Filthy filthy Amsterdam
Jul 1, 2008 | 11:26 am
#1
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Filthy filthy Amsterdam
For a city that is so beautiful (architecture, museums, waterways, etc.), the cleanliness level approaches "vile".
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
Jul 1, 2008 | 11:32 am
#2
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What a misleading thread title! 
Jul 1, 2008 | 11:36 am
#3
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I couldn't disagree with you more on this. I find AMS to be fairly clean. Look at Brussels or Athens. That is filthy filthy filthy at its worst.
Jul 1, 2008 | 11:42 am
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For a city that is so beautiful (architecture, museums, waterways, etc.), the cleanliness level approaches "vile".
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
It was clean until American Burger Bars and Tourists started to litter the place.
Jul 1, 2008 | 12:10 pm
#5
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Jul 1, 2008 | 3:41 pm
#6
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For a city that is so beautiful (architecture, museums, waterways, etc.), the cleanliness level approaches "vile".
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
Has it always been like this, or is a new development? Has the drug culture made this problem worse? Does the Dutch govt. recognize it as a problem? What are they doing to correct it?
Too bad such a nice place is so downright nasty (in regards to cleanliness....the people are great)
Thanks
Most of Amsterdam is fairly clean. I cycle an hour every day to and from work through Amsterdam and I hardly ever notice anything dirty. (and I am a person that will pick up a stray plastic bag when I see it on the street in front of our house)
I'd rate Amsterdam as "average" on the cleanliness ranking - I have seen much dirtier and also much cleaner (Switzerland!).
Jul 1, 2008 | 9:33 pm
#7
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It is bad but not terrible. I think tourists have a big part to play when it comes to polluting Amsterdam.
Jul 1, 2008 | 11:26 pm
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I walked the streets of Amsterdam last night for several hours. The trash was mostly cigarette butts, Heineken bottles and cans, Heineken coasters, newspapers, broken glass, empty cigarette packs, etc....none of which are sold by "american burger bars".
The filthy habits of the worlds (and Amsterdams) peoples who trash Amsterdam are not the byproduct of "american burger bars and tourists". It is, rather, a combination of:
- Drunks (mostly Europeans, from what I can observe by the languages they are speaking).
- Lack of local leadership to provide adequate facilities (although there are quite a few trash bins); there was a mound of KFC empty boxes and chicken bones all over the seating/leaning area at the Tram stop, right in front of the KFC at the Dam tram stop....no trash can nearby (but that still doesn't excuse the mess or the lack of cleanup)
- Lack of local leadership and ownership of the residents (where's the outrage?)
- Complete lack of local leadership in getting the daily mess cleaned up.
I point to Barcelona, which is one of the cleanest (sparkling!) places I've visited. There is an army of people with brooms/dustpans, and an armada of street and sidewalk cleaning equipment out every night. The broom/dustpan people are our 24/7. In force.
Party all you want to, Amsterdam, but for heavens sake, clean up your act....every day. (Former mayor) Guiliani proved that there is no mess too big or too nasty to keep clean. He also proved the link between BS small crime and ineptitude with larger crime issues. Stop the window washers, littering and graffitti and the larger crime problems will diminish.
The answer that I suspect....some brilliant social scientists (policitians) diverted the money for the street sweepers and cleaning efforts to something else, but what?
I have to tell you that I was expecting a "typical" European city in terms of cleanliness, certainly not Calcutta/Athens/etc....
Last edited by rrz518; Jul 2, 2008 at 5:45 am
Jul 2, 2008 | 1:34 am
#9
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When I wrote the OP, I KNEW someone would chime in and try to pin this (very local) problem on Americans!!!
I walked the streets of Amsterdam last night for several hours. The trash was mostly cigarette butts, Heineken bottles and cans, Heineken coasters, newspapers, broken glass, empty cigarette packs, etc....none of which are sold by "american burger bars".
The filthy habits of the worlds (and Amsterdams) peoples who trash Amsterdam are not the byproduct of "american burger bars and tourists". It is, rather, a combination of:
- Drunks (mostly Europeans, from what I can observe by the languages they are speaking).
- Lack of local leadership to provide adequate facilities (although there are quite a few trash bins); there was a mound of KFC empty boxes and chicken bones all over the seating/leaning area at the Tram stop, right in front of the KFC at the Dam tram stop....no trash can nearby (but that still doesn't excuse the mess or the lack of cleanup)
- Lack of local leadership and ownership of the residents (where's the outrage?)
- Complete lack of local leadership in getting the daily mess cleaned up.
I point to Barcelona, which is one of the cleanest (sparkling!) places I've visited. There is an army of people with brooms/dustpans, and an armada of street and sidewalk cleaning equipment out every night. The broom/dustpan people are our 24/7. In force.
Party all you want to, Amsterdam, but for heavens sake, clean up your act....every day. (Former mayor) Guiliani proved that there is no mess too big or too nasty to keep clean. He also proved the link between BS small crime and ineptitude with larger crime issues. Stop the window washers, littering and graffitti and the larger crime problems will diminish.
The answer that I suspect....some brilliant social scientists (policitians) diverted the money for the street sweepers and cleaning efforts to something else, but what? Drug clinics? Welfare/entitlement programs for the addicts?
I have to tell you that I was expecting a "typical" European city in terms of cleanliness, certainly not Calcutta/Athens/etc....
I walked the streets of Amsterdam last night for several hours. The trash was mostly cigarette butts, Heineken bottles and cans, Heineken coasters, newspapers, broken glass, empty cigarette packs, etc....none of which are sold by "american burger bars".
The filthy habits of the worlds (and Amsterdams) peoples who trash Amsterdam are not the byproduct of "american burger bars and tourists". It is, rather, a combination of:
- Drunks (mostly Europeans, from what I can observe by the languages they are speaking).
- Lack of local leadership to provide adequate facilities (although there are quite a few trash bins); there was a mound of KFC empty boxes and chicken bones all over the seating/leaning area at the Tram stop, right in front of the KFC at the Dam tram stop....no trash can nearby (but that still doesn't excuse the mess or the lack of cleanup)
- Lack of local leadership and ownership of the residents (where's the outrage?)
- Complete lack of local leadership in getting the daily mess cleaned up.
I point to Barcelona, which is one of the cleanest (sparkling!) places I've visited. There is an army of people with brooms/dustpans, and an armada of street and sidewalk cleaning equipment out every night. The broom/dustpan people are our 24/7. In force.
Party all you want to, Amsterdam, but for heavens sake, clean up your act....every day. (Former mayor) Guiliani proved that there is no mess too big or too nasty to keep clean. He also proved the link between BS small crime and ineptitude with larger crime issues. Stop the window washers, littering and graffitti and the larger crime problems will diminish.
The answer that I suspect....some brilliant social scientists (policitians) diverted the money for the street sweepers and cleaning efforts to something else, but what? Drug clinics? Welfare/entitlement programs for the addicts?
I have to tell you that I was expecting a "typical" European city in terms of cleanliness, certainly not Calcutta/Athens/etc....
By the way, last time I was in New York City (2003) I found it much dirtier than Amsterdam.
By the way (2), funny that you are angry that some people blame the problem on "Americans" and continue to give the example of KFC, a very American company that produces astonishing amounts of litter.
Jul 2, 2008 | 2:58 am
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (SymbianOS/9.1; U; en-us) AppleWebKit/413 (KHTML, like Gecko) Safari/413 es61i)
Where in Amsterdam were you? I find the area around the RLD, Centraal Station and Leidseplein quite messy, and have always assumed this is down to the weekenders (as regards the drugs, it's really the drinkers who cause the problem in my experience...)
The rest of the city I tend to find spotless and lovely.
Where in Amsterdam were you? I find the area around the RLD, Centraal Station and Leidseplein quite messy, and have always assumed this is down to the weekenders (as regards the drugs, it's really the drinkers who cause the problem in my experience...)
The rest of the city I tend to find spotless and lovely.
Jul 2, 2008 | 3:22 am
#11
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There are many, many trash bins at Damrak (also very close to the KFC). As I said before in this thread, people from Amsterdam avoid Damrak like the plague. It is a tourist trap. So most Amsterdammers don't even see that it is sometimes a mess there, and we don't care.
By the way, last time I was in New York City (2003) I found it much dirtier than Amsterdam.
By the way (2), funny that you are angry that some people blame the problem on "Americans" and continue to give the example of KFC, a very American company that produces astonishing amounts of litter.
By the way, last time I was in New York City (2003) I found it much dirtier than Amsterdam.
By the way (2), funny that you are angry that some people blame the problem on "Americans" and continue to give the example of KFC, a very American company that produces astonishing amounts of litter.
2) The "very american" brand of KFC is paying the city of Amsterdam its fair share of income taxes, for which the city should reciprocate by doing its job of keeping the city hygenic. (And what about the rest of the trash? Is KFC/Pizza Hut/McDonalds responsible for it?).
Those "tourist traps" that you revile pay a lot of taxes, and remain very popular with your own citizens. Your city has the responsibility to keep it clean, safe, and orderly. I don't think you do a very good job in that regard.
FWIW, remember the very popular (Dutch, I believe) song....de Pizzahut? "The Pizza Hut The Pizza Hut Kentucky Fried Chicken and the Pizza Hut....McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and de Pizza Hut"....(We Americans didn't write that ode to fast food).
And how is it that KFC produces an "astonishing amount of litter"??? They sell food in containers, just like any other vendor. I have seen FAR FAR more Heineken produced litter, at least by 100 to 1, including bottles, cans, coasters, etc.
3) As to New York, I dare say that on a scale of 1 - 10 (10 being the dirtiest), New York is in the 3 - 5 area, and Amsterdam is in the 8 - 10 range. New York has taken extreme measures to clean up its act, has Amsterdam???
It's not the fault of those companies who sell items that become the garbage, but the partial responsibility of the (mostly drunk) people who toss it on the ground, and entirely the responsibility of the city to keep it clean.
Jul 2, 2008 | 3:39 am
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Oh dear. This is sounding rather less like an observation on the cleanliness of parts of a city, and more like it's pushing some predictable, ill-informed, right-wing agenda.
Jul 2, 2008 | 3:40 am
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Jul 2, 2008 | 3:48 am
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Jul 2, 2008 | 3:53 am
#15
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That said, there is nothing ill informed or "right wing" about the fact that this city is filthy. I asked for a reason for the negligence; having been given none, I simply postulated a possibility. Am I incorrect? Then by all means prove me wrong.
No "predictable ill informed right wing agenda"; simply a statement that the city should spend more of its money and effort on cleaning itself up. Sanitation, cleanliness, hygiene and other health related issues know no political bounds. (A true "right wing" agenda would call for the taxpayers money to be returned to the taxpayers).
Original point: Amsterdam is filthy filthy filthy. (It grew an extra filthy overnight). Amsterdam should clean itself up.