Here to stay!

Open letter from AIM to the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, dated 29th October 2008

Dear Mr. Wowereit,

This Friday, 31 October 2008, you are invited to make a welcome speech to the building owners at the topping-out ceremony of the project »Chestnut Gardens«. »Surrounded by culinary and musical pleasure«, you as Mayor of Berlin will give to this project a quasi secular, public blessing.

We, the neighbors and local initiatives, would like to remind you that this project (as well as the adjacent right and left of the »Chestnut Gardens«) by a large number of citizens is by no means welcome, and it is therefore excluded that this welcome is spoken in the citizens' and neighbors' names.
Despite years of noise and dirt during construction, which at the end will lead to a darkening of our homes, we as residents are all decided to stay here and to explore the grounds of the problem: political decisions, the dubious tribute to city planning goals without taking into account its ecological, social and economic consequences for the people.

As Citizens' Initiative Marthashof/ AnliegerIniative Marthashof AIM we want to use this open letter to draw your attention to urban planning abuses, asking you as an elected politician to shoulder responsibility and express our desire to more right to a say.

»Inner city compression« in favour of the urban periphery is the unquestioned guiding principle behind. Due to this fact, the last pieces of wasteland are buried under tons of concrete, instead of cultivating them as green lungs for both man and nature. Thus, the area around the historical Marthashof at the Schwedter road, because of its special history, has never seen such compressed and ground sealing buildings like the anachronistic »Residence Prenzelberg«, the »Chestnut Gardens« and »Marthashof«.

What happens here? Financially strong residents of suburbs and from the surrounding area, preferably international clientele are attracted to settle down in the inner city area. There, however, they drive out former residents who cannot afford »upgraded« rents and living expenses, and then have to move into the periphery. There is an overall strategy behind this scenario: adapt and prepare the city for the so-called »new Berlin bourgeoisie.« The needs of those previous inhabitants are clearly and without compensation subordinated to this new population. By visiting the ceremony celebrating »Chestnut Gardens« you make yourself an advocate of such interests.
And it does not really matter if yuppies, Swabians, Bavarians, Russians or Americans are concerned: what counts is their liquidity, because the homes are in the 3000 € / sqm-plus range. According to the investors, the future »new Berlin bourgeoisie« should have about 5,000 € net income per month... no, there is no space any more for the poor in this »new Berlin«. Because of higher tax revenues, the city, to the delight of its Finance Senator, might be no longer quite so poor. But »sexy«, Mr Wowereit, is this new Berlin then certainly not any more either!

Take the example of neighboring construction project »Marthashof« – what an example for obfuscation. When we were asking what kind of construction in the historic Marthashof site was planned, we learn in the spring of 2007 by the Senate Administration for Urban Development, that a relaxed, low » Townhouse-building «was planned. However what has been finally approved is a monstrous, 6 floors massive building which is shading the entire area around. And although it was largely recommended by the authorities to maintain the tree inventory, this was given up in favour of the needs of the investors.
Our rejection, however, has nothing to do with cultivating of any investor-hostile stereotypes. We, the Citizens' Initiative Marthashof, have got to know the investors from Stofanel Investment AG as open and communicative negotiating partners.
However, we protest against such a proceeding by which, over the heads of citizens and voters, a piece of land, originally planned as a public park, was privatized through this same public bodies. We criticize a design competition, through which the residents were not even informed. The errors in the implementation of the project »Marthashof« are clearly political.

Or, look in the neighboring Wedding where Mr. Wieland (SPD) as Chairman of the Finance Committee spoke frankly: during a panel discussion about the »Mauerpark« area with politicians in the bar »Mauersegler« on 23 June 2008, he mentioned that the political decisions to realise a park, confirmed since a long time, will be softened again. Instead of supporting a public park as adopted by the citizens, he advocates for a townhouse development on the area owned by Vivico GmbH. Once again, financial interests get priority before the interests of citizens.

No Mr. Wowereit, for us, who closely experience and suffer from the process of gentrification now, neither the Cornerstone of »Marthashof« in the past month, nor the topping-out ceremony of the »Chestnut Gardens« to which you want to raise your voice, can be a reason to celebrate:
Not because we fear the 600 or more new neighbors at one go, who themselves will have to suffer that there are no infrastructure measures taken for their implanted »urban villages«. But because on the back of the Oderberger street, something broadly finds its way into what has been prevented so far: thrown up blocks, buildings such as the »Chestnut Gardens«, whose builders decorate themselves in their glossy brochures with borrowed plumes: »In the immediate vicinity of the new residential district, tenements already restored from the Gruenderzeit era could be largely maintained.«
That these buildings in the Oderberger street could be preserved, we owe those who some 25 years ago lived and worked in this quarter: committed citizens of the GDR, among them the deceased Bernd Holtfreter, in opposition to their government, they dared to obstruct eradication on favour of planned prefabricated buildings.
What an irony of fate that these pioneers of the turnaround made it possible that these houses now serve as a backdrop for the new anachronistic buildings who's new residents take all sorts of security measures against their neighbors.

And so our commitment is not ending here. From mere residents, we became a citicens' initiative. We have cautiosly chosen this name because everyone who shares our concerns as described, can get involved, and our commitment goes far beyond »Chestnut Gardens« and »Marthashof«!
And this not only concerns AIM, the Citicens' Iniatitive Oderberger Street BIOS, the Civic Association Gleim-Quarter, the Friends of Mauerpark, the Bi-Wasserturm, not just the Ossis who stay here, moved in or have returned, and not just those who have chosen their adoptive homes here, whether we talk about Wessis or people from anywhere in the world.
It affects all active and committed people who make the »Kiez« to what it is, a lively jewel in the city, well known beyond Berlin and Germany, and therefore also a magnet for tousands of tourists and future new residents. WE welcome them all as residents who self-consciously and actively care about their living environment, deserving respect from the city planning.

Dear Governing Mayor of Berlin, maybe you want to bear all this in mind when you speak here at this ceremony in the »Chestnut Gardens«: We assure you, you will not only be heard among the invited guests of this event, but also by us, the citizens of Prenzlauer Berg, and beyond.

for AIM: Dr Adama Ulrich, Silvia Kollitz, Claudia Herring, Joerg Schleicher, Mario Feist

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL
09/11/2008
By Christoph Scheuermann in Berlin

Politicians, residents and investors are embroiled in a fight over the banks of Berlin's Spree River. Part of the issue boils down to the fundamental question of whether it will be citizens or the business community that shapes the city's image.

Building Spree – Developers and Dreamers Battle Over Berlin Identity

http://hansfoto.files.wordpress.com

DEUTSCHLANDRADIO
TUE 3.3.2009, 19:15 hrs:
Brunnenviertel/Marthashof – Leben am sozialen Äquator
From: Anselm Weidner
http://marthashof.info/?p=aktuell

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