Discussions about the party mile
The sand area is the heart of bamberg. Here the city pulsates, here the tourists roam the streets during the day, then in the evening the sand fills up with the younger people who want to go out and have their drink. Standig is something going on. And there are also those who live there, who are especially bothered by the nightly arm and alcohol level of the visitors to the area. This conflict, which has been smoldering for a long time, came up again during a walk through the district by the administration led by mayor andreas stark (SPD).
For example, a business owner speaks up right at the beginning of the tour, describing that he has been observing problems with night owls for a long time – several times a week. "I always see people who pee everywhere and leave the gauze." Vomiting is also not uncommon. Sometimes it is like a "cloaca" in the sandy area on sunday morning, which he finds particularly unfortunate, especially in view of the appearance of the city for tourists strolling through the sandstrabe on sunday. "I always clean up, says the businessman, who prefers not to be named because his shop window has already been graffitied once.
More alarm at the pile?
In addition to the issue of suspicion, the residents on the district tour also complain about the noise that still reigns in the sand even after the curfew has ended. A resident complains to thomas schreiber, head of the bamberg-stadt police department. He is sometimes not taken seriously by police officers on the phone. Another calls for more police patrols, as does city councilor andreas reub (GAL), who claims to have identified a new larm and pollution focus at pfahlplatzchen.
Police chief schreiber clarifies that additional patrols by officers are not possible in terms of personnel: "i can no longer represent more police patrols." The officers are already "fully booked by offenses such as disturbance of the peace, family disputes or brawls, to which they are called at night. Patrols were only driven in cars through the sandy streets to get to a possible operation more quickly. Schreiber pointed out that last year the number of patrols in the sand area was just over 250, this year there are already 130 patrols.
The "booze tourism" is identified as the major problem. In addition to the peaceful guests, certain groups of revelers also come to the sand area, who are not welcomed by the police or restaurateurs.
Efforts of the landlords
However, the increase in the number of incidents apparently also has something to do with the efforts of the restaurateurs to get the guests in the sand area to be as considerate as possible. So now securitys guard the local. However, the powers of the security guards are limited. Florian muller, chairman of the hotel and restaurant association and operator of the ahornla in the upper sandstrabe, describes the dilemma facing restaurateurs. Thus one does not let certain people at all into the gaststatte, these remained then on the strabe standing. But the securitys were not allowed to intervene in public space and therefore had to call the police in case of problems. "If we call the police, it will be blamed on us afterwards in the statistics, however." Muller fundamentally questions deployment figures. So for each individual case, it is actually necessary to look at when and why exactly the officers were called to the sand area.
The attraction of bamberg leads to conflicts between residents and night owls, especially in summer. A solution that all involved can live with seems to be difficult – but those involved want to stay in the conversation. "That we all have to compromise is obvious", OB stark makes clear. The discussion about the mileage was allowed to continue.
