News round-up | March

A news roundup for Amsterdam …

Twelve parties in the Amsterdam council | Following the local elections on 21 March, there are now twelve parties represented on the Amsterdam city council. GroenLinks has the highest number of seats, with 10, and we will have to wait a bit longer to find out what kind of coaltion form with other parties. According to Het Parool, the female candidate did particularly well in the Amsterdam elections … although the PvdA (Labour) vote was cut in half, their leader, Marjolien Moorman won the popular vote. And though he’s the leader of the winning party, Rutger Groot Wassink actually got more than 4,000 votes less than his Groenlinks deputy, Femke Roosma.

Groenlinks ahead of D66 | A poll by OIS has GroenLinks on track to gain 19% of the vote in the local elections for the Amsterdam city council, in the last poll before the elections take place. This share of the vote would give Groenlinks the most seats on the city council (9), and the right to lead the formation of the coalition, and the selection of the new mayor. D66 are on track to lose a significant amount of seats, and would become the second largest party according to the OIS poll. Looking ahead to possible coalition alliances, GroenLinks’ list leader, Rutger Groot Wassink, has said that he would favour left-leaning parties for a coalition, whereas D66’s local leader, Reinier van Dantzig, would align a coalition closer to the centre. A coalition of 23 seats is needed for a majority. (Source: Het Parool)

Centraal Station to lose six platforms, Zuid to gain two | The number of train tracks at Amsterdam Centraal will be reduced from the current 15 to 9, and two new train tracks will be built in Amsterdam Zuid, the Volkskrant reports. This will enable the remaining platforms at Centraal Station to be widened and capacity increased. The work should take about six years, starting in 2021. Note: since making the announcement, the ministry have decided to postpone this decision. (Source: NLtimes.nl)

Disagreement over parking spaces in de Pijp | City alderman Pieter Litjens is reluctantly considering the decision from a majority of the city council to eliminate 600 parking spaces in de Pijp following the completion of the underground Albert Cuypgarage. Groenlinks have obtained the support of PvdA, and SP councillors on this matter, claiming that when underground parking capacity is added, the equivalent number of above ground parking spaces should be removed. Up until now it had been expected that only 273 parking spaces would be removed, to ease the pressure on parking in the area. (Source: Het Parool)

Amsterdam city council has launched an  English language website for residents that who have not yet become fluent in Dutch. You can find the wesbite at amsterdam.nl/en and in general it should mirror the corresponding Dutch version of the gemeente’s website. It’s not yet complete, but will grow over the coming months. For example, it tells you all about the Nieuwe West district’s ban on feeding pigeons, due to come in from 1 April with a 70 euro fine for offenders.

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