#402: Trash city, hotel vs club, heat, fires
When the East got Western cash
Dear 20 Percent,
While I was jogging this morning, a pit bull-ish dog snarled at my ankles. Its owner yanked its chain and shouted at the dog, “Hey, spinnst du?!” - “Hey, are you crazy?”
I felt like saying, “Hey, spinnst du, Lady?” but refrained. Heat does things to our brains.
Today and Wednesday will see temperatures well above 30°C — with a possible 39°C on Wednesday — before dropping Thursday. It’s so unusually hot for Berlin that my kids’ kindergarten will only be open till 11am both days. See you at the Wasserspielplatz.
Some people are more exposed to the heat than others: So why not carry an extra bottle of water and hand it to a homeless person at risk of dehydration? That water could save a life, says church charity Diakonie.
If helping non-human lifeforms is your thing: Water one of our city’s shade-providing trees. (Info in English at Gieß den Kiez)
Best,
Maurice
Did I mention we’re doing a garden party in a couple of weeks? Hopefully it won’t be quite so hot. Get your tix here:
Overcrowded pools
In such weather, heading to the Freibad seems like a reasonable idea. But also a very popular one. Public pool operator Berliner Bäder Betriebe is expecting a surge of bathers and long queues — they’re hiring extra security, will be checking IDs, and inspecting bags for dangerous objects. Doesn’t sound like a relaxing swim to me. If you simply must go to the pool, buy a ticket online for a particular slot to reduce your wait time.
High-rise fire
It’s fire season and dry as hell meaning all of Brandenburg is on high fire alert. There have already been several forest fires in the leafy donut enveloping our city but one of the worse this year was right in town, a blaze in an under-construction high-rise on Lützowplatz in Tiergarten on Monday. Plumes of black smoke rose over western Berlin Monday morning and witnesses reported hearing loud noises within the building — exploding gas cannisters, according to the fire service. One-hundred firefighters were able to extuinguish the blaze by noon. This is where my inner older German man mumbles, “at least something in this country still works.”
Hotel vs club or hotel + club?
Hotel company Trockland wants to open a hotel at Laskerstraße 1 in Friedrichshain. ‘So what,’ you ask? Well, the hotel’s future neighbour, leftie club About Blank is not amused and fears that noise complaints by guests could result in the club being closed (Tagesspiegel, paywall). The city government approved the hotel project, overriding objections from the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district council. Even local conservative CDU politicians thought the hotel was a dumb idea. Trockland says the location was chosen to attract guests interested in exploring Berlin’s subculture — and that they would support the club by, for example, offering free accommodation to their DJs. About Blank has yet to respond to that offer. The city’s urban planning department addressed the noise problem in classic bureaucrat German: “In order to protect the project from external noise pollution from outdoor club operations, in particular from low-frequency noise, various building acoustics specifications must be taken into account in the specific building design of the accommodation facility.”
How rubbish is Berlin?
I almost tripped over a discarded mattress while reading this on my phone: Berlin is surveying Berliners in detail on the state of cleaniness in the city, their attitudes and habits on trash and which measures they think should be prioritised. Some commentators have said the survey alone is Berlin’s admission of failure — but hell, at least they’re trying to do something. Waste agency BSR is trying to educate people to reduce and recycle but at the end of the day it’s normal Berliners as well as tourists who dump pizza boxes in parks and mattresses on my street (despite a recycling centre 200m away). There just isn’t that much civic awareness here, sad to say. As trash is something that triggers me on a daily basis, I took the survey. It’s quite interesting and available online through the end of July in English and several other languages. Let’s hope it helps.
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Events this week, curated by The Next Day Berlin
🎤 I Come from the Ruins – Berlin Review Reader 4 Launch
Thursday, 03.07, 7 pm – 9:30 pm. Klosterruine, Klosterstr. 73a, 10179 Berlin. Free admission. Come early, seats are limited.
Open-air evening of readings and talks on ruins, memory, and resistance. The new Berlin Review Reader brings together voices from Gaza to the Congo.
🎸 Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts – Love Earth Tour
Thursday, 03.07, 7 pm. Waldbühne Berlin, Glockenturmstrasse 1, 14053 Berlin. Tickets: €90.50–€282.50
Neil Young is touring after years away from Europe. Expect new and old songs, and a set that’s been getting long standing ovations. I wouldn’t miss it.
👩🎤 SHEENA IS – Punk Drag Night
Friday, 04.07, doors 6 pm, show 7 pm. Schokoladen, Ackerstrasse 169, 10115 Berlin. Tickets: €11.50–€15.70
Queer punk takes over the Hof at Schokoladen with Eat Lipstick, Punx’n’Kweenz and Lemongrab. Glitter, noise, and no rules, it’s part concert, part riot. This one’s for the punks and the queens.
🪩 Vaginastan @ Heide
Friday, 04.07, 10 pm – 6 am. Heideglühen, Seestrasse 1, 13353 Berlin. Tickets: €18–20
House and minimal all night with Anja Schneider, Sibil, Elli.on and Katy De Jesus. Bring your friends, dance under the trees, and come early if you’re up for the full ride. Optional dinner with 6 courses by Rauschen from 6–10 pm.
Factoid
On July 1, 1990, the German Democratic Republic, aka East Germany, introduced the West German currency, the deutsche mark. The Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989 but the two Germanies would not reunite until October 1990. The federal reserve bank, the Bundesbank, sent 600 tonnes of banknotes and 400 tonnes of coins from the West to the East — worth about 25 billion deutsche mark. The first branch of a West German bank, Deutsche Bank, opened up on Alexanderplatz at midnight July 1, 1990. East Germans queued all day to exchange their GDR cash into deutsche mark — at an exchange rate of 2 to 1 for savings. The exchange rate for salaries, pensions, rents and debts was 1 to 1.
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