First, the positive. In spring, the pansies bloom in front of the Beethovenhalle and when lights flicker at regular intervals near the Rheinaue on balmy summer evenings, it is not a staged art installation but a million year old human fondness for ending the day with a campfire. But Bonners are also time and again offered something new on “their” river. In the last 20 years there has been a new “Bonner Bogen” on the site of the former cement factory, a new Beuel Rhine promenade, which, incidentally, is a barrier to floodwater, and most recently a “new” Alter Zoll.

So everything is fine? On closer inspection, weaknesses do not remain hidden for long. There is no point searching for a public toilet on the long path through the Rheinaue. Above all, however, it is the section around the Kennedy Bridge that has been identified recently as a source of concern time and again. A lack of waste bins, rubbish lying around and the use of benches for nightly alcoholic excesses are continual topics in readers’ letters pages. Particularly in the evenings, when the lighting leaves a lot to be desired and the smell of shisha pipes gets trapped under the bridge arches, many Bonners start to be wary of their Rhine promenade.

This is also how Werner Hümmrich, who grew up on the Fritz-Schroeder bank, feels. As head of the FDP parliamentary group, he has been speaking regularly for some time now about the banks of the Rhine. “The city is turning its back on the Rhine, pure dreariness prevails on the Rhine promenade,” he complains. The Rhine promenade between the Beethovenhalle and the Alter Zoll, exactly where you enter the city centre, has the qualities of a backyard. Almost nothing has changed since the 1960s. And Hümmrich does not mean this as a compliment to preserving the traditional.

Projects in the Bonn masterplan

It is undisputed that something really has to change. The question is when and how to pay for it. Nothing has arrived in Bonn from the “Regionale 2010” funds. The redesign of the area beneath the Beethovenhalle was initially part of the architect’s plans for a new festival hall but also disappeared from view with its failure. Despite this, there has long been a “Masterplan for Bonn city centre” which gives special significance to the promenades. A total of five projects are tucked away in a drawer. And with one exception, that is where they will stay until at least 2020. According to the city, they want, “to implement project building blocks in stages.” There is one consolation: at least the first project has been agreed and should be finished by the end of 2019, before the Beethoven anniversary year.

Route to the Rhine: Specifically, by then, Bonners and their guests can look forward to a lift that will give direct access at the Alter Zoll from the Rhine promenade and the city garden to Adenauerallee. Moving the pedestrian traffic light at the Koblenzer Tor should also make the route between the city centre and the river more obvious.

Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Haus: The city says, if possible, the outdoor areas of his Bonn residence should be restored for the 250 birthday of the author, historian and freedom fighter.

Brassertufer: the problem area dominated by concrete and asphalt in front of the opera will not be radically rebuilt before 2020. However, the city administration is planning restoration works to “significantly improve the appearance of this section of the bank.”

Erzberger Ufer: at the Hilton Hotel, paths are to be worked over in the medium term and holes in the hedges closed and the concrete tubs removed and replaced by metal bollards.

Fritz-Schroeder-Ufer: According to the masterplan, the concrete tubs are also to disappear here, the benches replaced and the footpath slabs restored.

(Original text: Rüdiger Franz. Translated by Kate Carey)