The Senate Transport Administration apparently sees no reason to worry that the traffic turnaround in Berlin driven by the green house management will lead to rising rents, as Berlin’s SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh had said. “In the statements made by Mr. Saleh, we do not see any accusation directed at the traffic administration,” State Secretary Markus Kamrad (Greens) told the Tagesspiegel. He pointed out that the Social Democrats had also approved the increase in parking fees in Berlin.
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In an interview with the Tagesspiegel, Saleh warned that traffic calming measures in the center of Berlin could lead to rising rents there and that poorer residents would be pushed to the outskirts. “A misunderstood traffic turnaround only in the city center must not lead to more gentrification.”
The ecologically influenced Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) also sees a connection between traffic calming measures and rising rents in a neighborhood. It is “careful that an upgrading of quarters through less car traffic and more green spaces and meeting places does not harm those whose quality of life it should improve,” says a position paper of the VCD, written by Alexander Kaas-Elias, today’s traffic policy spokesman Green Group in the House of Representatives.
It is important to prevent “that of all people who are supposed to benefit from the revaluation from being displaced by wealthier clientele”.
SPD faction leader Saleh had also rejected calls by the Greens to further increase parking fees and to introduce a city toll. “We would then make life in the city center a bit more expensive and thus push gentrification further.” Saleh also accused Transport Senator Bettina Jarasch (Greens) of making too slow progress in expanding the cycle paths on the outskirts.
Kamrad did not want to interpret the criticism of the coalition partner as such: “We see the statements as a tailwind for our politics. For a faster turnaround in mobility and a faster redistribution of road space, we also need the support of social democracy,” he said.
