Mayor of 'poor but sexy' Berlin to step down Berlin's embattled mayor Klaus Wowereit, who famously dubbed his city "poor but sexy" and presided over its rise as an arts and party capital, will step down in December, sources said Tuesday. Wowereit, who has led Berlin since 2001, had once been seen as a potential Social Democratic challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel. But his star rapidly tarnished in recent years due to a fiasco surrounding a planned international airport. FILE IMAGES