‘Zuidoost is like Volendam’

Roy Ristie is involved in all kinds of things – ‘including keeping my fingers crossed for the Dutch team’. However, he did not attend the official slavery remembrance at the Oosterpark. “I haven’t yet reached that point in my personal development”.

Last week, News from Amsterdam wrote that there seems to be reconciliation between the remembrance at the Oosterpark and its ‘radical little brother’ at the Surinameplein. ‘Was there some kind of war? Not that I know’, says Ristie, who also distances himself from the term ‘radical’.

Not a real calamity

Tonight, the Berlage Bridge will be closed off due to a calamity, the sign says.  One might suspect a conspiracy: for how do they know there will be a calamity tonight? The truth is rather more prosaic: it has been found that a particular part of the bridge has been rusting faster than expected.

Tonight, the part will be inspected to see whether it needs to be replaced. The municipality calls the operation a ‘calamity’ because it had not been planned in advance.

‘Money wasted on vague social cohesion initiative’

On 21 June, United Smile distributed 2,500 ‘pass-on roses’ at the Dappermarkt. The SP in Oost criticizes its own alderman for spending 11,000 euro on a ‘vague’ initiative.

Council member Tiers Bakker says the initiative is simply too expensive. He argues that the district should spend its money on measures that have a concrete and enduring impact on social cohesion rather than on symbolic measures like this one.

Zuidoost wants cheaper heating

The Zuidoost district council wants power company Nuon to put a ten-euro per month price increase for district heating on hold. Nuon argues the price increase is a consequence of higher fuel prices.

The PvdA is going to ask visitors of the popular Summer Festival to sign a petition against the higher tariff. The council also wants the municipality, a major Nuon shareholder, to put pressure on the energy company.

Centrum to support bat

The Centrum district is going to promote the use of special tiles and bricks that provide shelter to bats. A motion to that effect was adopted unanimously by the district council last night.

The issue was raised by Gerrit Brunink (D66). “I hadn’t seen bats that often myself, but I discovered that there’s actually a bat working group here”. They alerted him to a study suggesting that the presence of bats in the city is threatened.

Tourists must behave

Tourists are welcome, provided they do not scream, give money to beggars, use the street as a toilet or cycle on the sidewalk. This is the message on a city map that will be distributed by hotels, round-trip boats and the police. The map further suggests that the police can search people as they please. There is no rule about walking on bicycle lanes.

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Crackdown on truants put on hold

A high-profile campaign against truancy in de Baarsjes has been put on hold. District chairman Arco Verburg (photo) backed down after a majority of the council openly criticised the approach.

In a joint action of police and school attendance officers, under-23s were asked what they were doing on the street. Truants were brought to school in a van. If young people said they had a job, the police called their employer to verify this.

Welfare agency sends 290 apologies

The welfare agency (DWI) has mistakenly sent about 290 social assistance recipients a letter threatening to cut their benefits, because they would have failed to submit their monthly income statement.

One of the regional DWI offices recently moved to the Weesperstraat. The new office does not yet have a grey letterbox in which to deposit the income statement. Many statements ended up in letterboxes at the old DWI offices or in the regular mail. The people involved will receive an apology.

Reconciliation over slavery remembrance

Next week, Amsterdam will remember its role in the slave economy that was abolished 145 years ago. After years of rivalry, there seems to be reconciliation between the official remembrance at the Oosterpark and its ‘radical little brother’ at the Surinameplein.

There have been annual remembrances at the Surinameplein for fifteen years. When the national government created a Slavery Monument at the Oosterpark in 2002, which was to be the site of the official annual remembrance, some people thought the remembrance had been co-opted and relegated to an inconspicuous location.

Bicycle cities compete with Amsterdam

The British are supposed to hate cyclists, but the city of Bristol has launched a plan to compete with Amsterdam as the cycling capital of Europe. The city has a bike shed with showers and plans to promote cycling in low-income neighbourhoods.

‘The British hate cyclists’ ran the headline of a recent article in the members’ magazine of Dutch cycling organisation Fietsersbond. As an illustration, it pointed to a Times columnist who advocated stringing piano wire across country lanes in order to decapitate cyclists.