the first airfield in Austria, and the civilian Wiener Neustadt East Airport) and is the starting point of Austria's only shipping canal, the Wiener Neustadt Canal, which was meant to reach out to Trieste but was never finished. Local council Elections in January 2020: ÖVP 19 seats SPÖ 11 seats FPÖ 6 seats The Greens – The Green Alternative 4 seats Total: 40 seats Mayors 1467-1471: Johann Roll 1945–1965: Rudolf Wehrl 1965–1984: Hans Barwitzius 1984–1993: Gustav Kraupa 1993–1997: Peter Wittmann 1997–2005: Traude Dierdorf 2005–2015: Bernhard Müller since 2015: Klaus Schneeberger University, professional schools, vocational academies Austria's first and largest Fachhochschule for business and engineering, the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, is located here. City partnerships Monheim am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany Desenzano del Garda, Italy Harbin, People's Republic of China (PRC) Development of the city The most recent extension of the city is the Civitas Nova, Latin for new city, an ambitious project for an industrial, research and commercial center. In 2015, on the area of the Civitas Nova, a cancer treatment center for ion therapy was opened under the name of MedAustron. Culture In 1996 Wiener Neustadt received international attention as the so-called "sidewalk" designed by Japanese artist Tadashi Kawamata was built around the main square. Wiener Neustadt is the setting for the book Reluctant Return: A Survivor's Journey to an Austrian town. It was announced that Wiener Neustadt would host the European leg of Woodstock '99 over the weekend of July 16 to 18 1999. It was intended that up to 300,000 people would the festival, but the European leg of Woodstock '99 was ultimately canceled. Sport SC Wiener Neustadt played in the Austrian Football First League. In 1995 Wiener Neustadt was the host of 1995 Speedway Grand Prix of Austria. It was the first, and so far, only Austrian SGP. The European horseback jumping championships of 2015 for children, juniors and young riders was set up at Lake Arena, outside of Wiener Neustadt. Wiener Neustadt played host to the sixth round of the 2018 Red Bull Air Race World Championship. The city is home to a baseball and softball team called the "Diving Ducks", which have had success both within the country and internationally. They provide teams for various age groups, starting from the youngest team to the softball team "Crazy Chicklets", the adult team "Rubber Ducks" as well as their professional team the "Diving Ducks".