🌈🍺 #513: Exorbitant rent ads, public drinking ban, fewer parties (in election)
More Berliners are dying than being born
Hey 20 Percent!
The problem with writing a newsletter is that when you make a mistake, you send that mistake to 12,000 inboxes.
Christopher Street Day is of course this weekend, not last weekend as I said last Friday.
The Lesbisch Schwules Straßenfest was last weekend — and I was annoyed I had to miss it for a four-day business trip down south (see photo above). It’s always been my favorite street party.
My aging brain confused the street festivals. At least I’m not missing CSD.
So: the weather is supposed to be good for CSD, which officially starts today.
Andrew
The latest tool against exorbitant rent
I guess we should be glad they’re doing something, even if it’s years too late — Berlin officials discovered 46 percent of apartment rental ads in June appeared to ask for illegally high rents, according to RBB24. The landlords will now be contacted by the government and asked if they don’t maybe want to re-think and lower their prices. The scans — and presumably friendly nudges — will be continued monthly in a proactive effort to rein in illegally high rents in Berlin. Housing minister Christian Gaebler (SPD) said the government is doing all it can to combat high rents, which is objectively a lie.
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Drinking in public is … illegal?
Consuming alcohol in Deutsche Bahn train and S-Bahn stations in Berlin will be verboten beginning Oct. 15 though it’s apparently not been allowed at Ostbahnhof and Zoo station since May 1, according to T-Online. Boozing is still allowed in bars and restaurants within stations. I wanna watch them try to enforce this at S-Bahn Warschauer Straße on a weekend evening.
Full pay, no Polizei work
A crooked Berlin cop has been receiving full pay despite being suspended from work since 2021 for looking up people in police databases for personal reasons, according to Tagesspiegel. The officer is likely receiving the full pay because he owes child support or alimony — suspended officers normally lose half their pay except in special circumstances. The suspension hit the news because the man is on trial for pretending to be a cop during a January car-deal-gone-bad where he confiscated €68,000 that a Polish dealer hoped to use to buy a Lamborghini — the victims fought back and the Polizei eventually arrested Gerry C., the crooked cop. Police officials refused to comment on the full pay citing confidentiality laws. Hearings on both the original charges, which stem from 2019 (!), as well as the bad car deal are still ongoing.
Half as many parties in election
Half as many parties will take part in Berlin’s September election than in the 2023 election, according to Tagesspiegel. Just 17 rather than 34 parties will take part in the election — 21 had applied but 4 failed to produce enough signatures, including Die Piraten, an anti-copyright reform party that once seemed to hold high promise but then imploded. Many of the parties are single-issue such as the animal-protection party or Maurice’s fave, the anti-aging party (it’s unclear if either applied to take part in September’s election).
🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺
🪖 Ireland lobbying for pro-Palestinian activists
💩 Chancellor Merz cleaning house after Spahn
⚽ Will hydration breaks come to the Bundesliga?
Factoid
The death rate exceeded the birth rate in Berlin in 2025 for the fourth year in a row, meaning even Berlin needs immigrants to maintain its population. Berlin’s birth rate was 1.18 per woman, down from 1.20 in 2024, the lowest level since 2003, according to Berlin-Brandenburg statistics nerds. That figure is well below the national average of 1.31. 33,230 kids were born in Berlin in 2025 while 37,375 people died. The most births were in Mitte — 3,524 — while the most deaths were in Steglitz-Zehlendorf (no surprise there) — 3,865. Oh, and hidden in the stats — fewer people married in Berlin in 2025 than since 1989. Just 11,235 people tied the knot. 6% of which were same-sex or including at least one non-binary partner.
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🎙️The 20% Berlin Podcast on Spotify
No drinking on the SBahn. Or being under the influence of alcohol. Or eating, especially ice cream. For realsies? Nope. I’m with you: I predict 0% change when this law takes effect on 15 October.