If I had waited a few more minutes, I suppose Google would have brought me here.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

and the ability of the Pirates to have 18 seats in various locals

I count more then 18 here:

Piratenpartei Niedersachsen | Klarmachen zum Ändern! : Kommunalwahl 2011

Ergebnisse der KWNDS11

Actually, Piraten had already summed it up in Piratenwiki

Mandate in Landtagen und Kommunalen Parlamenten
Niedersachsen   voraussichtlich ca. 59

Which more then doubles the total local seats of Piratenpartei Deutschland. Now Sunday's state election in Berlin will be very interesting, I've heard they've polled above the 5% limit there.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

Which puts DoDo's post a couple of days ago Berlin's Gentrification Row: Locals Rage Against Rising Rents:

Berlin's Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts were once known for cheap rents and diversity. But their edgy urban charm has attracted both affluent residents and international investors, jacking up rents in the process. Now long-time locals are fighting to keep their flats.

Above the gritty caverns and stale air of the Hermannplatz subway station, thousands of Berliners came together last Saturday in the city's Neukölln district in a gesture of solidarity. Middle-aged parents pushed baby strollers alongside leather-clad adolescents with colorful hair, protesting what they all see as the systematic displacement of the city's lower (and even middle) class residents.

critically (IMO) important.  It is these neighborhoods that are the attractors of and for the Creative Class meaning they are the potential incubators of 'What's Next.'  Destroying these neighborhoods eliminates the  social wealth of networks, contacts, meeting places, small businesses, etc. where, eventually, the CC, over time, creates the vibrancy underpinning for economic development.  

Regional and State authorities are spending millions to artificially create a Silicon Valley¹ while the city government of Berlin is busily destroying one!  

This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, putting it mildly.  

The only way to stop this nonsense is for people to get active in local politics and change things around.

Thus, the upcoming Berlin city election is important.

¹  Which emerged spontaneously by the exact process I described in the above paragraph

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre