Frankfurt – Are you an outsider – or perhaps a threat to the candidates of the established parties? Three independent candidates for the office of mayor do not fit the usual pattern.
BILD presents the three curious candidates.
Bahnbabo lives on 50 square meters
A big grin, a brush haircut, considerable muscles – that’s how you know him, the Bahnbabo. Frankfurt’s best-known tram driver Peter Wirth (61) will run on March 5 as a non-party mayor candidate – one of 20 who are standing for Feldmann’s successor. “I’m a living election poster,” he says, in good spirits.
Wirth duly had “Bahnbabo” entered in his passport. He is entitled to the stage name as a book author and because of his great prominence in social media. There was even a report about him on Chinese TV. His splits exercises, which he masters in various variations, are legendary. All training, one to one and a half hours a day, every morning after getting up.
“Hey, Alda, Bahnbabo, can we take a selfie?” asks a group of young people. “Sure, chilled,” he replies with a laugh. When he speaks youthful language, it doesn’t come across as pandering. Wirth calls it the “Frankfurt Dialogue”. “I see myself as a builder of bridges between generations and different cultures,” says Wirth.
He has been socially committed for years, donating the proceeds from his book “Beste Laune mit dem Bahnbabo”. Privately, he lives with his wife Heike, who also drives a tram, in the city center in a 50 square meter apartment. “We’re not very demanding and happy with our lives,” he says.
What does Bahnbabo stand for politically? “Public transport must have priority.” Wirth defends himself against the sprawling structural change in the city. “Luxury renovations must not result in more and more low-income people having no place in this city.”
“Communicate the future everywhere”
Maya Wolff is also running for mayor. She is known to many as the maker of the Green Sauce Festival
Two half eggs, boiled potatoes and green sauce – that’s Maja Wolff’s (58) favorite food.
The entrepreneur was a cabaret artist for a long time. A professional on and behind the stage. With her cultural projects, the non-party candidate not only speaks to the heart of Frankfurt herb lovers. The “Green Sauce” festival on the Roßmarkt is popular, and she has also acted with convicts in prison.
Her goals for Frankfurt: “I wish that Frankfurt’s diversity and our diversity will be visible in all places, our dealings with culture, a colorful urban development, a city worth living in that conveys a future in all places. Green, sustainably and modernly built, lively between gardens and high-rise buildings, rich and social.”
“Election posters are a waste of money”
Sven Junghans: The ferryman from Höchst is also a candidate for the mayoral election on March 5th
Sven Junghans (49) has been at the helm of Frankfurt’s only Main ferry “Walter Kolb” for eleven years. It takes cyclists and pedestrians across the river – from Höchst to Schwanheim. Now the sole proprietor is running as a lone fighter for the mayor election.
“I send such a cry for help,” says Junghans. Because the budget is no longer sufficient and his employee had to stop for health reasons, Junghans is at the helm from February 16 to mid-December.
He advertises himself as mayor on Facebook and in conversations on the ferry. He considers election posters to be “wasted money that should rather be donated to social causes”. He calls for more powers for local councils, more powers, including for city employees. Political decisions would often take years or peter out.