Berlins's IBeB Cooperative Housing Created Community from the Ground-Up - Metropolis Magazine
Sunday, March 3, 2019Daniel Libeskinds Jewish Museum (itself attached to the Baroque former Berlin Museum) and finds itself amid a smattering of Berlin classics: Hejduks Kreuzberg Tower, the golden Axel-Springer-Hochhaus, 1970s social housing, 19th-century Gründerzeit blocks, and Sauerbruch Huttons GSW headquarters.
While the construction of a large housing development at such a centrally located and historically loaded neighborhood is surprising and inspiring, even more impressive are the politics and design collaboration that made it possible.
Usually architects are working on projects which come to them, but here it was a little different because the architects were part of the development of the project, explains Verena von Beckerath, cofounder of the eponymous Berlin firm. Heide & Von Beckerath and ifau had almost completed their jointly designed R50 baugruppen project (also in Berlin) when, in 2012, they approached the well-established Selbstbaugenossenschaft cooperative (which had already developed several housing developments) to help realize the IBeB project.
Where the firms previous R50 project was purely residential (19 units occupied by a relatively homogeneous group of white-collar residents), IBeB represented a much more significant challenge of scale and complexity. Courtesy Andrew Alberts
The cooperative and coalition of architects bid for a spot in an innovative development scheme organized by the city-operated Berlin Property Fund, which was seeking multiple proposals for the 3.46-acre site that would together create a mixed-use neighborhood. For example, aside from the housing component, other projects on the site include an office block for creative companies and another mixed-use building with residential units and offices.
Winning the project was just the first step for the architects and the cooperative. They next had to attract future residents to sign up for apartments in the IBeB. They did this through an open call, personal social connections...https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/ibeb-cooperative-housing-berlin-ifau-heide-von-beckerath/
Girls power: Wasserski, Soft-Rafting, malen und sich selbst behaupten - FOCUS Online
Friday, April 13, 2018Verbandsgemeinde RülzheimMarkus Schwall, ? 01725347478, m.schwall@ruelzheim.deDonnerstag, 26.04.Basejump LandauEine riesige Trampolinlandschaft und der berüchtigte Ninja Parcours zum Toben und Springen gibt es im Basejump Landau. Besonders Mutige können einen Sprung aus vier Metern Höhe wagen. Abfahrt ab Bellheim, 16:30-19:00 Uhr.Für Mädchen zwischen 9 und 16 Jahren.Anmeldung erwünscht. Teilnahmebetrag: 2,50 €Jugendpflege der Verbandsgemeinde BellheimAstrid Kögel; Dominik Wilhelm, ? 07272 91115jugendpf...
Pleiten, Pech und Pannen? Werden Sie Minister! - Die Achse des Guten
Thursday, March 15, 2018Interesse. Und die Kanzlerin hat ja ihr Dream-Team der Erneuerung schon vorgestellt. Fangen wir ganz klein mit ein paar Beispielen an.Der designierte Innenminister Seehofer – ein springender Bettvorleger. Weiterer Kommentare folgen nach der Bayernwahl.Die designierte Verteidigungsministerin ist auch die bisherige Verteidigungsministerin. Ihre bisherige Amtszeit in der Bundeswehr war geprägt von Skandalen und Affären. Vor ihrem Job als oberste Soldatin war VdL Ministerin für Soziales, Frauen, Familie und Gesundheit in Niedersachsen. Danach Bundesministerin für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend im Kabinett Merkel. Das befähigt die studierte Ärztin wohl, eine Armee zu kommandieren und mit Handtaschen, Pumps und Umstandsuniformen statt Panzern, U-Booten und Hubschraubern aufzurüsten. Nunmehr hat sie die Aufgabe, die vollständige Entwaffnung der Armee voranzutreiben.Peter Altmaier, der designierte Bundeswirtschaftsminister hat eine lange Politikerlaufbahn hinter sich. Er ist Jurist, was ihn irgendwie zum Wirtschaftsminister befähigt. Erst war er parlamentarischer Staatssekretär des Inneren. Dann wurde er Bundesumweltminister, womit er maßgeblich dazu beitrug, die Energiewende zu versemmeln. Ab Dezember 2013 wurde er Bundesminister für besondere Aufgaben und Chef des Bundeskanzleramtes.Am 7. Oktober 2015 benannte ihn die Bundesregierung als...
Outdoors: Area trapshooters do well at state shoot - MyDaytonDailyNews
Friday, August 11, 2017All and All-Around championships in their divisions.Other multiple-event winners from this area included: Adam Bush, Xenia; Clifton Patten, Dayton; Bryce Havenar, Sidney; Dan Schock, Clayton; Rick Springer, Wapakoneta; and Andrew Bush, Xenia. Other area winners were: Dan Taviano, Sidney; William Monroe, Middletown; Britt Havenar, Sidney; Jared Meinzor, Hamilton; Gunnar Thompson, Middletown; Jim Harrod, New Knoxville; Ed Harruff, New Bremen; Randal Giessman, Troy; Garrett Schock, Riverside; and Dean Townsend, formerly of Eaton.Upcoming trap events include the Mid-Summer Classic at Cardinal Center, July 21-23; Grand American in Sparta, Ill., Aug 2-12; Cardinal Classic, Aug. 15-20; Labor Day Invitational, Sept. 1-3 at Cardinal Center and Middletown Sportsmen’s Club Fall Festival, Sept. 21-24.Safe boating: There were no Ohio boating fatalities over the busy July 4th weekend. Watercraft officers did stop 530 vessels for various violations of Ohio watercraft and local laws. They issued 51 citations and 370 boating safety warnings. They also issued five boating under the influence (BUI) violations.Ohio was part of Operation Dry Water, a national crackdown on people using alcohol while boating. Alcohol use while boating is the leading factor in boater deaths.On target: As part of a an Eagle Scout project, new benches and tables have been built and installed at the Fallsville Wildlife Area archery range.The upgrades to the range were completed by Eagle Scout candidate Clayton Snavely along with his troop and their families. The troop also stretched and tightened the existing burlap targets. Additionally the flower beds were weeded and the split rail fence straightened. The troop finished by installing new bird houses on the split rail fence along the parking lot area.Clayton is a student at Hillsboro High School and a member of Boy Scout Troop 6062.http://www.mydaytondailynews.com/sports/outdoors-area-trapshooters-well-state-shoot/4ubTLHtZbeDfQ2gPy5gvQI/
Green party politician remains most popular head of federal state in Germany: poll - Xinhua | English.news.cn - Xinhua
Sunday, January 26, 2020With an approval rate of 66 percent, Daniel Guenther, Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, was the second most popular head of a federal state in Germany, followed by Stephan Weil of Lower Saxony who was ranked third with 60 percent.
At the bottom of the ranking was Berlin's governing mayor, Michael Mueller (SPD), whose work was only rated positively by 27 percent of people living in the German capital's federal state.
Following a big win in the European Parliament elections in May, where the Green party in Germany won 20.5 percent of votes and became second strongest political force, support for the Green party in Germany is at a historic high.
According to last week's Trendbarometer, the Greens would gain the same number of votes as the governing conservative union CDU/CSU if elections were to be held.
With regards to a first Green German chancellor, Winfried Kretschmann recently told the Funke Media Group that a German government led by the Greens would not involve a radical change of policy.
"Nobody needs to be afraid of a Green Chancellor. We are not trumps or Erdogans or Orbans who throw everything overboard," Kretschmann told the German newspapers.
The head of Baden-Wuerttemberg noted that he did not see "big differences" in alliances with the CDU/CSU and the SPD. "In socio-political issues, we make progress with the social democrats, in economic policy with the CDU/CSU".
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-07/16/c_138229413.htm
Berlin moves to greatly reduce ‘solidarity tax’ for eastern Germany - Euronews
Tuesday, August 20, 2019The bill, proposed by the finance minister from Angela Merkel’s CDU party, has been encouraged with support from the CDU’s coalition partner the SPD.The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, said: "It is absolutely time to noticeably reduce the burden on small and medium incomes by abolishing the solidarity surcharge."Weil also thinks it's good that 10% of Germans should continue to pay the solidarity surcharge. "Nobody would understand, however, if the highest incomes in Germany were now to be rewarded with tax gifts totalling around eleven billion euros. We'd better invest this money in education and climate protection."Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, parliamentary party and state leader of the SPD in Hesse, also supports Scholz.What is the Soli tax?The solidarity surcharge was introduced in 1991, to help reconstruction of the east following the reunification of Germany in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall.The tax was originally supposed to be in place only for a limited time but became permanent in 1995.Initially, the solidarity rate was 7.5%, but since 1995 it has been 5.5%. In addition, the surcharge has been unlimited since 1995.Contrary to some assumptions, taxpayers in the west and east have to pay the tax.According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2018 the German state received €18.9 billion as a result.Criticism of the billAccording to the Ministry of Finance, single people with an annual gross income of up to €73,874 would not have to pay anything. From €109,451 gross annual wages, the full supplement would have to be paid.Accordingly, a family with two children and an annual income of €221,375 or more...https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/13/berlin-moves-to-greatly-reduce-solidarity-tax-for-eastern-germany
The German European: how Ursula von der Leyen rose to become EU president - New Statesman
Tuesday, August 20, 2019Chancellor Angela Merkel, for one, is a fan. Merkel brought von der Leyen into her first cabinet in 2005, just two years after the latter became a minister in the state of Lower Saxony. In fact, for a while Merkel appeared to be grooming von der Leyen as her successor. (Merkel’s actual chosen successor and CDU party leader, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, will take over at the defence ministry.)
But von der Leyen never truly had enough allies in her own party to succeed Merkel in the Chancellery, perhaps because she was always something of an outsider, personally and ideologically. She joined the CDU at the relatively late age of 32 and spent years working as a doctor and taking care of her family before her rapid rise as a member of Merkel’s team.
That’s not to say von der Leyen is especially popular with Germany’s other major parties. All of the Social Democratic MEPs broke with their European colleagues to reject von der Leyen in the confirmation vote. The German SPD even distributed a letter in Brussels stating that she was an “inadequate and inappropriate candidate”. The Greens in Europe — the party is surging in Germany and could take over the Chancellery at the next election — also whipped to vote against von der Leyen, though their opposition is not all personal, but rather due to the fact that she is not a Spitzenkandidat (the lead candidate put forward by each parliamentary bloc in the European elections).
The German public are not fans either. According to the most recent SPON poll, 68 per cent are unsatisfied with her work as defence minister. Defence minister is a tough job, but that’s a strikingly poor number.
Nevertheless, many Germans are pleased that one of their countrymen — or rather women — will head the European Commission for the first time in 50 years. Putting a German face on the EU could improve the Commission’s messaging towards Europe’s biggest member state.
span id="docs-internal-guid-36c63774-7fff-ea93-5b1d-71...https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/2019/07/german-european-how-ursula-von-der-leyen-rose-become-eu-president
Germany’s Landesbanken still seeking clean bill of health - Financial Times
Tuesday, April 23, 2019One public sector bank yet to be given a clean bill of health is Hanover-based NordLB, a lender with €160bn in assets majority-owned by the German states of Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt with regional Sparkassen holding a minority stake of 35 per cent.The bank, weighed down by a vast portfolio of non-performing shipping loans, expects that it will be singled out as the weakest link in Germany’s banking system in the European Banking Authority’s stress test on Friday. “That would not be a surprise,” NordLB told the Financial Times. The lender has started to woo new investors in an attempt to raise fresh capital of about €3.5bn, with the state of Lower-Saxony standing ready to pitch in taxpayers’ money alongside external investors. Six potential bidders are conducting due diligence and have until November 28 to decide if they will table a binding offer. Among the suitors is Landesbank peer Helaba, as well as listed rival Commerzbank, private equity funds Cerberus and three other PE investors, said a person familiar with the process. “I am glad that we have different options and am open for several different scenarios,” Lower Saxony’s finance minister Reinhold Hilbers told the FT, adding that a deal with a different Landesbank as well as one with private investors was on the ca...https://www.ft.com/content/d7d380cc-dcdb-11e8-9f04-38d397e6661c