City Contemplates Non-Citizen Vote; Basel Banks Burgled; Erlentmatt Set To Grow

Last week, the council chamber of Basel Stadt's town hall held a session to discuss the possible political participation of Basel's residents who do not hold Swiss citizenship. The aim of the session is to generate publicity for social issues and to make suggestions to the Grand Council. One organization invited to the hall, known simply as "Vote", advocates for the perspective of non-Swiss men and women in Basel's political processes. Its president, Tatiana Vieira, stated, "The right to vote must not be the last step, but the way." Many of those present agreed, including Fatima Moumouni, a German guest speaker and award winning poetry slammer, who said that it's absurd the third generation of Swiss resident families cannot vote. Others such as Marcel Colomb, a spokesperson for a liberal political movement in Switzerland known as Operation Libero, added that the right to vote is an important step to integration, noting that "people who live, work, pay taxes, and contribute to the prosperity of society must also have the opportunity to have a say in legislation". Although the session produced a worthwhile debate on migrants' political participation in Basel, all of the comments made are still only suggestions. However, the meeting did pass a resolution to provide more German language course vouchers for Swiss people who move to Basel from the French, Rhaeto-Romance, or Italian speaking cantons, demonstrating that town hall meetings can be very productive.

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After three branches of the Basel Landschaft Kantonal Bank were robbed on the 15th of April, 2nd of August, and the 17th of, the bank has resorted to extreme measures in cash withdrawals and security. Two of the branch offices at Oberdorf and Breitenbach which were robbed, had one thing in common: they were both remote locations, with the perpetrators escaping before the police could arrive. The bank has responded by suspending cash withdrawal until further notice, and extreme security on part from the security company, Securitas. If you desperately require cash from the cashier, the banks at Therwil, Binningen or Liestal still offer this service, and select ATMs. The BLKB also said the amount up to 2,000CHF can be delivered by mail to your home.

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The Erlenmatt district of KleinBasel near the Musikal Theater has been a hotbed of residential construction activity for the last 10 years.  Prior to the building, the area was an industrial rail yard.  Now, the area is host to over 1327 apartments which represents almost 2400 people.  The Statistical Office Basel-Stadt, also disclosed that the residents represent over 78 nationalities.   The highly diverse neighborhood is largely populated by non-Swiss citizens, outnumbering locals by almost 3 to 2.