Refugee accommodation in Brauweiler

 

On Saturday (May 12th) I received an informational email from TuS (gymnastics and sports club) Schwarz-Weiß Brauweiler 1951 e.V., which was addressed to all club members! This email informed you that

“that the city of Pulheim has informed us that the new triple gymnasium at the Abteigymnasium will no longer be available for sports from May 13th, 2024. Preparations for the upcoming accommodation of refugees will begin there.
.........

“Unfortunately, efforts to find alternative solutions have not been successful to date. “We therefore have to deal with the hall closure for the time being.”

This has arrived, and exactly what was planned by the city of Pulheim from the beginning and what was implemented both in the meeting of the Committee for Real Estate and Building Construction in the Council Chamber on April 25th, 2024, and in the information event in the Köstersaal in Pulheim on was presented on April 29, 2024. All citizens' objections that the triple gymnasium of the Brauweiler Abtei-Gymnasium must definitely continue to be available to students and clubs and that another option for refugee accommodation should be sought remained unheard and unheeded! All the efforts and commitment of citizens, teachers and residents have brought nothing!!! That's exactly how I imagined it and didn't expect anything different! Whatever has been decided by the city of Pulheim will be carried out! No chance! Even if it is said that the gymnasium should be reopened for school and club sports as quickly as possible if the refugees can be accommodated elsewhere... we will see when in the distant future this promise will be implemented!

To give NON-Brauweiler citizens an insight into what the situation looks like on site, some photos are attached! They show the triple gym, which is located very close to the cafeteria of the Abtei-Gymnasium and directly to the bicycle parking lot and the parking spaces for cars. In addition, the triple gymnasium on Donatusstrasse is located directly opposite the LVR Donatus School “for children aged 6 and over who suffer from disabilities and receive support in motor skills, perception, language and cognition in order to achieve the best possible development of school ability, independence and satisfaction to reach. The diverse clinical pictures and impairments require a high level of care and therapy….”

Almost directly next to the triple gym on Donatusstrasse there is a two-story living container that has been housing refugees for a few years. A second living container has now been dismantled and removed! As I was informed, there are still around 50 refugees living in this container! Including the triple gymnasium, there will probably be 150 refugees who will be accommodated at this location in Brauweiler!

So if the Brauweiler triple gymnasium can no longer be used for school sports and for the Brauweiler clubs, the city of Pulheim must provide alternative options and look for other sports halls for shared use! Means the students have to be driven from school to these alternative halls and from there back to school! This results in costs! All club members also have to expect longer journeys! There are also costs associated with this! Probably for how many years???

An example:

 

The sports hall in Pulheim on Nordring/Escher Straße was closed for school sports and clubs at the end of 2023 (?) due to the accommodation of refugees! The members of the PSC (Pulheimer Sport-Club) inline skater hockey team trained there regularly and played home games against teams from other towns and cities! Both training and home games for this sports group were canceled due to the closure! After a long search, a training opportunity has now been found in another hall! However, no home games can be played in this hall! Means... parents have to shuttle their children (+/- ten years old!) to other cities for ALL games! An enormous burden of additional petrol money, and with these currently high petrol prices!!! Not to mention the extra time spent on parents and kids and everything else! It's all just pathetic!

If I remember correctly, 13.5 MILLION euros are available for the refugee problem in Pulheim! And what costs and how much will be incurred due to all the “circumstances” that arise from the refugee problem??? And over what period or for how many years??? I don't even want to think about it!

On Sunday (May 5th) I received a letter from IG Sportplatz Bernhardstrasse for information “to the factions represented in the Pulheim city council... with the request that it be forwarded to all council members”.

Some excerpts from this letter:

 

This once again drew attention to the concerns and needs of the citizens and residents, which were presented in detail on the two evenings mentioned above in the council chamber and the Köstersaal! And it has repeatedly been clearly noted that citizens were NOT involved in the refugee accommodation, but were presented with a fait accompli and that citizens feel helpless, which leads to anger and annoyance! Although anger is not a good advisor! And the IG Sportplatz Bernhardstraße asked the parliamentary groups in the council: “Imagine personally if accommodation for up to three hundred refugees were built in your neighborhood. How would you feel? ... It is incomprehensible that in the future around 50% of the refugees living in municipal accommodation will then be accommodated in mass accommodation in Brauweiler alone. ... Please do your utmost to ensure that the decision is only made at a later council meeting and not on May 7th, 2024!”

The issue of refugee accommodation in Brauweiler continues to be a hot topic, which I can understand very well! Hardly anyone accepts what is planned by the city of Pulheim and presented to the citizens of Brauweiler and residents of the refugee accommodation as tested and given! A clear NO to the entire planning! All the effort, all the suggestions for change, the hope for change, all the worries, hardships and fears for the future, the loss of the future quality of life of the residents of refugee accommodation over many years... nothing was really taken into account and accepted by the city of Pulheim during the planning! And probably nothing will change! Everything will probably be carried out exactly as planned and decided by the Pulheim city committees and as it was presented and explained to the citizens over and over again on two evenings! And I cautiously suspect that the Pulheim City Council will also support this proposed plan for the City of Pulheim! What should he do differently about the urgent refugee problem? Nothing is likely to change!?? Let's wait and see! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that EVERYTHING turns out well for EVERYONE! The next few days will bring a decision about the future of many citizens and residents! And we have to live with this decision, whether we like it or not!!!