First leftist rail about being forced to live in slums. Someone made them poor. They are always victims.
Usually this complaining leads to decades of support programs designed to build government dependence and make a handful of professional do-gooders rich running the programs.
Occasionally the slums become the focus of expensive urban renewal projects largely paid for by people who live outside the slums.
Most of the time the renewal projects are only a smoke screen for a series of wasteful projects designed to make a few wealth campaign supporters wealthier.
Rarely the renewal efforts are honest and actually work. Which make the former slums attractive to people, which draws in more businesses and people who legitimately want to live in and be a part of rebuilding a neighborhood.
Then the left goes nuts claiming - Gentrification and rising rents in some of the city???s previously more affordable areas have emotions running high in many districts. -
People!!! They were AFFORDABLE because they were SLUMS.
So the moral is this folks. Leftist want to either make money off HELPING the poor (forever) or spend someone elses money to fix up their slums. Once fixed up they want to lock out the people who paid for eliminating the slum so only they can enjoy the results of others efforts.
This happens all the time in the US. It is good to see it go public in Europe.
BERLIN — A research project by the Guggenheim and BMW is reportedly heading north to the city’s Prenzlauer Berg district following negative local response over the original Kreuzberg location, according to Berlin daily Tagesspiegel.
The culture center Pfefferberg is rumored to have been asked whether it is willing to host the mobile lab, says Tagesspiegel, although no officials from the project have confirmed the proposal.
The lab was originally envisioned for an empty lot along the city’s Spree river in the Kreuzberg district. But sponsor BMW quickly pulled out following reported threats of violence from left extremists in the area.
Reports that police were ready to design a security plan for the project also circulated. Meanwhile, street surveys by Berlin’s local B.Z. newspaper revealed mixed perspectives on the issue.
“Everything is getting so intense here in Kreuzberg with gentrification on the rise,” a stylish young woman told the paper. “But I think it’s great that they were thrown out because that simply leaves more space in the city.”
“I’m not sure why the organizers gave up so quickly,” an upper-middle-aged man told the paper in a heavy Berlin accent.
“Because a couple people threw a fit? That’s completely normal in this city, especially with gentrification and modernization and prices on the rise. I took a look though… and I would have been interested to check it out.”
Gentrification and rising rents in some of the city’s previously more affordable areas have emotions running high in many districts.
Tacheles, one of Berlin’s oldest remaining alternative “art houses” has seen its resident artists sit in protest as the building’s sale to a private investor has called for their ejection. Artists on site in the city’s Mitte district told SmartPlanet they would remain as long as possible.
There have been no reports of changes to the BMW Guggenheim Lab’s scheduled Berlin dates from May 24 through July 29.
Photo: Flickr/sebastiankoeck
