I Amsterdam letters to stay, but not on Museumplein

The GroenLinks faction in Amsterdam partially relented on its plan to remove all I Amsterdam letters in the Dutch capital. Only the letters on Museumplein must go. If the residents of Nieuw-West and Zuidoost want to keep their I Amsterdam letters, the party will not ignore their wishes, AT5 reports.

D66 alderman Udo Kock previously said in his advice to the city council that the I Amsterdam letters in Zuidoost and on Sloterplas "do not have to go". On Sloterplas, for example, the letters serve as a meeting place and a jungle gym for children. The PvdA and SP also want the letters to remain in these locations, and GroenLinks now relented.

"Of course we also let the whole discussion affect us", GroenLinks council member Zeeger Ernstig said to AT5. "Look, the letters on the Museumplein are in our view symbolic of the city as a money machine and a symbol of mass tourism. We understand that in other parts of the city the letters are valued differently. We are not deaf to this and we want to determine together with the neighborhoods what needs to be done."

As far as GroenLinks is concerned, residents of Zuid do not get a say in this because removing the letters from the Museumplein is "a necessary change to show that the city is not just a product", according to the broadcaster.