The Moroccan Cultural Association, located on Bonner Straße, had planned a move to Weststraße on the grounds of the old city public works complex. There were plans to build a mosque with prayer rooms for men downstairs and for women upstairs, along with other rooms used for schooling, language classes, a library and intercultural events.

Businesses in the commercial and industrial area had expressed concern that the planned 21 parking spaces for the center would not be enough to accommodate visitors, especially when the prognosis was for more than 350 guests every Friday. The already tight parking situation would be exacerbated, blocking parking spaces that are now used by the businesses. For these reasons, the Mayor called for an information session with business owners in the area. The city released a statement on Thursday, saying “We discussed various aspects of the project with the businesses.” The city said it would examine the arguments of business owners and inform about its findings.

According to some of those present at Thursday’s session, the Mayor expressed the opinion that the industrial park should stay just that - a commercial area. The move was initiated at a time when he was not yet in office. It was Sridharan who said the city would consider whether there were alternative locations.

One business owner suggested considering that the Moroccan association move into the King Fahd Academy, which will be vacated in 2017. The Moroccan association had already expressed to GA some time ago, however, that they found this idea absurd. They have plans from an architect to use the area and buildings in Weststraße. Their reaction, “We are very surprised by the way, that up until now the Mayor has not allowed us to present him our plans.” They also expressed disappointment that they were not invited to speak at the information session.

Stadtwerke Bonn (SWB) is the city public utilities company and owner of the property. They told GA, “The decision on selling the property was made in the summer of 2015 based on purely financial criteria. Back then, the SWB Board of Directors took the highest bid.” Further, the entire deal is not yet done because it is connected to the buyer being able to get a building permit.

A police spokesman confirmed that a participant in the information session had been threatened, and that the incident had been reported to state protection authorities but it was not a criminal offense. The Moroccan Cultural Association stressed that it had nothing to do with the incident.(Original text: Ayla Jacob, Frank Vallender)