<story><title>Google drops plans for Berlin campus after protests</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45971538</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bko</author><text>I think arbitrary restrictions on groups that can purchase or lease space in a neighborhood is bad for a free society. I guess people say it depends on what group you&amp;#x27;re imposing. Now it&amp;#x27;s Google which you may or may not like, but other groups can be harmed in the future. This is part of the whole NIMBY movement.&lt;p&gt;As long as the group is following laws and zoning restrictions, there should be nothing preventing them from joining a community</text></item><item><author>keiferski</author><text>I’m honestly kind of surprised at Google’s complete lack of cultural or diplomatic knowledge about Berlin. Kreuzberg is&amp;#x2F;was the center of artistic culture in the city, and choosing to have a presence there, no matter how small, would clearly be viewed as a corporate American attack on local countercultural values. As another commenter stated, they could have avoided this entire issue by picking somewhere in Mitte or a western suburb.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>eropple</author><text>Nobody is restricting Google from doing anything. They are expressing--in a way that is part of, and frankly should be expected of being a member of, one of those &amp;quot;free societies&amp;quot; you mention--that Google is &lt;i&gt;unwelcome&lt;/i&gt;, and no, nobody is obligated to make you feel &lt;i&gt;welcome&lt;/i&gt;. There are cases where not making somebody welcome kinda makes you an asshole, but that does not, frankly, apply to anybody who&amp;#x27;s got a stock ticker symbol.&lt;p&gt;This is &amp;quot;you piss in the pool wherever you go, please stay away from our pool.&amp;quot; This isn&amp;#x27;t NIMBY in any meaningful way and the comparison is downright mendacious.</text></comment>
<story><title>Google drops plans for Berlin campus after protests</title><url>https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45971538</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>bko</author><text>I think arbitrary restrictions on groups that can purchase or lease space in a neighborhood is bad for a free society. I guess people say it depends on what group you&amp;#x27;re imposing. Now it&amp;#x27;s Google which you may or may not like, but other groups can be harmed in the future. This is part of the whole NIMBY movement.&lt;p&gt;As long as the group is following laws and zoning restrictions, there should be nothing preventing them from joining a community</text></item><item><author>keiferski</author><text>I’m honestly kind of surprised at Google’s complete lack of cultural or diplomatic knowledge about Berlin. Kreuzberg is&amp;#x2F;was the center of artistic culture in the city, and choosing to have a presence there, no matter how small, would clearly be viewed as a corporate American attack on local countercultural values. As another commenter stated, they could have avoided this entire issue by picking somewhere in Mitte or a western suburb.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>keiferski</author><text>I used to agree with you, but considering the fact that San Francisco has gone from “semi-affordable haven for weirdos and off-beat culture” to “single most expensive city in America filled primarily with tech workers and the homeless” in less than 30 years, I don’t any more. Semi-similar situations for lower Manhattan, Paris, East London, ad infinitum.&lt;p&gt;A place can have a unique culture that’s worth maintaining. How to maintain it - I don’t know. But converting everything to MegaCo offices probably isn’t the solution.</text></comment>