Zurich: No vote on congress center after all
The initiative committee withdraws the popular initiative "New jobs instead of car parking spaces" for a congress center on the car parking area near Zurich main station.
IG Kongress-Stadt Zürich and the initiative committee fear that a referendum campaign on the initiative will not be winnable. This is because the city council does not consider the initiative to be legal and in December 2018 requested the municipal council to declare it invalid. In addition, the red-green majority in the city council has also spoken out against the plans for an international congress center, according to a statement by IG Kongress-Stadt Zürich.
Nevertheless, it maintains that there is a need for a new congress center, because the demand for an infrastructure for congresses with up to 3,000 participants has been clearly identified. The parking lot is also the optimal location for this. The IG will therefore pursue its goal in other ways and, if necessary, launch a new popular initiative or other political initiatives on this topic at a later date, the statement continues. (ah)
