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Petitions to a Berlin District
In Berlin, residents of a district can bring an issue before the district council with an Einwohnerantrag, a residents' motion, if at least a thousand residents aged sixteen or over sign it. The council must then deal with the motion within a set period, usually after it has been discussed in the relevant committee. Unlike a symbolic online petition, a valid residents' motion obliges the council to respond. Such motions are written in the formal register of German officialdom, with impersonal constructions and verbal nouns: es gilt, … zu; es bleibt abzuwarten; die Prüfung erfolgt. Campaigners often take care to sound measured rather than angry, because councillors and officials respond better to clearly argued, documented requests than to outrage. Expert reports, photographs and signature lists are attached as Anlagen, attachments. Trees in many German cities are protected by a Baumschutzverordnung, a tree protection ordinance, which requires permission before trees above a certain size can be felled, and old trees can be given special protection. Submitting documents in person and asking for an Eingangsstempel, a dated receipt stamp, is a common German habit, because deadlines are counted from the day a document arrives.