🏳️‍🌈🔫 #485: Gärten der Welt robbery, two-day CSD, card-only BVG

What's the dirtiest district?

Apr 17, 2026

Rosa Kirschblüten am See im Chinesischen Garten — A windfall for the Gärten and some crooks alike. Photo: Ole Bader/Gärten der Welt

Hey 20 Percent!

My lawyer will be very disappointed. Just as I was readying my Untätigkeitsklage (suit for inaction) the Ausländerbehörde wrote and asked for a few more documents for my Einbürgerung (naturalization). Because to be born again as a German, you first have to drown in paperwork.

Most notably they want updated financial information, which seems unfair — they’re the a̶s̶s̶h̶o̶l̶e̶s̶ bureaucrats who dragged their feet on my application. They should have to go with the information I submitted last summer.

The only one benefitting from all of this is my accountant.

So, there’s finally some movement. Good news heading into what’s looking to be a spring weekend — enjoy it!

Andrew

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Garden-level robbery

Four armed robbers burst into an office building at the Gärten der Welt in Marzahn Tuesday at 1.20am and stole more than €100,000 in cash, according to the Morgenpost. The group threatened the two security guards on duty with a handgun and a crowbar before assaulting them and making off with the funds, which was being stored after the weekend’s cherry blossom festival. The two guards were transported to the hospital and officials say the suspects spoke German with Russian accents. Odd that they knew there was so much cash on-hand.

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Card-only public transport

Your Späti and Döner stand may only accept cash but BVG ticket machines in stations have accepted only credit cards for the past few days, according to Tagesspiegel. A technical glitch has made it impossible for the machines to accept cash but it’s unclear when they will be repaired. Alexander Kaczmarek (CDU), Berlin’s top public transport official, would rather do away with the costly machines, since only 1% of travelers now board without a ticket thanks to the Deutschland-Ticket und other discount monthly tickets. The BVG operates 665 ticket machines in our city while the S-Bahn has 500. Deutsche Bahn operates an additional 518 of the confusing machines in Berlin. They cost between €20,000 and €40,000 each and require millions each year in maintenance and repair.

CSD for days

It was called CSD weekend anyway — Christopher Street Day Berlin will now officially be extended to Friday, July 24, the day before the parade, according to RBB24. The extra day will be used for an evening protest at Brandenburg Gate — the entire event this year will encourage people to vote since our government is up for election in September. The parade will take place on July 25. I’m a big fan but always had more fun at the more cozy lesbian and gay city festival in Schöneberg, this year on July 18 and 19.

Not so foxy

Think Berlin’s urban foxes are cute? Not always — Reinickendorf says one of their furry residents killed a dog last weekend and has regularly attacked canines, both on and off leash, according to RBB24. The fox lurks around the intersection of Bruseberg and Klamann streets. The district recommends keeping dogs on-leash in the area.

You shouldn’t share your food with Berlin wildlife but you could share this issue with your friends (or enemies, we don’t care).

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Factoid

You can smell it just by looking at it. Photo: onnola via CC2.0

I’ve stopped using the Ordnungsamt app to report trash (it felt too Karen-y) but Neukölln residents last year submitted the most reports, which doesn’t necessarily mean the trendy district is Berlin’s dirtiest. Residents there submitted 31,139 reports, according to Tagesspiegel, ahead of the 30,458 in Mitte. Coming in third was (predictably) Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg at 23,987. Marzahn-Hellersdorf was last with just 5,227 reports. State-owned sanitation company BSR gathered 60,000 cubic meters of illegally dumped trash last year, netting it €13.1 million of our tax money.

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