One of the interesting findings of recent years is that the authority responsible for traffic can make very conscious decisions about the closure of roads or the construction of cycle paths and is able to determine to the centimeter where each resident parking zone begins and where it ends - but that she apparently has little control over what happens on the city's sidewalks.
If a company has the idea of using this public space with a new mobility offer that supposedly serves the general public, then the so-called street furniture increases, in recent years for example by various e-scooter providers. But their scooters have been standing and lying all over the place for a long time, mostly in places where there is already a lot going on. And now two providers want to delight the city with 2000 more rental bikes, which can then also be parked here and there.
The traffic authority argues that one is bound by federal laws, and one wants to ensure that these are changed in such a way that more order comes out of chaos. That sounds a little like the responsibility mikado around the summer of flying - if you move and want to change something about the situation, you lose.
Many restaurant owners in Hamburg probably wish very much that their interests were also dependent on a federal regulation, because if they want to use the footpaths for tables and chairs, even the length and type of a protective awning is checked by the directly responsible district office during controls. One hope can actually only be derived from all of this for Germany's starving athletics: It is quite likely that Hamburg will be able to deliver several perfect 400-meter hurdlers in a few years.
