The stretch in question is the East Side Gallery, the largest existing section of the Wall that's been left up as a memorial to those who died trying to cross it, and as a reminder of the scar that division left on the city. After the fall of the Wall, sections of it were painted by a number of well-known artists, and it's one of Berlin's biggest tourist attractions.
Today, they tried to remove part of it to put up luxury condos. Thankfully, an overwhelming amount of support for its preservation from all over the world stopped the demolition for now, and the Senate has promised to talk about it. However, I'm still a bit worried for the future of this landmark.
This reflects a bigger issue in my city. Right now, there's a lot of development going on, and there are a lot of clashes between "new" and "old" Berlin. The largest problem is that no one seems willing to see the middle ground on this issue. One camp wants to keep everything exactly as it is, and the other sees little value in the city's last 100 years of history. Both sides are horribly wrong. I think on one hand, change is inevitable, and you have to let a city grow, especially a relatively "new" city like the unified version of Berlin. On the other hand, tourism is Berlin's largest industry. People come here from all over the world to see things like the Berlin wall. They aren't here to see Brandenbug Gate and such at the end of the day...they want to see the Wall. They want to see the history that they've read about (recent history). This is huge source of competitive advantage and income for the city. We have other sectors, and a growing tech sector, but none of these even come close to touching what tourism brings in. It represents jobs and money for Berlin. If you take it away, the city has very little value. Some of these investors are so short-sighted, I can't even begin to fathom how they think tearing some of these things down is a good idea. They want people to move here and stay in their high-end hotels and live in luxury apartments, but the reason people usually do so is because they're interested in the city's diverse history and its eclectic cultural atmosphere. It's like trying to build a luxury chalet in the forest and then cutting down the forest.
Today, they tried to remove part of it to put up luxury condos. Thankfully, an overwhelming amount of support for its preservation from all over the world stopped the demolition for now, and the Senate has promised to talk about it. However, I'm still a bit worried for the future of this landmark.
This reflects a bigger issue in my city. Right now, there's a lot of development going on, and there are a lot of clashes between "new" and "old" Berlin. The largest problem is that no one seems willing to see the middle ground on this issue. One camp wants to keep everything exactly as it is, and the other sees little value in the city's last 100 years of history. Both sides are horribly wrong. I think on one hand, change is inevitable, and you have to let a city grow, especially a relatively "new" city like the unified version of Berlin. On the other hand, tourism is Berlin's largest industry. People come here from all over the world to see things like the Berlin wall. They aren't here to see Brandenbug Gate and such at the end of the day...they want to see the Wall. They want to see the history that they've read about (recent history). This is huge source of competitive advantage and income for the city. We have other sectors, and a growing tech sector, but none of these even come close to touching what tourism brings in. It represents jobs and money for Berlin. If you take it away, the city has very little value. Some of these investors are so short-sighted, I can't even begin to fathom how they think tearing some of these things down is a good idea. They want people to move here and stay in their high-end hotels and live in luxury apartments, but the reason people usually do so is because they're interested in the city's diverse history and its eclectic cultural atmosphere. It's like trying to build a luxury chalet in the forest and then cutting down the forest.
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