The coffee shop that was supposed to be located on Verdiplein in Tilburg, disappears from the table a week after the announcement. The municipality had first approved the arrival, but that was reversed a week later. Local resident Mohammed Aknin, who started a petition, is relieved: “The residents were not waiting for a coffee shop in such a vulnerable neighborhood. Our petition was soon signed 2400 times.”
When local residents looked at the municipality’s coffee shop policy, they saw something striking. “It states that there should be no space for young people within 250 meters of a coffee shop,” says Aknin. “Last year a youth center was opened at the De Ypelaer community center and it is closer.”
So Aknin pointed out to the congregation that she had overlooked that youth center. And so the whole plan is now off.
“Here the rats run over the grass and through the bushes.”
The neighborhood is relieved. In recent years, the Tilburg Noord district has been high on the list of areas with the most poverty in the Netherlands. An elderly resident: “Everything has been done to improve and renew this neighborhood. Don’t ruin it with a coffee shop if you don’t have to.”
A man who cycles through the neighborhood believes that a lot of extra mess is now prevented. “We don’t want all that junk here. The rats run over the grass and through the bushes here. I think it’s good that the coffee shop isn’t added now, with all the mess that entails.”
“Now something can come along that the neighborhood is really happy with.”
Another local resident says that there are already enough coffee shops. “One that doesn’t come is one less. There are already enough coffee shops in the center of Tilburg.” He thinks it is only right that the youth center threw a spanner in the works.
Mayor Weterings admits that a mistake has been made. Mohammed Aknin appreciates that very much. “He has apologized, not only for the mistake but also for the way everything was brought out. I think that is very nice of him.”
Aknin hopes that something better will replace it now. “Now there can be something that the neighborhood is really happy with, at least not a coffee shop.”
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