Red light district to be cleaned up
08 December 2008
Amsterdam is to begin a 10-year project to clean up the city’s notorious red light district.
The plans include halving the number of prostitution windows, closing cannabis cafes and cracking down on companies which operate as a front for money laundering.
The project focuses on the city centre neighbourhood with the postcode 1012, a network of narrow streets and alleys in the oldest part of town, and sets down in minute detail what will be allowed and where.
Prostitution is to be concentrated in two zones: around the Oudezijds Achterburgwal where 214 windows will be permitted, and the Oude Nieuwstraat, where there will be 29. Half of the coffee shops where small amounts of cannabis is sold over the counter will be closed, a total of 38.
Some of the mini supermarkets, phone shops, massage parlours, sex shops and shops selling drugs paraphenalia will also go. Instead, the council wants to attract high-quality shops and restaurants to the area.
Quality improvements
The aim of the project is also to ‘improve the quality of the centre,’ says Amsterdam city council in a statement. It must become ‘one of the most exciting, most varied and most interesting city centres in Europe… and be attractive to a wider public.’
The council expects the revamp, which also includes new hotels and underground parking, to cost up to €40m.
The council has already shut down or bought out the owners of around 25% of the brothel windows because of their alleged criminal connections.
The plan stems from a major enquiry into crime in the city’s red light district which was published in 1998. The report warned the area was largely under the control of organised crime.
Source
Red light district to be cleaned up
Amsterdam to close many brothels, marijuana cafes
Amsterdam to close many brothels, marijuana cafes
8 December 2008
Amsterdam has unveiled plans to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city centre as part of a major effort to drive organised crime out of the tourist haven.
The city is targeting businesses that "generate criminality," including gambling parlours, and the so-called "coffee shops" where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlours and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering.
"I think that the new reality will be more in line with our image as a tolerant and crazy place, rather than a free zone for criminals," Lodewijk Asscher, a city council member and one of the main proponents of the plan, said Saturday.
The news comes just one day after Amsterdam's mayor said he would search for loopholes in new rules laid down by the national government that would close marijuana cafes near schools citywide. The measures announced Saturday would affect about 36 coffee shops in thecentre itself – a little less than 20 percent of the city total.
Asscher underlined that the city centre will remain true to its freewheeling reputation. "It'll be a place with 200 windows (for prostitutes) and 30 coffee shops, which you can't find anywhere else in the world – very exciting, but also with cultural attractions," he said. "And you won't have to be embarrassed to say you came."
Under the plan announced Saturday, Amsterdam will spend 30 million to 40 million euros to bring hotels, restaurants, art galleries and boutiques to the centre. It will also build new underground parking areas.
Amsterdam already had plans to close many brothels and some coffee shops, but plans announced Saturday go further.
Asscher said the city would reshape the area, using zoning rules, buying out businesses and offering assistance to upgrade stores. The city has shut brothels and sex clubs in the past by relying on a law allowing the closure of businesses with bookkeeping irregularities.
Prostitution will be allowed only in two areas in the district – notably De Wallen ("The Walls"), a web of streets and alleys around the city's medieval retaining dam walls. The area has been a centre of prostitution since before the city's golden shipping age in the 1600s.
Prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands in 2000, formalising a long-standing tolerance policy. Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but prosecutors won't press charges for possession of small amounts. Coffee shops are able to sell it openly.
Source
8 December 2008
Amsterdam has unveiled plans to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city centre as part of a major effort to drive organised crime out of the tourist haven.
The city is targeting businesses that "generate criminality," including gambling parlours, and the so-called "coffee shops" where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlours and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering.
"I think that the new reality will be more in line with our image as a tolerant and crazy place, rather than a free zone for criminals," Lodewijk Asscher, a city council member and one of the main proponents of the plan, said Saturday.
The news comes just one day after Amsterdam's mayor said he would search for loopholes in new rules laid down by the national government that would close marijuana cafes near schools citywide. The measures announced Saturday would affect about 36 coffee shops in thecentre itself – a little less than 20 percent of the city total.
Asscher underlined that the city centre will remain true to its freewheeling reputation. "It'll be a place with 200 windows (for prostitutes) and 30 coffee shops, which you can't find anywhere else in the world – very exciting, but also with cultural attractions," he said. "And you won't have to be embarrassed to say you came."
Under the plan announced Saturday, Amsterdam will spend 30 million to 40 million euros to bring hotels, restaurants, art galleries and boutiques to the centre. It will also build new underground parking areas.
Amsterdam already had plans to close many brothels and some coffee shops, but plans announced Saturday go further.
Asscher said the city would reshape the area, using zoning rules, buying out businesses and offering assistance to upgrade stores. The city has shut brothels and sex clubs in the past by relying on a law allowing the closure of businesses with bookkeeping irregularities.
Prostitution will be allowed only in two areas in the district – notably De Wallen ("The Walls"), a web of streets and alleys around the city's medieval retaining dam walls. The area has been a centre of prostitution since before the city's golden shipping age in the 1600s.
Prostitution was legalised in the Netherlands in 2000, formalising a long-standing tolerance policy. Marijuana is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but prosecutors won't press charges for possession of small amounts. Coffee shops are able to sell it openly.
Source
Cannabis is The Tree of Life
WTF is going on here, 38 more shops closing? what bullshit, they should just admit its one more step in closing ALL the coffeeshops, they go shop by shop reason by reason and soon their will be none left, for one reason or another. like someone on here said "they came to close the coffeeshops, but i said nothing, because i was not a coffeeshop..."
If it wasnt for the brits, ID BE DUTCH RIGHT NOW