#335: Women-only public transit, elephant house, Berlin Olympics
Too many parking spaces
Hey 20 Percent!
We don’t agree on everything here at 20 Percent and one thing I disagree with co-founder Maurice on is fireworks, so this is my annual reminder that I think the tradition of fireworks on New Years is archaic, unenvironmental and, well, dumb.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy creating a surprise, cacophonous explosion as much as the next human — hell, I own guns (in the US where they’re currently unloaded and in a gun safe). I just think it should be done somewhere where it doesn’t expose hundreds of unwilling bystanders to my whims.
I’m tired of walking home through what feels like a warzone every Jan. 1 and I’m tired of being blindsided by illegal (and legal) fireworks in the weeks before and after the new year.
Die Grüne party in Berlin agrees with me and wants to ban fireworks within the Ring. Berlin every year establishes three or four fireworks-free areas (Alexanderplatz, Sonnenallee and a spot in Schöneberg) but they work about as well as every other law in Berlin.
Anway, have a good weekend! It’s supposed to become more and more winter-like over the next few days.
Andrew
PS: Thanks to everyone at the show at Downstairs Comedy Club Thursday — it was MEGA, as they say in German.
Women-only subway cars?
The transport specialist for the Berlin Die Grüne party wants to introduce women-only cars on Berlin public transport, where several hundred sex crimes (2022: 313, 2023: 259) are reported every year, according to Tagesspiegel. A man was arrested last spring after sexually assaulting a woman in the U3 in Zehlendorf. The idea came from Tokyo, where women-only cars were recently introduced during morning rush hours so that “women, elementary school students and younger children can ride with a sense of security.” JFC men, is it so difficult to just be human? The idea is unlikely to become reality — public transport authority BVG said it and its 250 security personnel are already doing all they can to keep women safe.
The Olympics in Berlin seems like a not-great idea
Berlin mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) still wants to bring either the 2036 or 2040 Olympics to Berlin, because he’s apparently unaware of the visuals of the Olympics in the Hauptstadt exactly 100 years after the Nazis hosted them, according to RBB24. He actually wants to spread the games throughout Germany — mimicking the Paris games this summer — but with Berlin leading the campaign to win the rights. The Paris games cost up to €10 billion and the city only recouped about half of that through ticket sales and other fees. Let’s remember that Berlin schoolkids had to cancel class vacations and social programs are being cut but flying in pro soccer and basketball players for a pick-up game is apparently necessary. Speaking of pro sports, the NFL (American football) will likely return Berlin next year — the last NFL game here was in 1994, according to RAN.
An elephant house with Anmeldung
The Tierpark in eastern Berlin celebrated the topping out ceremony of its new elephant house Thursday, which will replace the only remaining East Germany-era building in the expansive zoo, according to Morgenpost. The house will open in 2026 and will include a 7,000m² building as well as a 16,300m² savannah for the 15 African elephants to wander around in. The majoritiy of the new building will be for the elephonts — 2/3 of the previous building, which opened in the final days of East Germany, was for visitors and just 1/3 for the animals. Like any major German project, the original estimatd cost of €16.5 million has since ballooned to €52 million. As a parent, I always preferred the former East German zoo over its downtown sister, the Zoologischer Garten.
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Factoid
Stop complaining that you can’t find a parking spot — the city-state has 1.28 million, 32,000 more than there are cars registered in the Hauptstadt, according to RBB. The surprising statistic — the majority are outside the ring with just 230,000 inside the S41/42.
Cigarette smoking and fireworks. I just don't understand the cultural permissiveness here in Germany for either. People may have the right to indulge in whatever stupid and dangerous activities they want, but why do they have a right to harm my health and safety in the process? Humans can be so incredibly selfish.
The Rhine-Ruhr initiative for the Olympics makes so much more sense than a Berlin one, but personally I'd rather see the Olympics held in locations that have the infrastructure already.
Separately, I'm with you on the fireworks. I was lit on fire by one in Wedding a couple of years ago (by a six-year-old no less) and now stay indoors.