In Groningen, those above us are extremely good at brushing past a real solution with the best of intentions.
Pregnant example: two weeks ago it was announced that the city has the pious intention to build a monument to slavery to establish. Indeed, we still benefit today from our ‘rich’ colonial past. And it can be argued that descendants of enslaved people suffer from it to this day. But for a monument, the descendants from the West Indies, for example, buy exactly nothing, while there really is work to be done in that corner of society, certainly also in Groningen.
Mirrors and beads fund of 100 million euros
Another corner where blows fall: earthquake victims. There is a kind mirrors and beads fund of 100 million euros , Toukomst, from which beautiful plans for the province can be co-financed from the bottom up. Has been running for ages, but hardly any of the planners have seen any money by now, as they have to jump through hundreds of hoops and pen pushers can’t manage to tick all the required boxes. The terror of the purple crocodile at Toukomst is only matched in the handling of the quake damage, according to an astonishing study by Erik van der Veen in Dagblad van het Noorden. The comma fetishists who have to assess the applications receive their salary neatly every month, the entrepreneurs who come up with plans drop out in frustration. The gnashing of teeth can be heard far beyond the provincial borders.
Free sidewalk, everyone happy?
And then you have the Groningen inner city entrepreneurs. They were already quite ape after corona. Still gasping for breath, they cope with the inflation fueled by the increased energy prices and then suddenly there is one keeper in the store with a tape measure in hand. Whether they want to quickly remove their bench, their advertising sign, their mannequin, because they stick out too far and hinder pedestrians. Under the motto ‘ sidewalk clear, everyone happy It’s the entrepreneurs’ turn. Now it is indeed saddened by the accessibility of the Groningen city center , but (calculated very broadly) this is perhaps four percent for the account of the entrepreneurs. The other ninety-six percent is accounted for by people who park their bicycles anywhere, preferably in the store they need to go to or on the steps of their student house.
Half Swap bikes are not returned…
In case anyone wonders how it is possible that there are so many bicycles on the street. The number of residents does not seem to keep pace with the exploding number of bicycles, the Swap bicycles with blue tires in particular are a nuisance. This week, bicycle subscription provider Swap published its annual figures. What seems? Swapfiets is taking a provision for almost seven million euros for bicycles that have never been returned. Business magazine Quote did the math: almost half of all Swapfietsen are parked against a student house somewhere, lying on the bottom of the Diepenring, rusting away in the Noorderplantsoen, blocking the sidewalk in the Oude Boteringe.