Can Ikea save a run-down neighborhood?

The article I chose this week was about Altona, a district in Hamburg. The district was once a prosperous district with many shops. In the 1990's, shops began to close as other stores opened in other areas drawing business out of Altona. Now, Ikea has selected the area's Frappant building as the location of their newest Ikea store. This has created a divided community. Germany provides Ikea with 20 percent of its revenues. Building a new store in Germany would be very beneficial for Ikea.

The pro-Ikea group want the mega-store to move in to help bring commerce. One individual commented that he doesn't care if Ikea is the store to move in; he just wants a big, stable company to help save the region. Ikea is promising jobs and revenue to the area.

Th anti-Ikea group are opposed to the area becoming a traffic nightmare. They want to turn the building into a community center. This group is concerned about gentrification occurring.

The pro-Ikeans mention that there is little movement for this community center to happen. They have waited for a long time for something to move in to the district and nothing pans out.

I agree with the pro-Ikea group on this issue. It appears that the area is struggling and more local businesses are probably going to fail. The district needs a stable, prosperous company to help boost the local economy. To me, it doesn't matter if it is Ikea; they just need help. A community center would be great but seems unrealistic. They have considered the idea for over ten years and it still is just an idea.

This article was written by Sven Böll and Ole Reissenmann.

The article can be found at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,673016,00.html

German high court rules against detention of sex offender

This article is about the recent ruling of the German high court against the preventative detention of a sex offender. The article explains how "Karl D." could not be put in preventative detention because his 1995 offense ruling did not contain any measures for him to be in preventative detention. The community where he lives is very concerned about his person being in their neighborhoods.

In 1985, Karl D. was sentenced to 5 1/2 years for raping a 14 year old girl. After his time in jail, he raped two other girls in 1995. His 1995 ruling sentenced him to 14 years in prison. It was this sentence that did not include the additional detention.

I was not sure what exactly "preventative detention" . When I looked it up, I was informed that it is assigned to a criminal in addition to a determined term in prison. It is regarded as the harshest punishment. Preventative detention is reserved for the most dangerous criminals. In 1998, the clause specifically including sex offenders was added.

Karl D. was released less than a year ago and he is living with his brother. The police have placed him on 24-hour surveillance. This surveillance is costing approximately 100,000 euros per month. The mayor warned the citizens to be on alert.

I think that it is absurd for the community to waste that amount of money the watch a person that court-appointed evaluators deemed dangerous. The man has proven to be a repeat rapist and now he is released into an area that is assuredly going to have young girls around. The American system is not much better I suppose. We run out of room in our prisons and set felons free. There are often stories about a criminal who was caught, served time, released, and committed another crime.

I chose article because I was curious about how other countries handle their sex offenders. I think that "preventative detention" is similar to what we call "life sentence" combined with the release of information when a sex offender moves into a community here.

This article can be found at:

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5124202,00.html

This article was edited by Michael Lawton

FIrst Blog

This project is to make us aware of current events in Germany. I will be looking for articles that relate to any type of news story. I am interested in learning about a variety of topics.