While the great war rages grimly on, there is still plenty of room for small wars. For example, between city dwellers and catering entrepreneurs. In the center of Amsterdam, many citizens have objections to the large terraces in the catering industry. Those terraces were allowed to be enlarged during the corona period; the municipality is now investigating which terraces may remain large after 1 November. At a well-attended consultation evening in the Zuiderkerk, it turned out that many residents do not trust the outcome.
To residents who complained about nuisance, a catering entrepreneur said, according to the report in The watchword: “We entrepreneurs are not there to harass people. We want to talk, but the residents don’t want that because they’ve had enough – or something like that.” One resident said: “You can argue with the owner, but he laughs in your face.”
I recently spoke to a tradesman who was angry about the expansion of a terrace at a neighboring cafe. The terrace was opposite the cafe, across a narrow street. The trader was not only concerned with the increased crowds at his shop. “I want to leave in a few years,” he said anxiously, “and will get much less for my property, because who wants to live here with such a busy terrace in front of his door?”
My objection to the catering industry in the center is that it does not know how to keep up. Terraces are getting bigger, they sometimes cover half a sidewalk or even a bridge. Pedestrians therefore do not have enough space.
A few weeks after that turbulent public consultation evening, I walked past a café on the Leliegracht, which was closed at the time, whose owner had attached a statement in Dutch and English to the window. The text read: “Dear people, unfortunately a resident of the Leliegracht (towards Prinsengracht) knocked over our patio furniture, so that it partly ended up on the street. A very undesirable and dangerous situation. The surveillance camera captured all of this. This happened very early on Monday morning, it was still dark. The resident first tried with one hand, but failed. That is why he put his briefcase on the street and yanked with both hands on the furniture, which unfortunately also suffered minor damage. We request local residents to respect our granted and legal patio permit and patio furniture.”
I pictured that resident in all his summer months of pent-up anger. At night he might have been awakened by the yelling of drunken fellows on his doorstep. He was used to it, but because he was constantly disturbed by the noise on the nearby café terrace, even during the day, he was getting tired of it. He would have loved to throw all that furniture into the canal, but that demanded too much of his strength. Just putting a part on the street was also a strong signal. What could it do to him? Didn’t they give a shit about him too?
But he had not counted on the security camera, he had forgotten that we are increasingly spying on each other in the Netherlands with security cameras. That video will now gather dust at a police station somewhere, because the police have something else to do – even if it is not always clear what exactly.
The terrace must remain slimmed down, but so should the resident.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 12, 2022