost goal in this regard is the creation and projection
of a clean city. Trash, street cleaning, and sewage fees should
be regularly examined for decreases in costs. The controversial
"Quadratwurzelregelung" as a measuring stick for the street
cleaning fees should not be introduced. Rather, a measuring stick
should be introduced that is seen as fair by the citizens,
avoids hardships, and stands on solid legal ground.
Air quality has been significantly improved in the city.
Technological innovations, energy saving measures, and the use
of renewable sources of energy, such as solar and biomass power,
further decrease air pollution and should be supported.
Development of the noise reduction plan should be continued.
The local plan for sustainable, long-term city development should
be further developed. The participation of interested citizens on
the borough level should be strengthened.
An environmental management board will be introduced to regulate
city offices and businesses.
The city of Frankfurt is called upon to support the Hessian
state government's "Umweltallianz" raise the environmental
standards in the area. It is also called upon to participate in
the deregulation and de-bereaucratization of environmental
protection initiatives.
Housing
Our Goals:
· Living space in the city must not only be financially
possible for all segments of society, but must also be desirable.
· Retention and improvement of residences is of great
importance.
· We want to support both renters and owners in the future.
· City-owned homes and residences should be offered to their
renters for purchase.
· City-owned condominiums and apartment complexes should not
be sold, either in whole or in part.
· Preference for the issuance of city building permits will
be given to young families and families with several children.
· More parcels appropriate for single-family and high-valued
housing need to be identified.
· Targeted residential complexes need to be constructed for
special groups of citizens.
· The construction of residential projects should be supported.
· Residential space misuse should be dealt with on an
individualized basis.
Positions
Frankfurt's population is steadily decreasing. In particular, young families are
leaving the city. This trend should be reversed. A goal of the city's housing
policy should be to make city living a financial possibility for all social
classes. This needs to be done to ensure Frankfurt's future. The higher
expectations of citizens regarding what is "acceptable" housing must be
considered. Thus, we support planning schemes that closely combine working and
living spaces. Newly completed residential areas must receive quality
connections to the public transportation network, so as to make mobility
without an automobile a possibility.
There should be living opportunities within the city for both renters and owners.
Maintenance and improvement of the current housing supply is very important.
The city must, especially in the city's "hot spots," initiate this process
through its own actions. For the community's good, native Frankfurters should
be kept within the city. In addition to an increase in the value of residences,
a renter-friendly attitude in housing developments, including improvements in
the landlord care of their premises, is necessary.
The desire of many citizens for "their own four walls," the need for
family-oriented housing, and the necessity to efficiently use scarce land must
define our housing policy.
Homeownership means social security and independence. Homeownership has a
socially and politically stabilizing effect. Homeownership enables individual
security and long-term community structures to exist that are quite difficult
to achieve in rental communities, which are typically defined by fluctuations
in residents and, thus, in lower feelings of community responsibility. It is
therefore the responsibility of the city to continue the support of homeownership
well into the future.
Renters must become homeowners. ABG Frankfurt Holding should thus offer
interested renters apartments for purchase. We are not proposing the complete
sale of city-owned apartment complexes to private owners. Rather, we support a
balanced mixture of homeowners and renters in such complexes.
The Frankfurt CDU supports the sale of city owned apartments to third parties
only under socially acceptable circumstances, and only in ways that protect the
interests of other renters on the property.
It is our duty increase the percentage of parcels available for single-family
homes by identifying appropriate tracts of land in the future. We believe that,
in the future, at least 10% of all city-owned parcels should be offered for sale
for the construction of single family homes. In this way, the financial
threshold for purchase of a home could be reduced for young families and families
with several children.
In offering financially affordable living spaces to residents, the city-owned
apartment complexes will take on ever increased meaning.
Plans for new housing developments must ensure that family-oriented and
affordable housing units will be created. Special efforts must be further taken
to provide living space for senior citizens, families with several children,
and for the physically disabled. In addition, residential neighborhoods must be
children friendly. There should be enough safe space for children's games and
youth activities.
Support of residential building construction with public funds is, in light of
the housing needs of certain social groups, and in addition to the payment of
housing subsidies, still necessary. Support for social residential projects
should be improved.
To accomplish these goals we need:
· The simplification and improvement of the residential
building construction regulations and of the laws regulating residential
modernization. Especially important in this regard are increased incentives for
cost-effective construction.
· To allow funding for the modernization of buildings to be
allocated in the future. Residences built in the 1950s and 1960s do not meet
today's housing needs.
· The sale of city-owned properties only with corresponding
covenants to use the land for specified purposes.
· To take measures to ensure that further overcrowding does
not occur in areas of housing construction.
· To achieve a better social mixture in communities through
the granting and exchange of "Belegungsrecht" rights.
When the long overdue reform of social housing commences, we favor an elimination
of the principal of charging rent in order to foster the movement of tenants
from social housing units and into the regular private housing market. The
concentration of individuals in social housing units has negative side effects
of creating segregation in certain parts of the city.
True misuse of residential space in the future must also be countered using the
law. However, decisions about what constitutes misuse have often been
inappropriate in the past as they did not properly weigh all the relevant facts
at issue.
Women
Our Goals:
· Creation of an independent line of policy for women is an
indispensable part of Frankfurt's government.
· Our women's policy will take into account the myriad
circumstances and plans of the city's women.
· The CDU's women's policy supports the development of their
gifts and talents and fosters their abilities to take advantage of opportunities.
· We strive for complete recognition of the achievements of
women and the tearing down of extant stereotypes.
· Raising a family and maintaining a home is just as
important as success in a professional career. A decision to have children
should not be a barrier for career development.
The CDU emphatically strives for more social acceptance of career-oriented
mothers as well as of stay-at-home fathers.
Working and single parents should have better child care resources.
These goals can be achieved through:
· improved child care options for children under 3 years of age.
· the support of private child care initiatives
· the expansion of elementary schools
· neighborhood child care options during school holidays
· the expansion of all-day schools
· the support of the interlinking and collaboration of
schools with local sports, music, and environmental protection groups, as well
as with museums.
Positions
Young girls and women still often view the few traditional "women's jobs" as
the only ones they are capable of taking. This mentality significantly reduces
their abilities to find educational and career opportunities. Women need the
courage to courage to challenge this mindset and help in their search for new
career paradigms and internship openings. The CDU hopes to change the current
situation through early and comprehensive information sessions given to girls
and young women who will soon enter the working world. The availability of
internship spaces for women in traditionally male-dominated careers is no doubt
necessary to foster women's abilities to enter these trades in the future.
We support employers' implementation of mandatory family-friendly employment
policies such as flexible work times, telecommuting options, and the ability to
work at home. The city of Frankfurt should set a good example in this regard.
Support of women does not only mean education; rather, it also means support for
them in their livelihoods. Necessary for such support is the cooperation of
chambers of industry and commerce, trade guilds, credit institutions, and
employers.
Women have a right to unrestricted access to the social offerings of the city.
Greater security for women, especially in the evening hours in and about public
transportation areas, is thus an important matter. The situation can be improved
through the installation of security officers and increased police patrols,
through the use of video surveillance equipment in particularly problematic
areas, and through a better linking of bus, street car, and subway connection
points.
The emigration of young families into the suburbs continues. To make living
within the city of Frankfurt a possibility for young families, the CDU
supports decreases in the home interest rate for young families and the creation
of family-oriented, readily adaptable housing units.
Foreign women lacking the ability to obtain paying jobs have special
difficulties in learning the German language. The home training of their
children thus typically proceeds primarily in the respective mother tongue.
Mastery of German is however a requirement for a successful integration policy.
The CDU therefore favors all efforts that strive to ensure that immigrant women
learn the German language. We also support efforts that introduce such women
to "ground rules" of the German social structure (e.g. separation of church and
state, female equality) and that attempt to foster respect for the laws (e.g.
mandatory schooling).
The provision of care and counseling for battered women and the opening of
battered women's shelters have proven themselves invaluable. In order to avoid
prolonged stays in such facilities and to promote a return to normalcy for such
women, other services designed to provide care and protection over a longer
amount of time should be offered, such as housing cooperatives designed to meet
the needs of such women.
The Frankfurt CDU's women's policy hopes to ensure that the needs of women,
and thus of more than 50% of the city's population, are represented in the
government. This is best accomplished through a high proportion of female
parliamentary representatives.
Culture and Leisure
Our Goals:
· Culture needs and deserves local support and trust. It is
an economic and social investment.
· The tight economic situation has significantly diminished
support of cultural activities. This should be appropriately dealt with.
· The existence of the Städtische Buhne as a corporation
should be guaranteed.
· Museums should be granted significant financial
independence as well as an appropriate acquisitions budget.
· An expanded coordination of the work of cultural
institutions through the Rhein-Main region should be achieved.
· We back changes in the tax laws that favor contributions
to cultural groups and institutions.
· The hours of operation and the services offered by the
city's cultural institutions should meet the needs of visitors.
· We demand a legal clarification for the Städelschule and a
corresponding financial settlement.
Positions
For the CDU, culture means mankind's expression of life in his connection with
his surroundings and with others. Culture creates new perspectives,
understandings, and forces one to re-evaluate his paradigms. In no way should
culture be seen as being a polar opposite of social policy. Indeed, it is
culture that makes human relationships and peaceful co-existence possible.
Culture needs and deserves local city support. One of the cornerstones of our
conception of culture was and remains the acquisition of artistic works. But such
acquisition is impossible without the public financial contributions. Financial
support of cultural institutions should not simply be seen as an act of charity.
As the CDU has consistently emphasized: cultural policy is an important element
for the construction and maintenance of a livable, attractive city. Cultural
activities are organized and supported in order to provide the city's citizens
with offerings of the highest quality and variety, and to inspire them to take
more active roles in the city's cultural life.
Public financial contributions are not simple subsidies, but are rather sensible
economic investments. The value of cultural services for a locale though, of
course, difficult to ascertain, nevertheless contributes to a city's economic
attractiveness as well as to its ability to compete with the world's other
major metropoles. Frankfurt's ability to attract and retain affluent citizens
as well as significant financial institutions depends on the quality of the
cultural activities it is able to offer.
The city of Frankfurt's budget has no doubt significantly improved over the last
several years. Nevertheless, public support for culture has its limits.
Recognizing this, and the reality that budget cuts may come in the future, it
can only be attempted to retain what currently exists, though with priorities.
Cultural understanding should not be static. One exhibition or another has to
regularly be brushed aside in order to make room for new cultural exhibitions
and initiatives. Traditions should certainly be kept, but they should not block
new artistic developments and trends, which should be paid greater attention to
and more strongly supported. This holds true even in less prosperous economic
times. There must be consistent efforts to recognize and eliminate excessive
offerings, overlapping, and inefficiency. There must be simultaneous attempts
to increase cooperation between cultural organizations, even beyond the
boundaries of the city, when such cooperation is beneficial. The use of public
funds should be consistently reviewed to ensure that they are being appropriately
used and that they are economically feasible. Individual initiatives not
supported by the city or by public funds are to be pushed forward.
Cultural institutions must receive security to make future plans. Trust-building
measures are necessary. Exhibitions and plays often require contracts made years
in advance of the actual event.
It must be ensured that city theater, opera, and ballet institutions take all
appropriate economization measures that do not compromise their legal or
artistic responsibilities. To accomplish this, changes in legal structure are
necessary, most notably a transformation of the Staedtische Buehne to a
corporation.
The CDU was the first party in the Roemer to push for greater financial
independence for the city's museums. Under the catchphrase, "budgeting," other
parties have agreed with the concept-but their implementation of it has been, at
best, only half-hearted. Consequently, museums and other institutions now have
considerably fewer financial resources at their disposal than previously, as
they are often burdened with fixed costs. It is for this reason important that
the suggested administration reforms move forward. Realized savings must place
the institutions in good stead. The CDU's demand for a middle-term financing
plan for, at the very least, large institutions like the Staedtische Buehne was
also over by other parties, but like the plan for greater museum independence,
not implemented.
Frankfurt is not geographically isolated from other cultural centers; rather it
is in the middle of the Rhein-Main region, which has considerable offerings of
its own. Greater cooperation among the different cities in the region with
similar cultural institutions a worthy goal. We welcome the
Rhein-Main-Kultur-Initiative.
The city bears the primary responsibility for the Staedelschule. A new and
tolerable distribution of costs according to the
"Aufgaben- and Verursacherprinzips" has to be reached. The holds true for other
city institutes with national importanace, such as the Deutsches
Architeckturmuseum and the Deutsches Filmmuseum, as well as the Staedel. As the
city cannot fulfill these duties alone, the federal and state governments
should take on some of the responsibility as well.
We further support changes in tax legislation on both the federal and state
levels. The support of cultural life must be, in the eyes of the tax laws, equal
to the support of sporting activities. When the public coffers lack sufficient
funds to support cultural activities, private donations and gifts must compensate.
Inheritance and gift tax regulations should be formulated so as to incentive
contributions either to cultural institutions or to projects that bolster the
public good. In the end, the public will gain more through such contributions
than the state will temporarily lose in tax income.
Cultural institutions are also service industries. Hours of operation and
service must be accommodate patrons (e.g. within museum shops). Days when such
institutions are closed should be the exception, not the rule. The purchase of
entrance tickets should be further simplified. One good example is the
Staedtische Buehne's use of the Frankfurt Ticket GmbH to sell its tickets. More
patron-friendliness on the part of cultural institutions will, just as the
liberalization of laws regulating the closing times of cafes and restaurants,
lead to a more energetic city, one in which citizens both interact and identify
with its cultural offerings.
The CDU believes that the Schirn must be kept in its current form because of its
importance for international exhibitions in Frankfurt.
The Institut fuer Stadtgeschichte must be equipped to meet its needs and those of
potential patrons. The instiute has steadily expanded in the last several years,
largely because of the contributions of Frankfurt's citizens (e.g. the
Bethmann-Archiv). The incorporation of the previous "Bundesarchiv" rooms is just
one of several measures that can be taken.
Health
Our Goals:
· Treatment options and care provision structures must meet
contemporary needs.
· Self-help groups should be encouraged.
· City psychological care must be further developed.
· Geriatrics must be improved.
· The "Frankfurter Modell" in emergency services should be
continued.
· We demand isolation of those carrying life-threatening
infectious diseases.
The goals of the CDU's health policy on the city level are the securing of
optimal health and medical care for the citizenry, as well as counseling,
prevention, and health education. Quality, economy, and social responsibility
must also be achieved.
Positions
Public hospitals are in indispensable part of the provision of health services
within the city of Frankfurt. Ambulances and neighborhood clinics, as well as
day and night clinical services should be supported. This applies to palliative
care, which includes the construction of Hospices.
Self-help groups gain our support because of their worthy and successful work.
Neighborhood psychiatric care, including the psychiatric care for young people,
should be further developed.
The medical care of senior citizens should be, in both practice and in research,
bettered. The planned centers for neighborhood senior care facilities are to be
implemented.
The "Frankfurter Modell" in the field of relief and emergency services, seen
primarily in the professional fire department and relief organizations, has
proven itself and should be retained.
AIDS must be fought even on the city level. Education, counseling, and care are
top priorities.
Cancer prevention and care should be further improved. The newest medical
knowledge need to be incorporated into practice sooner.
Circulatory problems, rheumatism, diabetes, digestive problems and allergies are
the most common diseases. Institutions and counseling services that prevent and
treat these conditions should be supported.
The goal of our drug policy should be to help current addicts lead an independent
life without drugs. The CDU's drug policy thus has three objectives: prevention,
survival assistance, and withdrawal help. Self-help groups and drug abuse
clinics are indispensable to achieve these objectives.
The distribution of illegal drugs should remain illegal.
We support methodone clinics that help severely addicted heroin users to become
independent of the substance. This assistance must be consistently documented
and proven to lead to therapeutically contribute to the independence of heroin
users. For drug addicts ready to quit independence, temporary detoxification
spaces in hospitals and accompanying psychological counseling should be provided.
Residential and employment opportunities should be made readily available to such
individuals. And for severely sick drug addicts, for whom drug independence is no
longer a possibility, Hospices should be provided.
The city's drug help policy must be able to react quickly to changes in drug use
demographics (e.g. greater use of crack and other new drugs).
Alcoholics, who make up by far the largest percentage of substance abusers, as
well as nicotine and gambling addicts, should take a greater role in health
policy through prevention and therapeutic options.
As Frankfurt remains an international traffic center, isolation of those carrying
life-threatening infectious diseases, especially tropical diseases, is necessary.
Sport
Our Goals:
· The CDU will continue to support our city's sports teams,
their activities, and their facilities.
· The modernization plans of the Waldstadion, which we have
supported, should be continued to be critically supervised.
· Structural changes in sports should be observed and, when
necessary, incorporated into our sport support policies.
· The functionality of already existing sports facilities
takes priority for us over the construction of new facilities.
· The noble work of the employees of this city's sports teams
should be recognized through the city's support of them.
· We especially support sport initiatives geared toward the
youth, senior citizens, and the physically disabled.
Positions
As a sport city, the city of Frankfurt enjoys an incredible reputation beyond the
borders of the region. As with culture, sport is a local concern, and
significantly contributes to the economic attractiveness of the city.
The CDU in Frankfurt is obliged to provide first-class sport offerings and to
support sport activities on all levels-individual, team, competitive, and
leisure. Without sport teams and their activities, the exceptional sport life
in our city would not be possible. Thus, the CDU wants to devote its special
attention to sports teams, their assistances, and their facilities.
The modernization plans of the Waldstadion will be constructively criticized by
the CDU. A comprehensive traffic plan is an absolute prerequisite. As a location
of the 2006 World Cup, Frankfurt's sport life will take an elevated role.
The sport offerings in Frankfurt am Main are varied. When sports trends are
viewed more closely, changes in the content and organizational structure of
sports become visible. Of course, the classic team sports still exist. But there
is greater interest today in new sporting activities, making sporting life in
Frankfurt more lively and dynamic, and making it less dependent on the
traditional team structure. Fitness studios and other commercial groupings,
for example, have taken over some of the previous duties of teams. The CDU will
pay close attention to such new trends.
In light of the budget situation of the city, the CDU will ensure that, in the
coming years, the care and improvement of existing sports facilities will take
precedence over the construction of new facilities. The city must not only
ensure adequate sport spaces in the future, but must also ensure that these
spaces and facilities are functional. The CDU supports particularized, long-term
investment plans, in order to provide for this functionality.
Team sports continue to have an important social meaning. Teams and clubs offer
a wide variety of social engagement through the voluntary work of citizens. The
willingness of individuals to take such voluntary positions must be supported
through corresponding social recognition. Simultaneously, the voluntary workers
and assistants of the city's teams must also be given corresponding
responsibility. The transfer of responsibility for and authority over the city's
sports facilities to its teams and sports clubs has proven its effectiveness in
the past and will be supported in the future.
Investments in sports, especially in youth sports, are both contributions to
proactive protection of the youth as well as to the prevention of unwanted
social developments. The CDU will also support those offerings that open up
appropriate opportunities to participate in sporting to senior citizens and the
physically disabled.
The CDU will support the observations made from the marketing study for swimming
pools and sports facilities in order to raise the attractiveness and capacity of
their offerings.
Because of the current financial crisis, we want to investigate, whenever there
is a large event, whether the organizers of the event can take over costs
currently borne by the city. This holds for the use of police at large concerts
as well as for the open or hidden support of "sportlichen Profiunternehmen."
Budget, Staff, and Administration
Our Goals:
· A balanced budget and healthy financial structure is the
basis of the city's activities.
· The burdening of citizens and of the economy with taxes and
charges should be limited through efficiency.
· Use of tax income to pay off debt.
· To maintain participation of the city in the Frankfurt Messe
GmbH and in the Frankfurt International Airport AG.
· The development of the city administration into a modern,
efficient service-oriented enterprise.
· Until the year 2006, we want to put into place those
currently lacking administrative and social services offices.
· To examine which city services could be sensibly be
privatized.
Positions
The city of Frankfurt can only remain viable when its budget is balanced, and its
financial situation and administrative structure are healthy.
Thus, budget consolidation and administrative reform-both already successfully
begun-must be continued. A guiding philosophy in any changes is simple-residents
and businesses should only be burdened with taxes and governmental fees when
absolutely necessary. Only in this way can Frankfurt hope to improve its regional
and international position-by increasing the interest of businesses and other
enterprises in the city.
Responsible taxing and assessment of charges requires regular investigation into
whether all city services and actions continue to be justified. Only when city
costs are deemed to be necessary and unavoidable can tax increases be considered.
We should always continue to look for places where taxes and city charges can be
further reduced.
After 7 years of a Red-Green coalition, the city deficit at the end of 1999 was
the largest deficit borne by any large German city-nearly 4.3 billion Marks. The
yearly interest on this sum that had to be paid by the city was around 500
million Marks.
The ability of the Messe Frankfurt GmbH and of the Frankfurt International
Airport to have voices in their own destinies is particularly important. However,
selling the city's proportion of these enterprises is not an option.
The successfully begun reforms of the city government into a modern service
enterprise ("Konzern Stadt") must proceed. The goal here should be to create a
citizen- and business-friendly, competent, efficient, flexible, and
forward-looking administration. Important to accomplishing this goal is the
speedy implementation of contemporary information and communications technology,
as well as the completion of plans for future budgets.
Only with well-educated employees can these goals be reached. Thus we place great
emphasis on educational opportunities. Until the end of the 2001-2006 election
period, the planned, though not yet realized, Buergeraemter and Sozialrathaeuser
should be available to city residents.
The city government's administration must consistently check to ensure that its
services are current and whether there is continued demand for them.
Finally, the city government must always ask itself whether some of its services
are better performed by private enterprises than by the city government. Should
this such a change prove useful, appropriate transfers to private authorities
should take place. |
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Das politische Magazin von Fraktion und Kreisverband Frankfurt:
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