'Poor but Sexy' is Berlinerisch for Incompetent

The Rant: Berlin is not poor, just poorly run. This city has almost 190,000 city employees and nobody to clear the sidewalks of either snow or New Year's rubbish. Almost 190,000 city employees also have decent incomes and pay decent taxes and rents. Our Governing Mayor Mr. Wowereit should be ashamed of the state of the city. His spin doctoring, labeling Berlin as 'poor but sexy' is a weak attempt to see his incompetent governing of the city through rose coloured glasses.

The Rave: Berlin is vibrant, even doch sexy, despite all the problems and negative aspects. Berlin has an energy that few cities have. Of the cities I have personally experienced, New York City, Paris, London to an extent, and Berlin have that 'buzz'. Cities such as Munich, Hamburg, Philadelphia, Washington DC, LA, Dallas and Frankfurt do not have it. Even Sydney, as beautiful as it is, doesn't have it.

Welcome to The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Berlin

You have landed at the blog of the ex-pat Berlin blogger rootberlin. Should you decide to continue, you will have chosen of your own free will to experience my personal therapy sessions. My plan is to exit the house in good spirits every day so I need to leave the complaining at home. As I don't want to come home to it, I am going to blog it and put it out there in cyberspace - still accessible should I want to revisit my rantings but not cluttering my flat (nor, hopefully, my head)!

Berlin is a fascinating city of extremes. Extreme reasons to love Berlin and extreme reasons to hate Berlin. I refer to Berlin as my personal heroin. She is addictive, she causes euphoric highs and she smashes me down ruthlessly - sometimes simultaneously - and I cannot stop nor do I want to stop the process.

Each entry will be a rant and a compliment. I am forcing myself to write a good thing about Berlin for every rant that I want to shout. There is plenty to compliment Berlin on, I am therefore requiring myself to identify at least one positive for Berlin for each negative I find worthy of publishing. I cannot leave Berlin. I have to find my peace with her.

I hope you enjoy my therapy! Comments on my complaints, my compliments as well as my therapy are, at this point, welcome. Let's see if anybody cares enough to comment.