NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:44
Is the Villa Tinto erotic center in Antwerp a good example for the new center that will be built in Amsterdam? Antwerp city center is often mentioned in discussions about Amsterdam city centre, but Antwerp Mayor Bart de Wever, when asked, says that such similarity is “totally” incorrect.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema has long found the situation in Amsterdam’s red light district unsustainable and wants to move sex work elsewhere in the city. She hopes to fight disorder and crime and improve the position of sex workers. But that plan is especially questionable for residents of the designated areas.
Halsema described the Antwerp center as well organized and safe for prostitutes during residents’ meetings, Het Parool wrote previously. Villa Tinto has 51 rooms that sex workers can rent themselves. It is a modern complex built almost twenty years ago. There is a police presence, a health center and an association that fights human trafficking.
“Above all differences”
It is not possible to make one-to-one comparisons, Halsema also said. During the meetings he states that there is no fully comparable international example. But De Wever goes further and sees “mainly differences, rather than similarities”, he tells NOS.
For example, Villa Tinto is located in the center of Antwerp and Halsema wants the new center to be on the outskirts of Amsterdam. The Municipality currently prefers De Groene Zoom to RAI.
Villa Tinto has alarm buttons and a police station. According to the owner “it is not a tourist attraction”, like in Amsterdam:
Villa Tinto in Antwerp is an example of the new erotic center of Amsterdam
Another important difference is that the center of Antwerp was built in a neighborhood where prostitution has been practiced for decades. The residents were therefore already accustomed to sex work in their neighborhood. “And they really only saw improvements,” De Wever says.
“In Amsterdam they want to artificially move a historic prostitution district and then create an environment similar to Villa Tinto,” De Wever sums up the plan. “But I think you’ll get very different reactions than here.”
De Wever: “If you organize prostitution in places where it is not yet available, people are usually not happy about it. They suspect that it attracts unpleasant characters and can cause all kinds of collateral phenomena. And it’s true, there’s no denying that ” According to the mayor, the Amsterdam plan is only achievable with “very tight control”.
Resistance from prostitutes and entrepreneurs
It could take years before there is a new erotic center in Amsterdam. Since the announcement of Halsema’s plans there has been resistance not only from residents, but also from business owners and prostitutes. In October, more than a hundred protesters marched on Amsterdam City Hall.
At the end of this month, Halsema will have a private meeting with the prostitutes. And a committee meeting will be held on February 15, where the city council can take the next step towards building the center.
2024-01-07 17:44:04
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