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Who will move into the town hall? On Sunday, Hainburg will elect a new mayor. Archi © Bonifer (Archive)
Three candidates have applied for the office of mayor in Hainburg. Shortly before the election, they will answer questions again.
Hainburg – It is the final stretch before the mayoral election in Hainburg, and yet there are still questions from readers after our panel discussion last week. We have forwarded these to the three candidates Nico Peters (SPD), Christian Spahn (CDU) and Rukiye Tunc (independent). We have summarized the answers to some of the questions:
Experience
The candidates could hardly have more different starting points. Reader Lars Weigand therefore asks what local political experience they have and what qualifies them to be mayor. Spahn has been gathering voluntary and full-time experience in local politics for almost 20 years, not least as First Deputy Mayor.
Entrepreneur Tunc says she has “the commitment to tackle the challenges facing the municipality of Hainburg as mayor and to shape the municipality in a positive way.”
Administrative specialist Peters has been involved in the SPD for a long time and has also chaired the Hainburg Social Democrats. From April 2021 to February 2022 he was a member of the municipal council for the SPD.
Independent candidate Rukiye Tunc. © Private
Finance
Reader Lars Weigand also asks how the candidates view the municipality’s financial situation. The SPD candidate speaks of “solid financial management” but would like to see more willingness to invest. Hainburg’s financial situation “could and should be better,” says Rukiye Tunc.
Spahn, on the other hand, stressed that the municipality is well positioned. No loans were taken out for projects that have been completed, and the long-term loans have even been almost completely repaid. The municipality is “well prepared thanks to the solid financial policy of recent years.”
Children and young people
Reader Sebastian Korb is concerned with the concepts surrounding child and youth work. Tunc demands that age-appropriate care and education for children and young people should be “re-planned and expanded”. They should also be integrated into all concepts “by arousing interest and attention”.
For the Christian Democrat, care is also a top priority “with modern facilities, well-trained and motivated staff.” Social participation of young people is another key word that Spahn mentions.
SPD candidate Nico Peters. © Private
Educator for daycare centers
Hainburg’s SPD chairman Holger Reining is interested in concrete measures to remedy the shortage of educators. Christian Spahn plans to work with the providers to further expand training places, promote an increase in working hours, qualify career changers and promote loyalty to the institution “through even better team building”. SPD candidate Nico Peters “is thinking of a project in cooperation with the Kreuzburg School and possibly surrounding schools”. The profession of educator should be presented to the graduating classes in order to promote it.
The non-partisan Rukiye Tunc would also pursue similar goals to her two competitors and, in addition to retraining, also relies on fair pay and improved working conditions.
Direct candidate questions
Claudia Troha (CDU) formulates her question to Social Democrat Nico Peters after studying his leaflets: “Why should the people of Hainburg vote for you at all if everything is going well overall?” Peters replies that one can both point out the good things and also have suggestions for improvement, “through other perspectives, ideas, approaches”.
Holger Reining turns directly to Rukiye Tunc and her idea of setting up a youth farm: How should the facilities described there be financed and which plots of land should be used for this? Tunc does not give any specific ideas in response, but lists in general terms that suitable vacant properties should be explored and developed for social purposes, financed by grants or investors.
CDU-Candidate Christian Spahn. © p
Meanwhile, the issue of “de-piped Werniggraben” is on the minds of Green politicians. Both Ilka Simon and Cliff Hollmann asked Christian Spahn specific questions about it: the Christian Democrat is promoting the project in his election manifesto. According to Simon, however, the municipality has allowed “the path over the piped stream to be tarred and the development plan to be changed so that another planned building would prevent the renaturation.” Spahn responded that renaturation could only take place in cooperation with the property owners. This is always “part of the ongoing discussions on further development in this area.”
In response to Hollmann, the Christian Democrat also stressed: “If the Werniggrabe pipe removal is tackled, the use of funding will of course also be examined.” (Yvonne Fitzenberger)
