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(1) the cost of living is to high,
(2) Germans almost never give spousal visas to work (and, in my case, even a spousal visa to live with me), and
(3) integration in Hessen for long-term foreign labor and children of laborers has been abysmal for decades.
In other words, although almost 1 out of every 3 Wiesbaden residents are of foreign birth or of foreign-born parentage, most of these foreign youth--as a whole--do not do outstandingly well in the educational and training system (for which Germany has been renowned for decades). This means that very few children of foreign born-and-raised households do as well financially and academically in society as their German counterparts.
The USA Army in Germany is helping to drive up housing and living costs in Hessen with its newest move to Wiesbaden from Baden-Württemberg's Heidelberg base over the next two years. This comes at a time when the USA needs to be watching its overall federal budget much more carefully.
According to USACE, Justin Ward, "With the demolition of a few empty storage bunkers south of the Wiesbaden Army Airfield recently, a new era has begun. The flattening of the garrison's Basic Load Ammunition Storage Area is the first significant step to prepare a 99-acre tract of land for a new $133 million military family housing community. The project marks the first Army-funded townhouse community in Wiesbaden - a change in direction from stairwell living. It also marks the first visible sign of 7th Army Headquarters' move from Heidelberg to Wiesbaden."
http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/04/21/19915-wiesbaden-prepares-new-townhomes/ Another US Army Corp of Engineers spokesperson in Wiesbaden, Syballe Ballnath, shares, "This housing project is monumental not only in its size, but also in its symbolism. . . . By building this community, we're setting the stage for the future footprint of the Armed Forces in Europe."
Ward writes, "By early 2012, plans call for up to 324 new townhouses, duplexes, and single family homes to be built for the staffers of 7th Army's operational facilities. The community will include a mix of three- and four-bedroom quarters ranging from junior enlisted to general officer. Recreation areas will include 10 playgrounds, seven picnic areas with grills and shelters, two sports fields, two community plazas for yard sales and shuttle bus service, and a running path. When fully funded, the two-phased construction project will be the Army's largest ever in Wiesbaden."
DESPITE ALL THE HOOPLA
In short, less than a decade or so after the USA Air Force in Europe moved its headquarters in Europe away from Wiesbaden, thousands of Americans are now set to move back into the Wiesbaden, Hessen area, i.e. near the Rhine River and Frankfurt's many regional and international airports.
The huge reversal in American Department of Defense (DOD) plans to build new base capacity in Europe has come at a terrible time in many ways. First of all, the U.S. Dollar to Euro exchange rate is currently at its worst level in history--(1) making it unwieldy in to keep budgets on target (in terms of U.S. Dollar expenditures) to build this new Army Command in Europe at this particular time and (2) making it extremely expensive for U.S. personnel and contractors to be sent into central Europe to work for years on end.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,531486,00.html
Finally, (3) the leadership of the state of Hessen, where Wiesbaden is the
capital, under the Christian Democratic Union (CDU party) political leadership of Roland Koch over the past decade (1999-2009) has become considered
throughout Germany to be one of the least-foreigner friendly states in Germany
to migrate to.
That status of Hessen's having the most xenophobic political leadership in
Germany may come as a surprise to many European experts who have
witnessed a more open rise in nationalism and xenophobia in the
former East German states of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt over the past two
decades. However, Koch has worked hard at this reputation and was reelected in
2009 once again without disavowing much--if any--of his prior anti-foreigner
stance
