There are two red-white gates in front of the entrance to the De Leyens shopping center at Albert Heijn. Cyclists and scooter drivers have to slalom around it to continue their way over the Broekweg side. The strange thing is that the fences have sometimes disappeared and then suddenly stand again. Indebuurt sought out how that works.

Frank van Tulder sent this question to the editors of Indebuurt. “The gates are there to brake the speed of cyclists. But why do those gates disappear for a long time, and are they back after that? That has been going on for years.”

The local police officer knows

Neighborhood police officer Rob Doorneveld knows everything about the De Leyens district. He is happy with the gates that achieve the speed from Fatbikers, cyclists and other fast Jelles who shuffle through the shopping center. But the gates are not there six months a year. “There are several times where the municipality or the entrepreneurs temporarily remove the gates,” says Rob.

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De Leyens shopping center. Photo: Indebuurt Zoetermeer

Free job

For example, the wheelchair four days in May is an annual event in which the gates stand in the way. “That is why the municipality takes them away for those four days so that the participants have a free job,” says Rob. In addition, they have to leave in the winter, so that the gritters can drive through the street. “So from November to April there are no fences in the mall.”

And then there are several moments where the gates are gone for a day. “Recently there was a festive moment with new planters. There was a barista with a coffee cart for whom the fences had to leave. The entrepreneurs themselves and then post them back later.”

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