#291: A tram to Hermannplatz?
We're all just going to have to stomach all the footie
Dear 20 Percent!
Welcome to the European Championship. The Hauptstadt will be forced to forego navel-gazing for the next four weeks and focus on something else, which is somehow refreshing.
But the thing I learned in the runup to this particular championship is that the word ‘soccer’ isn’t — as we’ve been told for decades — an American thing. It came from the UK and, until a few decades ago, was prevalent there too.
So the next time your smug Brit friend admonishes you for using the term, smile politely and say: “It’s what your pa called it.”
Have a good, soccer-filled weekend (unless it’s not your thing then have a good Berlin weekend, the weather is supposed to be nice).
Andrew
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Soccer matches means fewer subways for some
If it’s not a broken switch, construction or a Polizeieinsatz (police activity), it’s a visit by a foreign dignitary snarling up public transit in Berlin. And for the next four weeks we’ll have an extra problem — the European soccer championships. BVG will take trains away from the U4, U6, U7 and U9 to expand service on the U1, U2 and U5 so fans can get to the Olympic Stadium and open-air viewing spots at Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, according to taz. Good luck!
A tram in Kreuzberg?
Public transport you say? BVG wants to connect Kreuzberg and Neukölln to the legendary M10 party tram — in 2031, according to rbb24. The previous government wanted it done by 2028 but gathing input and planning will delay the opening. Planning has the M10 continuing across the Spree on the Oberbaumbrücke, down Falkensteinstrasse and then splitting Görlitzer Park before ending on Urbanstrasse by Hermannplatz.
District tired of landlords’ sh*t
And do you know what’s snarling up the residential apartment market? Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf says irrationally expensive, temporary furnished apartments — and it’s promising to do something about them, according to the Morgenpost. Sort of. The district wants to forbid them in socially protected neighborhoods — known as Milieuschutzgebieten — where officials attempt to keep a neighborhood’s existing social fabric intact. Districts — and even the city-state of Berlin — are legally prohibited from messing with rental prices in other areas because they are superceded by federal law. It’s a start — 64% of all apartment ads were for temporary, furnished abodes in the district in 2022, 26% in 2012.
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Homophobic attack in Friedrichshain
Two men were attacked last Saturday in Volkspark Friedrichshain by three other men perturbed that the victims had been kissing, according to Tagesspiegel. The three men kicked and punched the couple and told them to stop showing each other affection in front of their wives and children. Police arrested two suspects, aged 33 and 34, while the victims were protected by other parkgoers. Detectives responsible for politically motivated crimes are investigating.
Factoid
What’s this European championship going to do for Berlin? Preparing for the month-long event cost the city-state €84 million, including €24 million for the open-air viewing around the Brandenburg Gate. But it’ll get to keep €9.9m in security equipment bought for the event — a drone defense system, street blockades, a decontamination truck for the fire department, according to rbb24. The €1.2m in fake turf will be distributed to school and neighborhood fields as well as daycares. Overall, the European Championships should bring in €600m for Berlin, interior senator Iris Spranger has said. We’ll see.
Germany-wide news
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👮🏿 Remembering far-right terror, murders 20 years on
Postkutsche (reader mail)
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🏃 Joe thought you might be interested in seeing his latest running film, which is very much steeped in all things Berlin. The film documents his FKT (fastest-known time) running the Ringbahn route while telling the story of how the Ringbahn's history mirrors that of Berlin and Germany.
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I’m just happy people came to the couple’s aid in the park 🤲🏾
It’s so unfortunate they were attacked, there should be no place for bullying and homophobia.