Too prone to vandalism? , frankfurt

City outlaws fitness benches in public places

BONUMS / HARHEM. The local advisory board 10 (Berkersheim, Bonems, Akenheim, Frankfurter Berg, Prengsheim) will probably not have a fitness bench from Mainz start-up “Movements” as requested by the CDU for Bonems. At least the city of Frankfurt has advised against setting up such a bank in public places.

The fitness bench was developed by sports scientist Moritz Fuhrmann. In Frankfurt, the first of the patented fitness benches was installed at the Sportkreis Frankfurt in Fechtenheim. It combines two purposes. On one hand where people can sit and relax. On the other hand, simple sports exercises that you can do with the bench are also explained on the armrests. Push-ups for the upper body, elbow supports for the trunk or “thigh rockers” for the legs, i.e. bend and spread your legs in a sitting position. The cost of such a bank is about 3500 euros. In principle, the magistrate welcomed the proposal to motivate more people to exercise. The problem with these fitness benches is that they promote vandalism. “The use of fitness benches in public places carries the risk of high maintenance costs. In particular, the attached sign board along the entire backrest is susceptible to damage or soiling from graffiti.” Therefore it should only be installed in the “environment used for the game”. This criticism also concerns an initiative of the SPD parliamentary group in the local advisory board 14 (Haarheim). He also suggested investing 3,500 euros from the budget of the local council for the purchase of one of these fitness benches. MSTE