Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Munich mayor Christian Ude visited a controversial development area in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the first time - which is a significant point of discussion for the Olympic Games in 2018.

The land owners refuse to make the grassland available for the event. "I understand everyone, who wants the land back as green as it was", says the SPD politician.

Ude and his colleague, Thomas Schmid in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, gave an interview to the local channel München TV. The plan was to have a discussion with the land owners and the pressure group - but the owners gave the tv channel a rain check and didn't show up despite the invitation. Ude described it as "funny", that citizens in Garmisch-Partenkirchen complain that they have to carry the burden of the Olympic Games while other towns complain that they can't have a piece of that "gigantic cake".