A Hamburg taxi driver yesterday asked me if I was already in the Christmas mood.
āI havenāt had time to think about it,ā I said but then woke up to a bunch of reports about the Christmas tree set for the Gendarmenmarkt being stranded on the A10 Autobahn. The transport company didnāt submit the paperwork for an oversized load to the Berlin police on time to get the thing delivered Wednesday night. It got there Thursday night.
I always like the stories about Berlinās main Christmas trees ā the ones at key spots like Gendarmenmarkt or Breitscheidplatz. They arenāt felled in forests or Baumschulen (tree schools, er, farms). People who have grown tired of massive conifers acidifying their and their neighborsā yards apply to have them removed and converted to Christmas trees for free.
The Gendarmenmarkt Douglas fir was chopped down from someoneās front yard in Stahnsdorf, a southwestern suburb. One year a massive tree for Breitscheidplatz came from a tiny Schrebergarten (garden allottment).
Afterwards theyāre apparently shredded and used for biogas or firewood.
It often feels like people work against each other in many situations in Germany and felling aging trees is the core of many disputes. The Christmas tree stories are real-world fables where none of that is true.
I was already in a good mood thanks to US voters (including me) Tuesday. And now Iām in a Christmas mood too. Christmas music, however, is forbidden until Dec. 1.
Have a good weekend!
Andrew
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Late paperwork you say? The three-way talks to form a new coalition between Die Linke, Die GrĆ¼ne and the SPD in Berlin are now not expected to be complete until January. The respective parties will then OK the coalition contract later that month and I guess we get a new government by Valentineās Day, according to Tagesspiegel. 300 people in 14 committees are working on the agreement and the thought of all those meetings sends shivers down my back. Thereās a German saying about why German meetings go on forever: Es ist schon alles gesagt, nur noch nicht von allen (Everything has already been said, but not by everyone). I never understand why these things take so long ā you already agreed you want to work together. Start working.
No modern parking enforcement
The news about Berlinās parking enforcement isnāt that the paperwork is late, itās that thereās still even paperwork, like itās still the ā90s. Berlin lacks the money to buy the āScancarsā that would commute around the city, scanning license plates and digitally comparing them with permits and tickets, like in seemingly every other city on the planet, according to rbb24. Such a system would also digitize permits and and free bureaucrats from filling them out by hand. We also wouldnāt have to wait months for them ā and we wouldnāt also have to pay third-party providers a fee to buy a digital parking ticket. The city apparently also hasnāt even started the process of acquiring the related computer systems despite the bureaucratic and economic relief it would provide for both them and us. A new federal law passed in May removed Datenschutz-related fears and cleared the way for modern parking enforcement nationwide.
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As part of Berlin Freedom Week, this edition of WahlheYmat Talks asks what democratic participation means in a city where such a large part of the population has no say at the ballot box. How can people without voting rights participate politically? And what is the key to adapting our democracy to the reality of an increasingly diverse society? Get your free ticket here.
A lot of drugs. Or maybe just a good weekend.
Police officers arrested 14 suspects and seized cash and narcotics as part of a two-year investigation into a drug dealing network, according to the Morgenpost. Police searched 28 Berlin apartments and two in neighboring Brandenburg and seized 25kg cocaine, 2kg of amphetamine and 500 grams each of heroin and crystal meth. They also grabbed ā¬100,000 and a handful of weapons. Police say the group includes a total of 20 men. I always wonder if itās the people behind the many coke taxi stickers in my neighborhood.
An entrance ramp in 1998 before it was completely filled. Photo: 44Penguins
The demolition of an old tunnel beneath Unter den Linden will begin Friday and be complete next year. The Lindentunnel opened in 1916 adjacent to what is now the Neue Wache and the Staatsoper to move trams underground and away from the boom in traffic. The tunnel was used for public transportation until 1951 and then became storage for the East Berlin police, the Staatsoper and the Maxim Gorki Theater. Artist Ben Wagin then used the tunnel as a gallery from 1994 to 1998, when the entrance ramps were sealed. A door still connects it to the parking garage under nearby Bebelplatz. Berliner Unterwelten has more (German) info and pictures that will make you as sad as me that itās disappearing.
These coalition talks are total ragebait. It's not like the political parties will not have major differences later as we witness at the Bundesebene. File this under "Myths of German Efficiency."
These coalition talks are total ragebait. It's not like the political parties will not have major differences later as we witness at the Bundesebene. File this under "Myths of German Efficiency."