From BZ
Every Wednesday, Berlin district leaders write their opinions here. Today Maren Schellenberg (60, Greens), mayor of Steglitz-Zehlendorf.
The year 2022 ends. A year that has demanded a lot from all of us. You, too, were certainly hoping to get back to normal, but unfortunately this was only partly the case.
Use the hopefully somewhat quieter days between years to think back to the beautiful moments from 2022. Maybe you had a nice party with friends or family, maybe you went to a concert again.
Don’t forget the good resolutions either – they are part of the New Year’s celebrations.
The year 2022 was also a busy year for the district administration. It was necessary to adapt to new situations such as an energy crisis and to enable the numerous refugees to arrive as safely as possible. Now repeat elections have to be organized, which none of us wanted.
The employees of the administrations try to offer you as citizens a good service. This works sometimes better – sometimes not so well. It is true that there is a need for improvement in administration – in the district as well as in the country.
Better use must be made of the opportunities offered by digitization, and dual responsibilities and unnecessary formalities must be eliminated. The districts want to continue to participate constructively in such reforms, because the district administrations are the bodies that have direct contact with you as citizens.
On the other hand, proposals to abolish the district administration or to disempower it, i.e. to centralize significant parts of the services to the citizens at state level, cannot lead to the desired improvements for you.
From Steglitz-Zehlendorf I wish you all a beautiful, healthy, hopeful and peaceful year 2023. May your wishes and dreams come true this year.