Local residents at the Amsterdamse Poort are fed up with the loose tiles, the rats running around and the overdue maintenance. According to them, their complaints to the housing association and the municipality yield no results and the situation is only getting worse. “It makes me want to cry.”
Wilma has lived on the Bijlmerplein at the Amsterdamse Poort in Zuidoost for 34 years. “When I came to live here, everyone thought you were living here in style,” she says, laughing. “Well, no one would say that now.” Wilma shows during a small tour what exactly she is talking about. “Overdue maintenance, the dirt, the rats; it is a prayer without end. We don’t know anymore. I am ashamed when visitors come.”
The walking decks are public space and owned by the municipality. A spokesperson for the South East District said that the walking deck will soon be renovated. It is not yet known when that is planned. “That is exactly what I have difficulty with,” says Wilma. “We have indicated so many times that things are not going well here and nothing is happening at all. I don’t want any more promises, just a date.”
Rats
In 2017, AT5 already visited Wilma to talk about the rat nuisance in the neighborhood. Then there was even a local resident who was so angry that he… dead rats hung in the tree. According to local residents, little has improved since then. “Yesterday one walked up the stairs with me,” says another local resident. “I just find it really scary.”
Housing association Ymere says that it understands that residents experience rat nuisance as very unpleasant. A spokesperson also says that the rat nuisance is caused by waste lying around, loose garbage bags and the supply of food scraps. Another local resident agrees: “It’s a walking buffet here, so it makes sense that those rats like to come here,” she says.