#261: More strikes soon, RAF terrorist arrested, Tesla water woes
Another former airport is being converted into a park for us
Hey 20 Percent!
Most of us may not be able to vote in elections here in Berlin but at least some politicians are concerned about the bureaucratic hurdles we face. A committee tasked with overseeing domestic matters in Berlin Monday will discuss halting both the “dysfunctionality” of the Ausländerbehörde as well as companies that sell appointments to the office, formally known as the Landesamt für Einwanderung.
Who knows if the committee will come up with any solutions but it’s nice to see both the environmental Die Grüne and the left-wing Die Linke, who put the item on the agenda, are thinking about us. We’ll let you know how it goes!
Have a good weekend!
Andrew
PS: The Berlin News Quiz game show is back next Wednesday evening at Comedy Cafe Berlin! I’m host of the hour-long show where two teams of Berlin funny people (and often the audience) show off their comedy and news skills. Tickets here.
Strike on, strike off
By the time you read this, this week’s public transport strike may be over — BVG employees, who drive this city’s subways, buses, trams and ferries, stopped working from 3am to 2pm Friday in hopes of getting longer breaks during normal shifts. The S-Bahn is unaffected by the strike and expanded its services to help limit the impact. The strike is part of nationwide action to improve working conditions in public transport — our readers in Potsdam won’t have any public transport for all of Friday. But have no fear — the next public transport strike is already brewing. Talks between Deutsche Bahn and the GDL train driver union have again broken down, according to taz, and the union has called a press conference for Monday, likely to announce yet more strikes.
Domestic terror suspect arrested in Kreuzberg
Police Monday arrested Daniela Klette, a former member of the left-wing terrorist organization Rote Armee Faktion (RAF) in Kreuzberg, according to Tagesspiegel. She’s accused of participating in six robberies to finance her life on-the-run but is also suspected in a 1991 shooting attack on a US embassy as well as participation in several failed bombings. The RAF was a predominantly West German phenomenon that used bombings, kidnappings and assassinations to protest a variety of leftist issues in the ‘70s and ‘80s and was the subject of the 2008 film The Baader-Meinhof Complex, named after the group’s founders. Klette is a member of the third-generation of the RAF, which operated toward the end of the ‘80s until 1998. She wasn’t very good at hiding — she had a Facebook page that may have led officials to her hideout, according to Stern. At least two other former members are also suspected to be on the lamb in Berlin.
Tesla sewage is full of phosphorous and nitrogen
A group of Brandenburg water companies known as the Wasserverband Strausberg-Erkner (WSE) will meet Friday to discuss the treatment of sewage from the Tesla plant in southeastern Berlin because it sometimes includes excess phosphorous and nitrogen, according to Morgenpost. Officials at the Berliner Wasserbetriebe, who treat the sewage on behalf of the WSE, said the excess pollutants do not put the capital’s drinking water at risk and said the warnings by the WSE were “out of place”. Tesla admits it sometimes exceeds limits but that none of its industrial waste is released into public sources — only regular sewage from the plant as well as from its cafeteria is released. Residents near the plant in Grünheide recently rejected Tesla plans to expand its rail logistics activities, partly over concerns a larger plant would need more groundwater.
I mean, tiger babies
Two sumatra tiger kittens were born Sunday at the Tierpark in eastern Berlin, the second litter for mother Mayang and father Jae Jae. Sisters Luise and Lotte were born in 2022 shortly after Jae Jae moved to Berlin from France. Only between 400 and 600 sumatra tigers remain in the wild.
Factoid
Everyone’s former favorite airport is set to become everyone’s second-favorite airport park — the area around the runways at the former Tegel airport will be transformed into a public park by 2029. Like Tempelhof, the former runways will remain untouched for exercise and recreation and the park will be open free-of-charge during the day and evening, according to RBB24. Transforming the 190-hectare site into a park will cost €48.5 million. Tempelhof, by comparison, is 355 hectares.