In related news, former president Bill Clinton filed a formal protest with the Dutch Government charging them with needless and wanton destruction of priceless cultural artifacts.
Posted on 12/06/2008 8:04:58 AM PST by Zakeet
Amsterdam unveiled plans Saturday to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major effort to drive organized crime out of the tourist haven.
The city is targeting businesses that "generate criminality," including gambling parlors, and the so-called "coffee shops" where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlors and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering.
"I think that the new reality will be more in line with our image as a tolerant and crazy place, rather than a free zone for criminals" said Lodewijk Asscher, a city council member and one of the main proponents of the plan.
The news comes just one day after Amsterdam's mayor said he would search for loopholes in new rules laid down by the national government that would close marijuana cafes near schools citywide. The measures announced Saturday would affect about 36 coffee shops in the center itself — a little less than 20 percent of the city total.
Asscher underlined that the city center will remain true to its freewheeling reputation.
"It'll be a place with 200 windows (for prostitutes) and 30 coffee shops, which you can't find anywhere else in the world — very exciting, but also with cultural attractions," he said. "And you won't have to be embarrassed to say you came."
Under the plan announced Saturday, Amsterdam will spend euro30 million to euro40 million ($38 million to $51 million) to bring hotels, restaurants, art galleries and boutiques to the center. It will also build new underground parking areas.
Amsterdam already had plans to close many brothels and some coffee shops, but plans ann
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
In related news, former president Bill Clinton filed a formal protest with the Dutch Government charging them with needless and wanton destruction of priceless cultural artifacts.
A nation in decline....
WTH?
I thought if these industries were legalized it would automatically drive organized crime out of them.
Yes, you will.
Why these idiots cultivate this reputation is the mystery...
Why not a few terrorist schools?
Oldplayer
Organized crime probably was the supplier of women and drugs - isn’t there a big human trafficking trade in Europe?
Public pot, heroin and prostitution parlors are not “criminality”, just having them controlled and made profitable by a cartel is criminal
Dutch logic
Interesting. Even legalized prostitution invites illegal behavior. That’s why it’s illegal in the city of Los Vegas but legal in remote rural county in Nevada. Easier to watchdog for crime that way.
“I thought if these industries were legalized it would automatically drive organized crime out of them.”
Oh yeah! And it isn’t just lefties that say that, we have many here on freerepublic.
That’s why legalized prostitution is so cool, right?
except all it does is drive up the crime rate, drug market, and illegal human trafficking does not decrease - it increases.
Interesting. Even legalized prostitution invites illegal behavior. That’s why it’s illegal in the city of Los Vegas but legal in remote rural county in Nevada. Easier to watchdog for crime that way.
Back when I was in college and on my first trip to Amsterdam, 2 other girls and I were doing the tourist thing in the Red Light District. As we stood together figuring out what to do next, a guy came up and asked how much for the 3 of us together. I’m pretty sure this is the only time I’ve been taken for a streetwalker. : )
Dope use generates crime. Who would have thunk it?
Menage a quatre?
They are called Libertarians, the little, annoying ankle biters.
I'm thinking of the kind of sex that's going to be vended in those underground parking garages.
The pot was legal, so I doubt there was enough profit margin there to interest OC types.
However, darn few women have a true yearning for prostitution as a career choice, so they must be “encouraged” to pursue the career path, whether by addiction to other still illegal drugs, physical abuse or human trafficking.
OC can make lots of money in all these areas.
Plus, if you want to score some illegal drugs, a logical place to look is around where “legal” ones are being sold.
If that was the case they wouldn't have been interested in getting involved in things like the road construction contracts or municipal waste disposal companies in New Jersey.
Self-confident feller, huh?
JULES
— okay now, tell me about the hash
bars?
VINCENT
What so you want to know?
JULES
Well, hash is legal there, right?
VINCENT
Yeah, it’s legal, but is ain’t a
hundred percent legal. I mean you
can’t walk into a restaurant, roll
a joint, and start puffin’ away.
You’re only supposed to smoke in
your home or certain designated
places.
JULES
Those are hash bars?
VINCENT
Yeah, it breaks down like this:
it’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to
own it and, if you’re the
proprietor of a hash bar, it’s
legal to sell it. It’s legal to
carry it, which doesn’t really
matter ‘cause — get a load of this
— if the cops stop you, it’s
illegal for this to search you.
Searching you is a right that the
cops in Amsterdam don’t have.
JULES
That did it, man — I’m f-——’
goin’, that’s all there is to it.
VINCENT
You’ll dig it the most. But you
know what the funniest thing about
Europe is?
JULES
What?
VINCENT
It’s the little differences. A
lotta the same s-— we got here,
they got there, but there they’re a
little different.
JULES
Examples?
VINCENT
Well, in Amsterdam, you can buy
beer in a movie theatre. And I
don’t mean in a paper cup either.
They give you a glass of beer, like
in a bar. In Paris, you can buy
beer at MacDonald’s. Also, you
know what they call a Quarter
Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
JULES
They don’t call it a Quarter
Pounder with Cheese?
VINCENT
No, they got the metric system
there, they wouldn’t know what the
f-— a Quarter Pounder is.
JULES
What’d they call it?
VINCENT
Royale with Cheese.
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