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A Saturday in May, sun patters from sky, as if Leipzig were on Mediterranean, and yet one does not even know who radiates more: city or its mayor. Burkhard Jung has come to cotton spinning mill, well-known artist area, to celebrate with federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer “Day of city Planning promotion”. But Seehofer is no longer at all.
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“I’m not tired of remembering how this was ten years ago,” says Burkhard Jung in his speech. “Ten years ago, Leipzig was smaller by almost 100,000 inhabitants, unemployment was more than 20 percent, empty streets were lined with houses that nobody wanted.” Now place has blossomed: The birth figures climbed, guests were amazeded over building substance; A landscape emerged from wasteland. “I am so bold and say, I think we have not done everything wrong,” says Jung. He could also say: I did a lot of things right.
Those who are facing him, who hears him speak so, cannot resist impression that this man must have feeling of exercising most beautiful job in world: Lord Mayor of Leipzig. The problem is: Burkhard Jung wants to leave. He announced that he would like to become President of East German Savings Bank Association – A kind of lobbying organization of savings banks. The post is highly endowed, with an estimated 400,000 euro a year, annual income is more than twice that of Lord Mayor.
Is that why he wants to change? Or why else would young, dazzling, want to swap post at top of a boom city with post at top of a bandage?
You can, must, ask him first. His desire for change, he says, has “quite frankly stood up to do with somewhat greater desire for privacy”. “It is very strenuous to be constantly under observation. I want to spend more time carefree with my wife and my children. ” Moreover, mood has changed, tone has become anor. “Meanwhile I come across people who are full of rage, hatred and disrespect, I did not know that before; Death threats are not a rarity, “said Jung. Is it an escape from politics, your efforts and impositions?
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In any case, efforts that Young had had to deal with since taking office 2006 have been enormous. Leipzig made headlines at time as “Poverty Capital of Germany”, highly indebted, with top values only in crime statistics. Today it is fastest growing metropolis in Germany. “What we have accomplished is no less than a sensation,” he says. “We have a giant-standing, we are attractive and again a real hotspot.” Clearly, he could not measure himself with economic power of Stuttgart, Frankfurt or even Munich. “But in perception we have arrived at top again. We are perceived as city of eastern Germany and as a European metropolis. “
It is interesting how Burkhard Jung explains this soaring: not superficially with hard work or sophisticated urban development plans. What young believes to have created is: a self-fulfilling prophecy. There’s a nice saying, he says: “No teeth in your mouth, but La Paloma whistle.” That’s how city seemed to him. “I have always said: We will grow if we believe in this growth and formulate it.” In end, Leipzig is also a product that needs to be marketed. And he can market it.
Self-congratulation is not embarrassed. On contrary, he knows how to work with
Burkhard Jung is a type of politician who seldom exists in East Germany: a gifted seller of his city and himself. Self-congratulation is not embarrassing to him – it is his method. And in Leipzig you could observe what happens to a city when such a marketing talent rules it: it can drive you to unangeahnte Heights. But when his lust passes, he can retire like a traveler who is looking for a new field of activity.
