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I live in the neighbourhood, very close to where the "campus" is being built. I understand that Google has a lot of symbolic value in the protests, but I don't

I live in the neighbourhood, very close to where the "campus" is being built. I understand that Google has a lot of symbolic value in the protests, but I don't think that it actually will have such an impact. Paul-linke-ufer is already full of startups and relatively affluent american hipsters flood the caffes in the hood. That is also ok, I guess, (like UFO361 says hahaha), people in the end can live wherever they want. But what is not ok is the cartel-like tactics that Berliner landlords use to rise rents. In Germany people tend to not own flats, but this means many buildings are owned by big companies with lots of pressure power when they want to do mass rent increases. They do really shady things like playing with the WBS (social housing) rules against the renters, like with these renters in Maybachufer: https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1086567.falsches-spiel-am-maybachufer.html https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1086567.falsches-sp... The rents went up 17% last year in and this rate is increasing every year. This is really worrying and I hope the city becomes serious about it.

sneak 8y ago
Paul-Lincke-Ufer was my first flat in Berlin, in 2008. A bedroom then went for €400/mo, and that was considered high then. Now I imagine it is 3-4x that.
- biztos 8y ago
  I had a tiny studio with coal heating on Maybachufer in 1996 for under 200 DM (!) per month, "warm" (i.e. with the coal it was about 200). But even back then: a single company owned the building, and kicked everyone out so they could renovate and get their gentrification bonus. To help motivate the older residents they started the exceptionally noisy renovation work at 6am every day.
INTPenis 8y ago
I don't think the majority is protesting specifically against the campus building. But rather against Google as a tax evading company and global brand of personal data gathering. In that sense they're in the same category as your landlords. Economic crime favoring the rich. But what do I know, I'm not even in Germany. You should go to the protest and ask them.

sneak 8y ago

Paul-Lincke-Ufer was my first flat in Berlin, in 2008. A bedroom then went for €400/mo, and that was considered high then. Now I imagine it is 3-4x that.

biztos 8y ago
I had a tiny studio with coal heating on Maybachufer in 1996 for under 200 DM (!) per month, "warm" (i.e. with the coal it was about 200). But even back then: a single company owned the building, and kicked everyone out so they could renovate and get their gentrification bonus. To help motivate the older residents they started the exceptionally noisy renovation work at 6am every day.

INTPenis 8y ago

I don't think the majority is protesting specifically against the campus building. But rather against Google as a tax evading company and global brand of personal data gathering. In that sense they're in the same category as your landlords. Economic crime favoring the rich. But what do I know, I'm not even in Germany. You should go to the protest and ask them.