Amsterdam: Too Filthy Or Still Fantastic?
Amsterdam is “dirty, filthy, and too full.” Such is the damning verdict of Wim Pijbes, director of the city’s Rijksmuseum, who feels so strongly about the state of Amsterdam that he published an open letter last weekend about it in the Dutch Newspaper NRC Handelsblad. Critics of Pijbes — and there are many — point out that the city is implementing Project 1012, a regeneration plan so named after the zip code of Amsterdam’s red light district. The project is shutting down many of the area’s famous sex-worker windows as well as a clutch of coffee shops where marijuana is also sold.
