Amsterdam failing to address nuisance in neighborhoods: audit office

Amsterdam is doing too little to address nuisance in its neighborhoods, the audit office for the Amsterdam Metropolis concluded after research. According to the office, the municipality wants to do a lot, but the use of its resources does not match those ambitions, AT5 reports.

"People know the social nuisance of the city center, with drunken tourists and litter. But that nuisance is also present in other neighborhoods", Jan de Ridder of the audit office said to the broadcaster. "There are squares, streets and neighborhoods where people have a lot of problems with young people, or older people, hanging around who do not have work, drink and use threatening language. That can be very threatening if you live there. We find that these types of problems get too little attention."

The municipality of Amsterdam uses enforcers to tackle nuisance. But according to the audit office, they are not capable of structurally reducing the problems. This is partly due to the fact that the municipality does not know what the core of the problems is. There is also a lack of manpower, structure and a clear division of tasks, the office said. On top of that, social nuisance is becoming increasingly complex. "Of enforcers who were trained to be city guards in the past, something is now expected for which they have not been trained."

"In short, there is still a lot to be gained when it comes to the contribution of enforcement in the reduction of social nuisance in neighborhoods", the audit office said. The office advises the municipality to better identify the problems in its neighborhoods and come up with tailor-made solutions.