If it wasn't clear to Mayor Femke Halsema yet, she can no longer ignore it: the opposition to her plan for an 'erotic center' with a hundred prostitution windows on the Zuidas in Amsterdam is broad-based and comes from very different quarters.
More than forty-five speakers came to Amsterdam City Hall on Thursday evening to give their opinion on Halsema's proposal. Two were in favor, the rest completely against. The speakers regularly received applause from the packed public gallery, despite admonitions from the chairman.
Not only residents of the prosperous South spoke. There were defenders of urban greenery, a representative of the local VNO-NCW, several sex workers (including one who quoted from UNESCO's Heritage Manifesto), two window operators, the director of an MBO school and even two speakers from Amsterdam-Noord who came to express solidarity.
In December, Halsema designated a strip of greenery along the A10 ring road as a location for the erotic center to be built. With the controversial project, the mayor wants to create a safer environment for sex workers and alleviate the nuisance of party tourism in the old city center. As many windows in the Red Light District must disappear as the erotic center will soon house.
Nuisance and insecurity
Unlike a tumultuous meeting last year in the RAI, the speakers kept it civil this time. But they were clear in their message to the council members present: throw this plan in the trash. They fear nuisance and insecurity due to the sex center, which, according to the municipality, will soon receive 1.5 million visitors per year. “This is going to completely disrupt our neighborhood,” said resident Barbara Swartman. “There are three schools in the area and a busy cycle path runs past the location.” Another resident: “The municipality can say that it will be tasteful, but it will just be Hooters: bachelor parties, large groups of men who cause nuisance in the evening and at night.”
The “mega brothel”, many speakers argued, will not reduce the craziness in the Red Light District – and will also saddle Amsterdam South with a “second red light district”, including all the peripheral crime (such as drug dealers) that comes with it. The speakers were absolutely not convinced by the substantiation of Halsema's plans. “There is no research showing that this will work,” said Kees de Visser of the local residents' association. “This is just an experiment.”
If the municipality wants to alleviate the nuisance in the Red Light District, many respondents said, it must ensure better enforcement in the city center itself. Theodoor van Boven, owner of a condom shop next to the Red Light District and initiator of a 'monster alliance' of opponents that collected 22,000 signatures: “There is a force working to destroy the Red Light District. Really evil.”
Evert Hedgehog and Haas Hendrik
Some speakers opted for a playful form. For example, there was a resident who – helped by the public gallery – sang an alternative text to a melody by Acda en de Munnik ('Is this not my city anymore or has it never been all these years?'). Another participant chose the perspective of “the community of animals” in the adjacent Beatrix Park, whose peace, according to her, is in danger of being disturbed by sex tourism – with a leading role for Evert Egel and Haas Hendrik.
The word 'vulnerable' was mentioned repeatedly during the evening by the various sex workers who spoke. According to them, the window brothels in the busy city center are a much safer workplace than – in the words of former prostitute Mariska Majoor – “a deserted corner from which they have to go home alone in the middle of the night.” And also with the director of the MBO, which is located a few hundred meters from the intended location. He started about the “vulnerable young people” of the pastry chef training course, mostly from Nieuw-West and Zuidoost, who, according to him, are “sensitive to the peripheral crime” that could arise around the erotic center. “It's a bit of a gamble.”
'Fuck factory'
And who were the two lone proponents? One was a male sex worker who was excited about the prospect of “safe workplaces” in an “affluent neighborhood full of good and reliable clients, which we are already doing well.” The other was a resident who told opponents that “the Red Light District should become Amsterdam's again.” “And vulnerable people such as sex workers can be well protected in such a large complex. Do it in the South, they can handle it!”
The council members of the coalition parties PvdA, GroenLinks and D66, who currently support Halsema, were frequently called upon to “show courage” and vote against the “insane plan”. “Femke has dug herself into her fuck factory and must be removed from it.”
PvdA and GroenLinks asked many questions to the speakers. D66, which reportedly has the most doubts about the plan, remained silent almost the entire evening – except when a speaker attacked the party head-on. In two weeks, the council members will discuss the erotic center again – then with Halsema himself.
Also read
Mayor Halsema's choice to designate Amsterdam South as the most suitable location for an erotic center
#Vote #crazy #plan #residents #unison
