Mayor Schwenke was in the Bieberer Berg and Buchhügel districts

The Lord Mayor emphasized that the establishment of different sectors is important in order to strengthen Offenbach as a business location in the long term. In addition to technology and the creative industries, services with offices are also of central importance. The city center, the port and Kaiserlei offer ideal conditions for this. Offenbach is now in demand as a location - companies appreciate the good connections and the short distances, including in matters of approval. Economic development does not happen by chance, there is work, a plan and many discussions behind it, emphasized Schwenke. It is important to keep existing companies in the city and to create the conditions for new companies to settle here. The city has recently achieved some successes in this regard: The valve manufacturer Samson with 2,000 jobs and the biotech company BioSpring will settle in the new Offenbach Innovation Campus in the east of the city. The creative industries are also important for Offenbach, various creative agencies have their headquarters in Nordend and the University of Art and Design will have a new location with the new building at the harbor. The company Advanced - a German e-bike company - which sells more than 100,000 bicycles per year, is moving to the port. "It is important for the city to attract companies from various sectors to Offenbach. Because we need jobs for both highly and low-skilled workers," emphasized the Lord Mayor.

At the same time, the city is committed to ensuring that the federal and state governments pay their social bills. The costs of social spending should be distributed in such a way that the federal and state governments bear the majority of the costs and not the local authorities, demanded Schwenke.

Other key issues of city policy for the Lord Mayor include the development of the city center, affordable housing, climate and environmental protection as well as a good education and transport infrastructure.

An elderly lady asked about the reasons for the closure of bus route 106, as the measure had had a major impact on her mobility. Mayor Dr. Schwenke explained that there had been an extremely high increase in public transport costs. The subsidies should have risen from around 6.5 million euros per year to around 18 million euros in the long term while maintaining the same level of service. In accordance with a decision by the city council, the subsidies for local public transport were then limited to 13 million euros per year. Anja Georgi, Managing Director of NiO and OVB, added that "half a million kilometers had to be cut in order to save costs. Unfortunately, line 106 was one of them." But feedback from citizens would be taken into account in the new local transport plan, which is about to be decided. "At the moment, our hands are tied financially. As soon as we have more money available, we will increase the frequency of the lines again," concludes Georgi. Outside of peak times, it makes little sense to use smaller buses, as these would have to be purchased first. And these also need bus drivers - personnel costs are the biggest factor in public transport. Moreover, they are not needed during the day, explained Anja Georgi to a visitor who wanted to make a suggestion for saving costs in this way.

A woman asked about a crosswalk in the Hessenring area at a stop on bus route 108. Jan Schmidbauer, Deputy Head of the Office for Mobility, is looking into the installation of a crosswalk. The location was marked on a city map for this purpose. Further markings were made on the map in the area of Valentin-Unkelbach-Weg to show potholes. The mayor promised to look into repairing these. Ivonne Gerdts, Head of the Office for Mobility, answered questions about the bicycle counting station. Seven of them have been installed as funded projects by the state of Hesse and their locations have been coordinated with the city.

Another visitor called for the use of a "quieter" surface on the asphalt. Christian Loose, in his role as deputy operations manager of the ESO, which is responsible for maintaining the roads, explained that road safety had been maintained and that no further measures were required. The bumps at the new police headquarters were caused by temperature fluctuations and earth movements. This could only be changed with a fundamental renovation, which would be very costly.

Many of those present reported raccoons. The animals are spreading more and more and are becoming increasingly aggressive in their search for food and shelter. The Lower Hunting Authority in the Public Order Office provides advice on the subject. Raccoons were released at Lake Edersee in the 1930s, from where they found their way south. They have no natural enemies in Europe. Head of the public order office Frank Weber advises making it as uncomfortable as possible for the intruders. This includes loud noises to drive them away, structural measures on facades and roofs to prevent them from climbing up and securing garbage cans to prevent the omnivores from finding food. Weber admitted that the legal situation only allows for consultations in this regard. "Nevertheless, the employees of the public order office are happy to visit citizens in person on request and take a look at the situation on site. In many cases, chimney seals have already led to success. Castration of male animals, as suggested by some of those present, is not possible - trapped animals should not be released. Trapping is also extremely difficult. It is not permitted to put out medicine because it cannot be ensured that only raccoons eat it.

Some homeowners complained about poorly executed construction work for the fiber optic lines to their homes. In some cases, the surface had not been properly sealed or payment had been demanded for the house connection. Lord Mayor Dr. Schwenke explained that the city council had fought hard for free fiber optic expansion in Offenbach and confirmed that funding was available: "Fiber optic expansion is free of charge in Offenbach. It is regulated that the road should be restored to the condition it was in before. Where this does not work, please let us know and we will take care of it." Christian Loose asked for corresponding reports with attached photos to infoeso-offenbachde or to the defect reporter. "The ESO has taken over the construction supervision. It is primarily Telekom subcontractors who are carrying out this work. They have to restore the condition," says Loose.

Regarding speed measurements on Bieberer Straße, Frank Weber explained the regular mobile measurements carried out by the public order office. The legal requirements for a stationary system, such as accident blackspots or local schools and daycare centers, were not met at the location. Weber offered to install a measuring device that measures 24 hours a day, one week in the city and one week out of the city, in order to record clusters at certain times. The speed could then be monitored on a mobile basis as required. Jan Schmidbauer from the Office for Mobility disagreed with the introduction of a speed limit. A speed limit of 50 km/h is generally prescribed on a main road. This is an inner-city main road with no schools or daycare centers nearby, which would be a legal requirement for a 30 km/h speed limit.

Some of those present complained about litter at Bieber station. Christian Broos, head of the Stabsstelle Sauberes Offenbach (Clean Offenbach Stabsstelle), is investigating whether it is necessary to install more litter bins. Broos advises the use of the defect detector. The 48-hour garbage removal guarantee applies to larger accumulations of garbage such as bulky waste. Many of those present confirmed that the removal works within a very short time.

Regarding the status of the expansion of the section of the B448 connecting road, the Lord Mayor said that the development plan process would start at the end of the year. Citizens criticized the fact that a second cycle path was being planned parallel to the cycle path in Leonhard-Eißnert Park along the connecting road, which would require a considerable number of trees to be felled. The mayor emphasized that the Environmental Agency had previously argued to him that cutting down trees for another cycle path after the compensatory measures had been implemented was less of a problem from an environmental and species protection perspective than the lighting of the cycle path in Leonhard-Eißnert Park and the associated light pollution.

Some citizens were concerned about the increase in traffic and the future groundwater supply. They wondered whether the designation of new development areas was justifiable. In order to keep housing reasonably affordable, the designation of residential areas was necessary, explained the mayor. Regarding the water consumption of the data centers, the mayor explained that the Hessian building regulations (HBO) unfortunately do not stipulate that data centers may only be operated with closed water systems or by making their waste heat available. For this reason, the data center on Lämmerspieler Weg had to be approved. The city was able to influence the approval of the data center on the Akzo Nobel site, as planning permission first had to be obtained for the desired dimensions of the building. The City of Offenbach approved the size on the condition that the waste heat is used, the façade is greened, solar panels are installed on the roof and a closed water circuit is built for cooling.

Some of those present emphasized that they very much enjoyed living in Offenbach. They emphasized the dynamic development that has taken place in the city in recent years. This was also reflected by visitors who "have a completely new image of Offenbach."