It's getting emptier and emptier

Free offers to attract customers to the city center

Trauerspiel in Linz's city center - many vacancies, fewer and fewer offers, resulting in ever lower customer frequency(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

The "Krone" report on the negative changes to the former boulevard of the provincial capital triggered numerous reactions. However, there is a lack of concrete ideas, but customers could be attracted with enticements such as free parking or public transport.

"Sooner or later, Landstrasse will become a mixture of kebab stalls and supermarkets. Politics has failed." Or: "I'm not surprised, there is already an overpriced short-term parking zone almost everywhere in Linz. In Wels, two hours costs just one euro, and in PlusCity or Lentia you can park for free and have everything under one roof. Politicians have simply messed this up." Our report in the Sonntagskrone about the disastrous state of the southern section of Linzer Landstraße - the section between the Goethe and Mozart crossroads - not only generated a lot of reader comments.

A "caretaker" for all involved is missing
City politicians also got in touch. "Linz's city center needs someone who is a point of contact for everyone involved, a 'caretaker'. We need to bring more customers back into the city center. We should also consider whether two hours of free parking and two hours of free public transport use would be useful to encourage more people to store in the city center again," says ÖVP city councillor Doris Lang-Mayrhofer, who is responsible for culture, tourism and the creative industries and has also been in charge of the markets in her department for the past three years.

"There are also things that work"
"There definitely needs to be clear responsibility for revitalizing the city centre." She cites an example from her own department: "We connected all five Advent markets in Linz with a Christmas train. This was used by 8000 visitors. So there are things that work." As reported, Cityring chairman Matthias Wied-Baumgartner is also calling for a better quality of stay.

People need to be encouraged to come shopping in the city center again. Parking certainly plays a major role here.

Doris Lang-Mayrhofer, Stadträtin für Kultur und Tourismus

The south should be different from the north
According to a city center concept presented in November last year, the southern part of Landstrasse should be seen as a separate area. This is to be "tidied up", for example the large number of sausage stands on Schillerplatz are to be replaced by a pavilion. The south is to be geared more towards gastronomic offerings, as this is already a strength.