A suddenly removed ‘loading zone’ in front of a business on Koloniestraße in Vienna’s Floridsdorf district made headlines on the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ORF) programme ‘Bürgeranwalt’ (Ombudsman) thanks to Ombudsman Christoph Luisser. The programme raised suspicions that the nearby Islamic Cultural Centre needed parking spaces.
Was a ‘loading zone’ stolen from a business owner with 20 employees because a nearby mosque demanded parking space for its visitors? The Ombudsman’s Office had evidence that a neighbouring mosque was behind the residents’ complaint that led to the removal of the loading zone, Luisser said on the ‘Bürgeranwalt’ programme on February 14.
The representative of the MA 46 (transport affairs) authority did not contradict this account, but said that it was not actually a loading zone that had been removed, but a delivery zone. This had been set up to improve visibility at the intersection. However, following measures taken by the transport authority, this delivery zone was no longer necessary. ‘That’s not true,’ said Stefan Just, managing director of Franz Just & Söhne, on the ‘Bürgeranwalt’ programme. Since the delivery zone was removed, there have already been two accidents at this intersection.
For Stefan Just, the situation following the dissolution of the delivery zone is unacceptable. Lorries have to stop in the second lane when making deliveries, and it is dangerous for employees to leave the company premises due to poor visibility caused by parked cars.
Just said that when he asked the City of Vienna why the ‘loading zone’ had been closed without notice, he was told that his company had not existed for 20 years anyway. In fact, however, the man has been supplying the City of Vienna, among others, to date and has always paid municipal tax to the municipal authority over the past 20 years!
The entrepreneur (a fourth-generation stamp factory) now has to fork out a lot of money for the incomprehensible actions of MA 46. According to the transport authority, Mr Just would have to pay €4,000 for signs and road markings for the newly requested delivery zone, which would be approved. ‘There is currently a wave of bankruptcies sweeping the country, so a business-friendly approach towards a family business that has been in existence since 1912 would be appropriate,’ demanded Ombudsman Luisser.
The case is also causing a stir in the Floridsdorf district of Vienna. FPÖ district party chairman and member of the state parliament Wolfgang Irschik told unzensuriert:
The fact that the City of Vienna apparently assumes that a business has closed down, even though it has been in operation for decades, is a bureaucratic farce. This incident also fits in with the scandalous destruction of parking spaces by the red-pink city government.
Unternehmer entsetzt: „Ladezone“ ohne Vorwarnung aufgelöst – Unzensuriert