Longer Wait Times At Red Lights?; Tram 8 Crackdown on Refugee Border Crossings; Swiss Eggs Safe Rental; Vacancy Rate Rises

News For 22 August 2017

Over the weekend, the Basler Zeitung newspaper published an internal report by the Basel Construction and Traffic Department (BVD) outlining a pilot program designed to test longer wait times at red traffic lights.  In an effort to further reduce motorized private transport in the city, the wait times were to be extended at traffic lights at the main access roads into the city.  In the following uproar, the BVD assured motorists and residents of the city that at the moment the proposal is simply a concept draft and not policy.  Long suffering of traffic snarls, Baselers represented by trade associations and the Automobile Club of Switzerland have criticized the plan as being contrary to the publics interest, especially at a time when massive construction and redevelopment projects are already causing delays at most major access points into and out of the city.

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About a year ago, illegal border crossings from Switzerland into Germany surged noticeably. The government promised to act, focusing primarily on African nationals who typically continue traveling on to Germany seeking social services. According to Basler Zeitung, asylum seekers continue to use the 8 tram to cross over to Weil am Rhein. Apparently, the asylum seekers ride the tram in the direction of Weil am Rhein and get rid of their exit papers (“Ausgaangsscheine”) right before the border, to make it harder, but not impossible, to trace their identities. Most of these asylum seekers are nationals of Eritrea, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

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Earlier this month, the news headlines were focused on contaminated eggs coming from the EU which had sickened consumers.  The contamination seems to have been sourced to the Netherlands, but millions of eggs had found their way across the EU markets and into Switzerland as well before they were pulled from the shelves.  In response, the food safety office of Switzerland, also known as the BLV, undertook testing all of the eggs coming from the major egg producers in the country.  In a statement this week, the BLV reported that all of the Swiss eggs they tested were free from the offending pesticide.

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The amount of empty apartments in Basel has risen for the third consecutive quarter in a row. In Basel-Stadt, the rate went from 0.4 to 0.5 %, in Basel-Land from 0.5 to 0.6 %. However, these vacancy rates are still well below the Swiss national average, which was 1.3 % in 2016. The reason for the rise in Basel is attributed to the rapid building of new apartments. In the past year, more apartments have been put on the market than are actually needed by the population.