Big leaps: Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) at the festival in the Rehberge allotment garden Photo: Stefan Peter
By Stephen Peter
Hundreds of thousands of Berliners will measure it against this sentence: “By 2026 it will be ensured that all allotment gardens in this city will be preserved,” promises the Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (50, CDU). In the capital there are over 70,000 plots in almost 900 allotment gardens.
On Friday evening, Wegner was at the “Day of the Garden” organized by the Landesverband der Gartenfreunde eV. In the allotment garden in Rehberge (Wedding), there were information stands, face painting and a stage programme.
The ruler was greeted with much goodwill by the visitors.
He promised: “Finally long-term, finally reliable” to secure the future of Berlin’s allotment gardens. Black and red have set themselves this task together. “We want to find the best way to permanently secure their colonies.”
The Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) as a guest at the festival in the Rehberge allotment garden Photo: Stefan Peter
This can be done through an allotment garden security law or through a foundation. “We have to work together to ensure that the green oases of our great capital are preserved in the long term,” says Wegner.
And later added: “At least most of them.” There could well be exceptions, such as the construction of a school. “Then it must also be well justified!”
With Wegner, the Laubenpieper have someone by their side who knows their worries: “I grew up in an allotment garden,” he confessed.