Gottenheim’s mayor turns to citizens online to replace the New Year’s reception.
. Water in the new kindergarten, a community development concept (GEK), the redesign of the town center near the train station, problems with the S-Bahn or an unsuitable cycle path to Umkirch – there would be plenty of topics for intensive discussions at the New Year’s reception. But since this is not possible, Mayor Christian Riesterer addresses the citizens via video.
“It was clear that the New Year’s reception would be canceled due to the pandemic. But it was very important to me that, despite everything, I address our fellow citizens with a New Year’s address”, Riesterer explains the reason for the on the homepage and in the specially set up YouTube tube -Channel publish movie. That would only have been possible in writing in the official gazette, but “the spoken word is simply even more personal”. There were and still are many topics in Gottenheim that the head of the community would have liked to discuss with the residents over a glass of wine.
Much has been initiated and developed in the past few years. Other things have been initiated and are on the agenda for the coming years. And then there are construction sites such as the late and noisy S-Bahn or the further construction of the B 31 West, where the community can only become active itself to a limited extent. But Riesterer emphasizes in the current Corona crisis: “The message that there is also an afterwards is particularly important to me. We all have to think about what will happen afterwards and actively plan it. We have to reactivate our village culture, I definitely want to avoid it that this pandemic has long-term consequences for our very active village life and our culture “.
Here, too, the mayor misses the contact at the New Year’s reception, but also the meetings in the village. But he can also imagine putting a video message on the network parallel to the New Year’s reception and on other occasions. “I think that this was not my last video message. The format is very suitable. The digital form of communication will certainly play a more important role in the future.”
An example of this, according to Riesterer, is the “very successful digital start” of the participation process for the new GEK. Here you can discuss topics that are important to the people of Gottenheim online at Zukunft-gottenheim.de. The mayor still hopes for a lot of civic engagement. Even if he makes it clear: “In the new year 2021 we also have to drive on sight. Despite all the restraint and frugality, our municipal budget shows a deficit. We will nevertheless invest around 4.7 million euros in our infrastructure and our development”.
The effort for his video on the Internet was kept within limits, says Riesterer, who is already looking forward to the first positive feedback. “I shot the video myself, there were two versions, of which I opted for the one that has now been published. No script, no mask, just put the mobile phone video on and go. Everything live and without editing. The video should be authentic. At the New Year’s reception my speech is also live and cannot be edited “.
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