Leaving this here for when the UBER thing finally comes crashing down.
It will probably be similar to AirBnB and any ‘sharing startup’ that first destroys and remakes a large part of the world for the worse and then goes out of business.
Category: The City
Figuring out why there is a shortage of pediatricians
Just like almost every public service in Berlin the pediatrician situation is absolute squalor. It’s impossible to find one who picks up the phone or takes on new patients.
We’ve had some bad incidents in the past with sketchy doctors because of this and now I’m trying to figure out why this is the way it is.
- Call my lead for a pediatrician
“We’re very sorry but we can’t take any new patients.” - Call the Kassenärztliche Verein
“It’s not us who do this.”
I am told to call the Dachverband der Krankenkassen - Call the Spitzenverband
“We do not determine how many pediatricians can settle in a given area.”
The telephone person says they are a temp and do not have any channel up to their leadership. I’m told to call my own Krankenkasse. - Call Techniker Kankenkasse
‘Wir sind nicht dafür zuständig.’
The person says they have the same problem on a personal level in Hamburg but can’t really do anything for me professionally. I am told to call the Kassenärztliche Verein - Call KV (again)
Reception says that I can get a peds appointment sometime in the future from a different number of theirs (not what I want). I called this number before and they will not give me a pediatrician and that is if they bother to pick up the telephone.
Every instance says “Dafür sind wir nicht zuständig.” and sends me on until I’ve closed the loop.
It’s not the first time that this happens. I’ve previously spent half an hour being sent in a loop between Polizei and Ordnungsamt. This is the way that Germany functions: nobody is responsible for anything and everybody in between can get fucked.
Corollary: if it is impossible to figure out why something is the way it is, it is also impossible to fix it.
Reading about Amsterdam canceling 10’000 parking spaces, does make me feel as if I’m living in an idiot’s city.
As the blisters develop and his feet start to bleed, Walton asks the right questions. What are the human and environmental costs of Singapore’s success, and are they sustainable?
His conclusions are more nuanced than either Singapore’s detractors or its cheerleaders would like. The island’s vaunted meritocracy is imperfect, especially seen from the perspective of its Malay and Indian minorities; and the pressures on citizens to perform and conform are so intense that those who do not fit in sometimes opt for voluntary exile.
Not having walked the length of the island (which sounds amazing) but talking about Singapore from afar, I came to many of the same conclusions. Still a fascinating place in so so many ways.
https://www.ft.com/content/fbbb28d2-885c-11e9-97ea-05ac2431f453
“It’s no coincidence that co-living start-ups have gravitated to cities like Berlin, San Francisco, London and New York. Ostensibly ‘winning’ the battle for capital and talent, they are urban testing-grounds, where rootless and cashed-up tech workers, heated real estate markets, and rising housing pressures add up to a recipe for experimentation.”
An interesting look at co-living but please let’s not change the entire city into this nonsense.
Living without a car in Berlin
From a thread about whether it is possible or not to live in Berlin without a car (gasp!). This is what a normal odd day of mine looks like.
The car isn’t the problem or more like: having a car would be a problem. During those rush hours, doing the same journeys by car would take at least twice as long.
- 07:00 aufstehen, Kinder anziehen, KiTa brot machen
- 07:45 Lastenrad holen, noch was anziehen usw., Kinder überzeugen einzusteigen
- 08:10 Abfahrt zum Kita (andere Seite von Kreuzberg, 2.8km)
- 08:25 Kita Ankunft
- 08:40 Idealfall Abfahrt Kita zur Arbeit (Schöneberg, 7.7km)
- 09:10 Sitze auf dem Arbeitsplatz
- 16:30 Abfahrt Arbeit (weil ich sie gebracht habe muss ich sie jetzt nicht abholen, kann auch 16:00 sein oder 17:00)
- 16:45 Biomarkt wenn wir noch einkaufen brauchen
- 17:10 Abfahrt Biomarkt
- 17:25 spätestens wieder zu Hause
Den nächsten Tag tue ich das gleiche andersrum mit dem Zwilingsrad und hole die um 15:30 ab beim Kita. Ich fahre ungefähr 15km Rad pro Tag.
Ich arbeite 30 Stunden aber das ist nicht wegen des Autos oder so sondern weil ich meine Kinder auch ab und zu noch sehen möchte.
Mit Auto wären wir nicht schneller (eher viel langsamer weil Stau + Parkplatzsuche usw.) also das macht für unsere Stunden gar keinen Unterschied.
I had no idea but it seems Berlin has a booming Chinese art scene.
Cities like Barcelona are starting to fight back against AirBnB and tourism.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/29/the-airbnb-invasion-of-barcelona
I recently refused to help some local tourists to call the bike share hotline in German. We were legitimately in a hurry but my flat out refusal was not appreciated. Next time I’ll tell them I won’t be helping them because I do not support tourism.
Berlin will also regularly call on McKinsey to ‘fix’ its problems. As this description of them giving Puerto Rico the Greece-treatment shows, where they come nothing good will follow.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/mckinsey-in-puerto-rico.html
Innisfil, Ontario’s troubles filling in their public transit with Uber is a great example of how governments should not outsource things to private contractors whose unit economics do not make sense.