Coffee, croissants, chaos.
Wednesday morning was supposed to be routine: catch the mayor’s interview on RTL, jot down a few notes, move on with life. Instead, our phones exploded. Why? Because—somehow—asking for a map of paint on the road had morphed into a full-blown “critical-infrastructure security threat.” Terrorism! Blackouts! Sewer sabotage!
If you’re new here, hi—I’m Francesca from Zentrum fir Urban Gerechtegkeet (ZUG). We’re the mildly stubborn bunch who counted 475 non-compliant zebra crossings in Luxembourg City. The City insists it’s only 37. Stalemate? Nope. We filed an FOI request in 2021, won in front of the CAD in 2022, then again at the Administrative Tribunal in 2024. The City appealed, and here we are—still crossing streets and fingers.
Let’s bust the “critical infrastructure” myth ✂️
We have never asked for sewer layouts, electricity cables, or the mayor’s Netflix password. Our FOI request is laser-focused on one map layer:
Pedestrian crossings, parking boxes next to them, and other paint you can see with your own eyeballs.
That’s it. No spies required. The idea that releasing this data would aid terrorism is… creative, but also nonsense.
Fear sells—but safety matters more 🚸
Every day you’ll find a fresh news blurb: car hits pedestrian here, SUV flips there. Our Safe Crossing project was born because we love our city and prefer not to get flattened while fetching pastries. Instead of talking about that, the radio discussion veered into cloak-and-dagger territory. (Plot twist: the real danger remains the poorly marked crossing outside your bakery.)
A tale of two victories nobody mentions 🏆🏆
• 2022: The Commission d’Accès aux Documents says “Give them the map.”
• 2024: The Administrative Tribunal echoes, “Seriously, give them the map.”
Yet the City is still appealing. Imagine a referee blowing the whistle twice and the other team just keeps dribbling. Welcome to our world.
“Come over, look for two hours—no photos!” 📷🚫
Yes, we met Mayor Polfer and Alderman Goldschmidt. No, we didn’t storm out in a huff. We sat in good faith, waited for the grand reveal… and got offered a two-hour, no-copies, lawyer-supervised peek at 37 highlighted crossings on paper.
Fun fact: checking 475 points in 120 minutes means 15 seconds per crossing. Even Usain Bolt couldn’t audit that.
Why this fight matters (hint: democracy) 🗳️
Public data should be public—unless it’s genuinely sensitive. Luxembourg’s transparency law is clear on that. Classifying an ever-changing map as an “eternal draft” just to keep it under wraps is the bureaucratic equivalent of “the dog ate my homework.”
If we let that slide, what’s next? Budget spreadsheets? Air-quality sensors? Climate data? Opacity spreads faster than potholes.
So… what do we actually want? 🎯
1. Publish the pedestrian-crossing layer.
2. Fix the dangerous crossings—whether it’s 37 or 475.
3. Stop using thriller-novel scare tactics. Paint isn’t classified.
That’s all. Release, repair, relax.
How you can help 🙌
• Share this post. The more voices, the harder it is to ignore.
• Tell us your crossing horror stories. Photos, anecdotes, near-misses—send them to info@zug.lu.
• Stay tuned. Appeals court hearing is coming. Popcorn optional but recommended.
Final thought
Luxembourg is famous for chocolate, not cloak-and-dagger intrigue. Let’s keep it that way. We promise not to ask for the city’s secret tunnels—just the map that shows where we can cross the street without getting run over.
See you on the (safe) side of the road!
—
Francesca, Federico, Thorben & the entire ZUG crew