Press releases

The next meeting of the Citizens' Forum will take place next Tuesday, January 28, at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber of Aachen Town Hall. Two citizens' petitions will be discussed at the meeting.

The Aachen Alliance Against Nuclear Weapons has submitted a citizens' petition to the City of Aachen to name an inner-city square "Hiroshima Square". In addition, the alliance is requesting the erection of a memorial or a commemorative plaque, similar to the "Paths against Forgetting" project. With this initiative, the alliance would like to create a central location for commemorative events, for example to mark the anniversaries of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945. The applicants propose the square to the left of the entrance to the Citykirche in Großkölnstraße (passageway to the multi-storey parking lot) as the location. This should raise awareness of peace and disarmament and remind people of the devastating consequences of nuclear weapons.

In the second citizens' petition, residents of Schurzelter Straße in Aachen-Laurensberg draw attention to the high level of noise pollution and danger caused by traffic. The affected section of the road, which includes a 30 zone and is located in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and a retirement home, is often used as a shortcut between Richterich and Toledoring, according to residents. A noise map published by the city of Aachen shows that Schurzelter Straße is one of the noisiest inner-city streets, with measured values of up to 69 decibels - well above the limit values for residential areas. The applicants are calling for the road to be closed to through traffic, for example with retractable bollards. The aim is to divert traffic to the parallel Kackertstraße, which is better suited for this purpose. The residents are hoping for support from the Laurensberg district council and the citizens' forum to find a solution for the health and safety of those affected.

Dr. Simon Himmel, deputy head of the City of the Future and Citizens' Dialogue department, will also present the new "AachenPanel" at the meeting. The City of Aachen has launched the platform for representative, digital surveys to obtain representative opinions from citizens. This allows Aachen residents to regularly take part in surveys on topics such as mobility, climate, housing, education and digitalization and actively contribute to urban development. The aim of this opportunity is to achieve broad participation, especially from population groups that are often underrepresented in political discourse. To this end, 20,000 citizens from the population register were contacted and invited to take part. The platform is open to all residents of Aachen aged 16 and over. The surveys are published quarterly, evaluated anonymously and are intended to provide the basis for concrete options for action in the specialist departments of the city administration. The AachenPanel is linked to the state-wide "Participation NRW" platform and guarantees accessibility in order to enable the greatest possible participation.

All Aachen residents are cordially invited to take part in the Citizens' Forum meeting and join in the discussion. Everyone is welcome and every opinion is important. Further information on the meeting and the agenda items can be found in the council information system for citizens at aachen.de.