Werner Graf, Berlin’s top candidate for the Green Party, has announced a renewed cleanliness initiative aimed at tackling the state of the capital. Commenting to Die Welt (Monday edition), he criticized the current situation, stating that “this city is too dirty.” His initial move upon winning an election would be to establish a centralized task force on sanitation within the Red City Hall.
Graf believes that since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the public realm has shifted in perception; rather than being viewed as part of a shared living space, it is increasingly treated as an area unrelated to residents’ immediate concerns. To combat this trend, he proposes consolidating all cleanliness-related agencies into one dedicated task force at the Red City Hall and introducing a packaging tax designed to reduce overall waste.
He also draws inspiration from other cities that have successfully managed pollution, emphasizing both increased municipal cleaning efforts and encouraging citizens to reclaim public space. As an example, Graf cited Vienna, where homeowners are allowed to rent street parking spots for purposes like setting up permeable public areas (parklets), provided these spaces remain freely accessible to everyone. He concluded by stressing the core belief that “streets become cleaner when people feel responsible for them.”
