March 2, 2010

Basel taxi drivers are feeling uneasy after an series of unsolved robberies. Fourteen drivers have been robbed in the past five months. The perpetrators operate in groups posing as passengers and ask to be driven to an isolated street. Once the taxi reaches the destination, the passengers use threats and force to steal the driver's wallet. Most of the attacks have occured across the border in Germany and have targeted older or female taxi drivers.

Unions and police are discussing preventive measures against future robberies. Video cameras or a separating wall between driver and passengers are possible but unpopular with unions who cite low customer acceptance and high costs. Drivers hope instead that police will apprehend the perpetrators before the next attack occurs.

Source: Basler Zeitung
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Basel's controversial plan to eliminate free parking in the city will be put to a referendum. Last thursday, the employer's association submitted five thousand signatures for the referendum, well above the necessary two thousand signatures.

The plan would change all ten thousand of the white parking spaces to either blue zones or paid parking by 2013. Center-right parties as well as the employer's and automobile associations had all criticized the plan as unfriendly to business and for not being coordinated with regional partners.

Source: bazonline
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Basel's famous gallery owner, collector and patron of the arts Ernst Beyeler passed away last week at his home in Riehen. He was eighty eight years old. Beyeler worked his way up from humble working-class origins to amass a huge fortune in the art world. Beyeler is considered the world's most successful art dealer of the late twentieth century, according to a report in the Basler Zeitung.

Beyeler and his late wife Hildy created a self-named foundation to manage their extensive art collection and built the world-renouned Fondation Beyeler museum in Riehen to house it. The Beyelers were also key players in the creation of the Art Basel show.

Source: Basler Zeitung
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Con men are breaking into mailboxes and changing payment slips so that the payments go to their own temporary accounts, warn the police. The crooks look for a few large payments and then alter the destination account on the payment slip. Once the payments are made, the accounts are cleaned out.

Two cases have been reported so far this year. Police recommend putting your payment slips only in secure mailboxes or taking them directly to a counter at the bank or post office.

Source: bazonline
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A two year old boy drowned in the Birs river in Baselland last Friday.  A woman was going for her daily morning walk in Liesberg with her three preschool children, when the boy fell into the river and was swept away by the strong current.

Despite an immediate and intensive search, police and fire department were only able to recover the boy's body several hours later. He had been carried six kilometers downstream. The exact sequence of events leading up to the accident is unknown. The normally gentle river was swollen with recent heavy rains and stormy winds were also reported that day.

Source: Basler Zeitung
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The driver of a car died early thursday afternoon after crashing into an apartment building in Augst. Police say the sixty-six year old man lost control of the vehicle and ran over a sign and some bushes before hitting the building.

The driver was dead at the scene and the cause of death is still being determined. Police believe that a medical condition was the cause of the accident.

Source: bazonline
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Political squabbling began in December when city government reneged on funding for a planned bus line between Basel SBB and Allschwil. Both cantons had previously agreed to share the costs. Tensions mounted further last month when Basel's transport authority shelved a deal to jointly purchase new tango trams. Additionally, Basel's health director informed media of plans for a new regional hopsital without first consulting Baselland.

Politicians and residents of Baselland have expressed concern about these events. Planned increases of Baselland subsidies for the Theater Basel could be threatened by the strained relations.

Source: NZZ am Sonntag
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The nights are warmer and frogs, toads, and other amphibians in the region are now on the move says Baselland's Pro Natura. The environmental organization warns that many of the endangered animals are killed when crossing roads and whole populations can be wiped out.

The public is asked to take care while driving. Drivers can also report where they see frogs and toads crossing the roads on Pro Natura's website. Volunteers from the organization will then go and help the amphibians get to other side safely.

Source: bazonline
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