Lights Out During Rush Hour Basel-Stadt To Vote On Primate Rights New Construction Record The Driving Ban Everybody Ignores

News For 29 January 2019

Late last week, a power-outage in the Barfüsserplatz area brought tram traffic to a halt.  At around 6 in the evening on Thursday, the blackout was reported by the BVB, Basel's public transportation provider.   Although the blackout caused delays, tram traffic could still be re-routed around the affected area, allowing commuters to reach their destinations.  The interruption in power and service lasted approximately a half hour, and although quickly resolved the cause still remains unknown.

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Last week the Basel-Stadt canton began to prepare for a crucial vote on animal rights. The aim of the initiative is to guarantee fundamental rights to life and  mental and physical integrity for non-human primates – a group that includes chimpanzees, orangutans, and bonobos. The referendum proposal was launched by an animal rights think tank called Sentience Politics, which fights against discrimination on the basis of species. Sentience Politics, which launched this campaign in 2016, has stated that its plan could prevent the deaths of hundreds of primates in Basel, where Switzerland’s powerful pharmaceutical industry is based. Currently, the University of Basel has never run experiments involving primates, although it could theoretically choose to do so at any time. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical giant Novartis stopped experiments involving primates in 2016, while Roche was reportedly planning to do so by the end of 2018.

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2018 saw the highest residential construction activity in Basel since the last peak in 1981.  807 new apartments were built in the city according to the report by the Canton Presidential Office. The average size of the homes was 90 square meters, and are primarily in co-operative housing format.  More than half of the 807 units are accounted for by five large building complexes, each with more than 50 units.  In addition, half of the units are owned by either a real-estate development firm or insurance company.

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Since the 21st of January and running until the 17th of February the traffic along the Elisabethenstrasse has been diverted unto the direction of the Wettsteinallee bridge and Aeschenvorstadt. The reason: renewal of tram lines and stops along the Kunstmuseum. However seemingly nobody seems to follow the ban and its a costly mistake as well as the police are instantly notified and the ticket isn't far away after that. So remember if you're driving down Elisabethenstrasse, pay attention to the signs, at least until February 17th.