"Poor But Sexy"

Here are some bits from the NY Times article regarding the $3.4 billion airport rising just beyond the limits of this hip but economically strapped metropolis.

*Supporters of Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport contend that it might be the salvation of a city that, despite its incredible historical resonance, has become an economic and geographic backwater. Detractors vehemently argue that the airport will be just another misguided drain of money by a local government critics say has failed to help Berlin realize its potential despite the city’s status as one of the hottest destinations on the planet.

*The paradox of Berlin, encapsulated in Mayor Klaus Wowereit’s catchphrase “poor but sexy,” has never been more fitting. Berlin was ever thus — broke and full of German dropouts and hipsters — but in recent years the city has drawn flocks of young people on budget airlines from around Europe and the world for the nightclubs and galleries flourishing in the city’s abandoned warehouses...But those warehouses were empty in the first place because, for decades, forces beyond the city’s control stripped Berlin of its former industrial might.


*Planners expect the armies of fickle hipsters to awaken Berlin from its permanent adolescence and turn it into a world capital of creative industries like art, fashion, music and film. But that does not necessarily set off an economic revival.

Read the article in its entirety here.