Is it true....AMSTERDAM?

Question

is it true that their government will take away the prostitution of amsterdam? i heard that big time investors bought out the district and will turn it into something else

Answer 1

No.

Answer 2

The town council in Amsterdam is trying to 'clean up' the red light district.

First of all they close all places where they can proof the owner has illegal dealings.

Further did they buy out one owner of many of the buildings that are used for prostitution, closing them.

But there is still a lot left, and the Dutch doubt they will ever get the rest cleared out too.

And a side effect is that the prostitution in the other parts of town is getting more.

It is not investors that thought up the plans, but they might be involved to make them work, the town not having too much money to spend, (as all towns.)

Answer 3

I Heard It Through The Grapewine. (Who sang)

Answer 4

As Willeke mentions, the motivation by the town council & tourist sector of A'dam is to "clean up" the city and from the tv news this is two-fold:

(a) to rid the red light district of the direct links with crime by withdrawing the licences of operators with whom it can be proved there is a direct link

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/20...

(b) to change the image of Amsterdam from the stereotypes of just marijuana and prostitution (which if you see the volume of questions from especially Americans in this section is really the case) to a more high quality tourist driven image

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/20...

http://www.dutchnews.nl/columns/2007/02/...

Personaly I can understand the actions, living close to Amsterdam and knowing it fairly well, I can see beyond the obvious stereotypes.  It is indeed frustrating that Amsterdam is not known for the culture, history, shopping, tourist attractions and lovely quaint city that it is.

However, it is also true that there is now a concern that the result of these actions mean that part of the "industry" of prostitution is being driven underground and as a result women are being put at grave danger with illegal prostitution

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/20...