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Berlin's Run-Down Public Spaces at Heart of Election Campaign
Parties and activists say chronic underinvestment and budget cuts have left Berlin unable to reliably provide basic services for nearly 4 million residents.
Town hall-hopefuls have also pledged to clean up graffiti-covered train stations, end "forever-building sites", fix buckled cycling lanes and take steps to ease a desperate shortage of affordable housing.
Taken together, the list of woes hardens the image of a chronically broke city whose administration often struggles to reliably provide services for its almost four million people.
Certainly, many who live in Berlin love its rich artistic and c…
Hygiene in this city-state of nearly four million people deemed green, trendy and pleasant to live has become a central theme of the campaign, with slogans such as "play areas without syringes" or "cleanliness is...