Dirt situation in Bonn Annoyance over dog poo and butts in the old town
Bonn · In freshly planted flowerbeds in Bonn's old town you can find cigarette butts and dog poo. Nothing unusual, says the city spokesperson, but there are other problems too.
Cycling is healthy and good for the environment. But a bicycle is also a means of transport that has to be parked somewhere. It is unpleasant when this happens in a newly planted flower bed. A user of the Facebook page "You come from Bonn when ..." posted this observation: A bicycle had been standing on the freshly planted tree slice in front of the Irish Pub John Barleycorn, the former Bierhaus Machold, and the owner had accepted that this would destroy the young shrubs.
In addition, there were already butts and dog excrement in it, he writes. "This was financed by our tax money and I think it's a pity." For the tree grates have been planted by the city, which the author expressly praises. An ornamental cherry was inserted into an existing bed and supplemented by shrubs close to the ground. This is one of many replacement plantings that the city decided on and put out to tender last year. Sometimes, due to construction work, sewer renovations, the laying of connections and similar measures, tree grates have to be removed. Some of them cannot be replanted in the same place afterwards, so compensatory sites have to be found.
When it was still the Machold, there were two trees on both sides of the street at the corner of Heerstraße/Im Krausfeld, which have now been removed and replaced by new plantings. Now there are numerous cigarette butts lying there, and you can also see dog poo, not a pretty sight. However, Marc Hoffmann from the press office of the city of Bonn informs us that this is not an exception, but a regrettable standard. After all, he says, there are rarely other incidents of the calibre that recently occurred in Südstadt: there, someone had uprooted an entire tree, which the city then replaced.
No safe place to lock up your bike
Bicycles parked in the flowerbed are not seen all the time either. But you do see bikes chained to the protective bars, and Hoffmann warns: "The bars are supposed to prevent vehicles from driving over the tree grates in whole or in part, or even from parking there, but: "The tree protection bars are not set in concrete, they are stuck about 50 to 70 centimetres deep in the ground of the tree grate. This means that they can be pulled out of the ground. "That's why the municipality regularly calls out and points out not to use the tree guards to tie up bicycles or the like."
Hoffmann also explains why they are not set in concrete: You would need two foundations on each side of the tree slice, which would further restrict the root area of the trees and the underplanting. "On the other hand, the tree guards can be erected again without much effort after being touched by a motor vehicle during a parking operation.
If the hoops were set in concrete, they would be damaged and would have to be repositioned at great expense. This way, the bars usually give way on contact with a car, but remain largely undamaged. So if you really want to be on the safe side, you should lock your bike somewhere else. Furthermore, the city can only appeal to dog owners and smokers to pick up excrement and butts.
(Original text: Stefan Knopp; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
