Today in Rhine-Main: Interdependencies between AWO and SPD: CDU calls for "complete clarification"

Good evening, a mediation that the majority of the participants declare to have failed,
a mayoral candidate under pressure and a hygiene centre for people for whom nothing can be taken for granted in everyday life – the news from the Rhine-Main region at a glance.

Marie Lisa Kehler

Deputy head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Failed reconciliation: "We consider mediation to have failed." To record such a sentence in a statement, it takes anger – and courage. Employees of the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK) carry both. In 2022, the city had offered the workforce an accompanied mediation after the discord between the employees and director Susanne Pfeffer had increased. At the time, the employees had accused Pfeffer of a lack of trust and poor communication. In addition, there were complaints about a lack of teamwork, disrespect, abuse of power and assault. Seven mediation talks followed. The city, mediator, director and staff evaluate their success differently, as our author Christoph Schütte writes.

Demand for enlightenment: It is no secret that even political experts find it difficult to make a prognosis as to who will win the run-off election for the mayor's office in Frankfurt on March 26. The decision falls between Uwe Becker (CDU) and Mike Josef (SPD). Josef has now announced that, if elected, he will reverse the merger of various authorities in the town hall into one large organization called "Hauptamt und Stadtmarketing". Politics and administration would have to be strictly separated in the town hall again, connections between the mayor's office and the offices would have to be severed and positions advertised and awarded according to qualifications. The main office was a "marketing machine" of Feldmann and has facilitated corruption since the creation of the office in 2017, Josef notes.

The announcement is not without reason: Josef is reacting to the latest developments in the AWO complex. Because against Tarkan Akman, until a few days ago still head of the main office, has been charged by the public prosecutor's office in Frankfurt for accepting advantages. Akman faces accusations of abusing his position and getting his sister jobs at the Workers' Welfare Association. For the CDU, the indictment against the head of the main office is proof of "links between the Frankfurt SPD and the AWO." It calls for further, complete clarification. Are all the facts about the SPD's connections to the Frankfurt Workers' Welfare Association now on the table? And with what demands does the CDU approach Josef, who is also party chairman of the SPD Frankfurt? Manfred Köhler and Bernhard Biener have compiled answers to these questions.

Hygiene centre for people without residence: A shower in the evening can help to wash off the day, no matter how bumpy it may have been. In the morning, it makes it easier to start the day. People who live on the streets do not have this opportunity. Personal hygiene, no matter how sporadic, often becomes a logistical challenge. A "hygiene centre" has now been built in the courtyard of the Weser5 Diakoniezentrum. In the future, people without a place of residence will be able to shower or use the toilet here. Showers, washbasins and toilet cabins are housed in newly built containers. It is only a temporary solution. Because there are plans to build such a center at the main station.