#457: Power outage weirdness, winter but not officially, new referendums
Not a surprise: Berlin is still super-lefty
Hey 20 Percent!
If you haven’t complained about people not clearing the sidewalks yet, then you’re behind on your integration. It’s now the main topic around German-speaking watercoolers in Berlin (that is, if someone’s not in home office and, anyway, Germans don’t have watercoolers, they have crates of bubbly water in glass bottles).
Also, if you don’t know the phrase: Es gibt kein schlechtes Wetter, nur schlechte Kleidung (there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing), then today is the day. I’ll repeat my advice to new arrivals to Berlin’s winter: long underwear.
I’m still loving my daily walks in this weather. Kids all excited as they’re pulled by their parents on sleds. The occasional teenager lobbing a snowball and that milli-second of terror when I slip but then catch myself — invigorating!
Have a good, warm weekend y’all,
Andrew
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The power outage
While the attack on Berlin’s power network was curious enough, the events surrounding it made it a true Berlin happening: First there was the series of convoluted warnings and de-warnings on our Handys (Berlin officials said it wasn’t their fault they were confusing, they claim they were bound by the available text modules for their warnings, according to RBB24). We then discover Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) lied when he told reporters he was locked in his home office Saturday, coordinating the city-state’s response to the power outage — he himself called it a “terrorist attack”. He actually took an hour to go out and play tennis while about 100,000 Berliners wer trying to weather the lack of power in this weather, according to Tagesspiegel. Wegner appears to have weathered the storm over his lie but if I were to face him in a debate in September’s election, the first thing I’d do is place a tennis ball on my podium.
The winter storm that isn’t
And it isn’t just Berlin officials giving an ENTWARNUNG (all clear) this week, Germany’s national weather service last night lifted its warning of a severe winter storm for Berlin today as stormfront Ellie moves through. The warning led Berlin and Brandenburg to allow parents to decide whether kids had to be in school today — that stands even if there’s no new snow standing on our balconies. But parents: Schools and daycares may be closed or at least have reduced capacity Jan. 14 and 15 as public employees go on strike ahead of a second round of labor talks in Potsdam next week (they want a 7% raise or at least €300 more per month).
Citizen referendums
Oh, the September election! Mayor Wegner isn’t the only thing on the ballot (if only indirectly). Volunteers this week began gathering signatures on two new citizen referendums. Werbe-frei Berlin (ad-free Berlin) wants to do away with modern digital ads in Berlin’s public places, according to RBB24. The referendum was launched in 2018 but German courts needed until last year to give the OK. And Auto-frei Berlin (do I need to translate that?) wants to eliminate personal cars within the Ring. Owners would be allowed to pilot their steeds through the city’s streets 12 times a year, significantly reducing traffic. The initiative is going to rent a bus and — wait for it — drive around inside the ring to garner support. Both need about 170,000 signatures by May 8 to land on the ballot. Reality check: The result of the successful 2021 citizens’ referendum to force corporate landlords to sell large swaths of their portfolios to Berlin is being ignored by the city administration. Meanwhile, the 2014 referendum banning new construction on Tempelhof is also being disregarded by Wegner the Liar® (CDU).
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🐑 A flock of sheep went shopping at Penny
👩 Brandenburg coalition collapses
👩⚖️ A lack or prosecutors to fight organized and financial crime
🟠 German president says US (er, Trump) is destroying world order
Factoid
The environmental Die Grüne party now has the most members in Berlin (17,852), unseating the center-left SPD (17,673) as Berlin’s strongest party, according to taz. The leftist Die Linke party is in third (17,080) after the fiery speeches and social media presence of Linke parliamentarian Heidi Reichinnek doubled the party’s membership last year. The conservative CDU comes in fourth with somewhere between 12k and 12.5k members. The far rightwing AfD douchebags are in fifth with 2,085 members. Yes, ‘douchebag’ is an official political term.
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🔗 🔗 🔗 Useful links 🔗 🔗 🔗
🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
Auto-frei Berlin supports busses (and public transit in general) :)