‘We want to deepen the quality of life in our area through living, working, free time, conferences and fairs’, stated RAI in a press release. According to the organization, an erotic center is ‘not good’.
However, the center for popular events opposes the municipality’s plan to house prostitution in one large building. ‘An erotic center does not fit into our vision regarding the quality of life in the city, either here or elsewhere in our city.’
With this, RAI joins a wider resistance. An earlier consultation evening attracted some 250 residents who massively opposed the centre’s arrival. The Zuidas is one of the two remaining locations that the municipality of Amsterdam has in mind for the centre.
‘Unnecessary’
Other business interests have also spoken out against the arrival of the sex apartment, such as real estate mogul Cor van Zadelhoff. He finds the erotic center superfluous. Apparently the council has nothing better to do. Prostitution in the red light district doesn’t bother, those girls are fine there.’ According to him, the use of drugs and alcohol is the cause of the disturbance in the inner city. “But you can’t solve it by moving prostitution. You just have to enforce it.’
Accounting firm EY, which has an office near its intended location on the Zuidas, is awaiting final plans from the municipality. The location of the building determines whether it will affect EY employees. That precise location is important, because the A10 can separate the EY office from the erotic center. “Then we have no problems,” an EY spokesperson confided to BNR.
Any compensation
The Nhow Hotel, near RAI, is also in talks with the municipality and will not make any further announcements until then, a spokesman said. Earlier, Walter Kok, chief operating officer of NH Hotels in the Netherlands, hinted at a municipality hearing that the hotel chain will seek compensation if the erotic center is built. He’s afraid of reputational damage and the kind of clients that come to an erotic center.
With the arrival of an erotic center, the municipality of Amsterdam wants to deal with the crowds and nuisance in the red light district. In addition to sex workplaces, the center also offers space for catering, art, culture and entertainment, writes the municipality on its website.