We are approaching an election in September. Hopefully, you’re reading along in the Berlin Wiki to bone up on how stuff works in German elections, the lexicon, and the issues. Well, one of the issues we’re going to see debated concerns the Tempelhofer Feld. So let’s talk about that for a bit.
The other night, I was at 20% Berlin’s live taping of their podcast down in Neukölln, and when they got to this proposal for the Tempelhofer Feld that came out last week, tempers flared and arguments got heated. The whole podcast stopped as different people in the small backroom of the bar we were in started chiming in with their two cents. One attendee wanted the whole space left untouched, and another was terrified of the terrible buildings and miserable spaces the construction would produce. There was even a bit of name-calling – if you think being called a NIMBY counts. So what’s all the hubbub, bub?
The ghouls never let things like this go
Tempelhof was turned into aprestige project by Adolf Hitler and his buddies back in 1936. After that whole war thing started, construction dragged out to 1941. And then the Americans took it over and it became a big part of the “Air Bridge” campaign, back when the West and East were having a difference of opinion. We won’t go too far into the issue of airports in Berlin, but Tempelhof ceased being one in 2008. It was officially turned into a large public park in 2010. But we all knew that it wouldn’t be long before developers started eyeing all that empty public land…
And four years later in 2014, the Berlin Senat and Klaus “Poor but Sexy” Wowereit got the idea to turn this public space into apartments and commercial zoning. The money ghouls arrived, rubbing their hands together, and dreaming of all that glorious lucre they were going to steal from the public. It was something that everyone with eyes saw coming.
And a citizens’ initiative called 100% Tempelhofer Feld organized, got signatures, got a referendum vote and the people of Berlin with 69% of the vote said, “vade retro Satanas!” and were able to hold the ghouls off for the time being. But the ghouls never let things like this go. They went back into their lair – probably in secret catacombs under the Zionskirche – and started plotting their next move. Seriously, if you haven’t walked past the Zionskirche at night, you really have to check that out; it totally looks like a vampire prince lives there.
Get out the popcorn and the opera glasses
I’m actually surprised that 100% Tempelhofer Feld was able to pull this off. I remember a little kerfuffle from Seattle politics back in 1995. The ghouls wanted to build a new stadium for the baseball team, The Mariners, and they wanted taxpayers to foot the bill. I really will never understand how nonsense like this gets through; so, you want the taxpayers to build the venue for ultra-wealthy people to put on their sporting events; entry will be expensive, parking expensive, and food and drink at the event will be worse than airport prices.
But there’s some nebulous benefit for the local economy to justify public funds for essentially private use… Um, ok. Well, the King County voters took it to the polls much like our 100% friends, and they voted no on the proposal. So, the ghouls just went to the state capital – Olympia – and found a way to override the county vote at the state level. The voters said no, and the ghouls built it anyway, and the voters paid for it. Very nice.
And this is exactly what makes Tempelhofer Feld such a spark. It’s less about building more apartments and more about the voice of the people being respected. This is our city, and we don’t want the ghouls turning our public land into private profit. Especially at a time when we all feel financially squeezed. The rents are going up everywhere, and a euro doesn’t buy what it once did at the grocery store. Why the hell is everything so expensive now, and why do I feel like a damn sheep waiting to get shorn?
We hate feeling powerless and we hate it even more when ghouls show up, talking about what’s good for us – you want more apartments, right? – when they haven’t really acted in our interest for ages. So I get the anger. And if you’re new to the city, you should keep your eyes on this debate and try to understand the different sides. I think it’s going to spark a lot of frustration all around, but maybe we’ll have a chance here, like we did in 2014, to have our voices heard and respected again. That would be the best thing that the Berlin government could do to restore public trust. Get out the popcorn and the opera glasses; let’s see what happens.
