Femke Halsema is Amsterdam’s first feminine mayor.

Like a number of different closely visited European cities, Amsterdam skilled a dramatic pause in tourism through the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the Netherlands’ borders closed and main points of interest just like the Rijksmuseum emptied of the same old throngs of worldwide guests, locals have been in a position to reclaim the historic coronary heart of town.

Now, Amsterdam’s leaders are decided to completely shift the financial stability between residents and vacationers, and rethink Amsterdam’s free-wheeling picture as a magnet for sex- and drug-seeking vacationers. “People who have lived here for a very long time feel estranged,” says town’s mayor, Femke Halsema. “We do not want to become Venice or Dubrovnik, where your historical center has become a closed theme park. In the future it has to be a livable part of the city.”

Appointed to the put up in 2018 as Amsterdam’s first feminine mayor, Halsema was beforehand the chief of the Dutch Green Left Party, and she or he feels her liberal political background will assist her persuade town council to hitch her efforts to rein within the metropolis’s cannabis-dispensing coffeeshops and its well-known intercourse business. Halsema can also be at the moment wrestling with a housing affordability disaster: The price of dwelling in Amsterdam has lengthy been a priority for economists and native officers, who level to the chronically low degree of housing provide and rising affect of short-term rental providers like Airbnb.

Bloomberg CityLab just lately talked to the 56-year-old mayor concerning the dangers of overtourism, the way forward for town’s famed crimson mild district, and why she desires Amsterdam to not appeal to individuals who need to take a “moral vacation.” Our dialog has been flippantly edited and condensed.

Could you inform us about your imaginative and prescient for town?

I feel Amsterdam has all the time been and goes to be a global metropolis. We rely on worldwide commerce. Many worldwide firms are based mostly right here in Amsterdam. There isn’t any change in that perspective. We love vacationers in our metropolis. They are an necessary a part of our native economic system additionally. Especially when vacationers come for the great thing about our metropolis, for our museums or for our evening tradition. But we do have an issue with a few of the vacationers. It’s not with tourism however with the conduct of minority of the vacationers.

The variety of vacationers is one other problem. Florence welcomes 14 million vacationers per 12 months, they usually say that is just a little bit an excessive amount of. Barcelona welcomes 20 million vacationers per 12 months, they usually say that is just a little bit an excessive amount of. Amsterdam welcomes 22 million vacationers per 12 months, and that is just a little bit an excessive amount of.

So what do you imply by an excessive amount of, and by how a lot does it must go down?

I am unable to give a quantity. It is dependent upon conduct or the way in which vacationers are unfold throughout town.

We need to sort out two issues. The first downside is what I’d name the London downside: Our metropolis is turning into too costly. That can also be a part of being a global metropolis and having many expats dwelling right here. But it has penalties for the center lessons. It’s very tough to discover a home in Amsterdam apart from the very best incomes, so our center class- lecturers, law enforcement officials, folks working in well being care- are leaving town. We’re very alert about it. For a metropolis to outlive in the long term you want social stability and other people from center or decrease lessons to additionally really feel at residence.

Our second downside is the Venice downside: The individuals who dwell right here turn out to be estranged particularly within the metropolis heart, as a result of it is not a part of their metropolis. We need to discover a new stability, in being a house for folks from Amsterdam and on the identical time welcoming worldwide guests and vacationers.

Is there a sure type of tourism that you do not welcome in Amsterdam?

It’s not a type of tourism we welcome or do not welcome- it is a type of conduct. What we don’t welcome is individuals who come right here on a trip from morals. They categorical a type of conduct they might not categorical at residence. People coming right here to lose their morals is an issue for us.

This can also be the fault of the Dutch and Amsterdam governments of the previous. We have been so captivated with welcoming financial and touristic exercise, particularly after the 2008-2009 monetary disaster. But Amsterdam has an extended custom in being very liberal and progressive. We have been a secure haven for a lot of minorities and free thinkers. In Amsterdam, there is a way of thinking of tolerance. We all the time argue that hashish needs to be legalized and prostitution should not be criminalized. That can also be part of Amsterdam’s historical past, a historical past that we’re very happy with.

But drug tradition and prostitution have been internationally commercialized. That will not be the way in which it was meant. We ought to right the way in which we marketed town within the final 15 years. For occasion, we now have intercourse entrepreneurs and their enterprise mannequin is predicated on attracting as many individuals as they will from different European cities. That’s a enterprise mannequin I feel is not acceptable.

So Amsterdam ought to not be thought-about a spot to go to get excessive? Is that one thing you need to change?

Yes, I feel so. It’s a spot the place it is best to go should you’re on the lookout for stunning museums, or to see the underground tradition, or if you wish to attend our Pride. We don’t desire our conventional liberalism to get replaced by conservatism. That’s not what we’re aiming for.

In latest years you have proposed enacting some main adjustments within the metropolis’s crimson mild district, together with curtaining off home windows alongside the streets and even transferring prostitution out of the neighborhood totally. Can you discuss concerning the present state of the crimson mild district?

In the previous, the crimson mild district was a secure working area for intercourse staff. There have been Amsterdammers and worldwide guests who got here for the ladies, however now it attracts lots of people who simply stand in entrance of the home windows and chuckle at intercourse staff. I contemplate {that a} violation of their human rights. We don’t need to criminalize prostitution. To me, it is crucial girls and trans staff can do their work in secure situations and in accordance to human rights.

Another downside within the crimson mild district is that it creates an excessive amount of noise and causes too many issues for the individuals who dwell there. And the third downside is that it mingles with organized crime.

That’s why you have proposed to to determine an “erotic center”- relocating the prostitution to a purpose-built web site exterior of the historic metropolis heart.

The dialogue on prostitution and the crimson mild district has been frozen for years; no one wished to debate it as a result of it has an ethical theme. Are you in favor of legalization of prostitution or in opposition to? I’ve tried to make it a extra pragmatic dialogue. Here, there may be provide and demand. As lengthy as, particularly males, go to intercourse staff, there will likely be intercourse staff. The neatest thing we are able to do is give them one of the best working situations to do their work.

I gave town council 4 situations for the way forward for prostitution in Amsterdam, they usually selected the erotic heart. There are events which are . They need to make a festive erotic heart. I all the time prefer to make the comparability with the Moulin Rouge, the place sexuality is a pleasant and good a part of day by day life. The erotic heart ought to have some standing, be stylish. We are within the stage of on the lookout for a spot within the metropolis the place it will probably begin. That will not be straightforward, as you’ll be able to think about. Lots of people in Amsterdam are in favor of an erotic center- however not of their yard.

Relatedly, might you inform us about your plans on coffeeshops? [While cannabis is not legal in the Netherlands, possession up to five grams is decriminalized and licensed “coffeeshops” are allowed to sell small amounts of the drug to those over age 18.]

I feel hashish needs to be legalized. I feel the conflict on medication is barely excellent news for organized crime. It enriches organized crime. For a very long time, the Netherlands has been very efficient in separating the gentle and exhausting drug markets. But what we see, particularly beneath the affect of worldwide guests, is that our hashish market has turn out to be big. The variety of coffeeshops have dropped, however demand for hashish has risen. Some huge cash goes by this market, which makes it very susceptible to organized crime.

I’ve requested town council quickly to ban vacationers from coffeeshops. It’s going to be mentioned in September. I feel town council will not settle for my proposal due to the worldwide fame of town and since they’re very fearful all these vacationers will begin shopping for it on the streets. But I say we have already got 2,000 [drug] sellers within the historic metropolis heart, and they’re there primarily due to the vacationers. Tourist purchase their hashish within the coffeeshops, however they purchase their dope, cocaine or no matter on the streets. The market is already booming for sellers. It is likely one of the cause that vacationers who’re on an ethical trip come to Amsterdam, and in addition a lot of them say, “We will not come anymore if we cannot visit coffeeshops.”

So is your proposal to ban vacationers from shopping for weed at coffeeshops extra about tourism or crime?

Both. The mingling with organized crime is an impact of the excessive demand of hashish.

Amsterdam has just lately acquired a whole lot of international residents, particularly after Brexit, and a few locals complain housing costs are rising due to this inflow of expats. You stated you obtain too many vacationers. Is there a threshold for the quantity expats you need to host as nicely?

We are very a lot in favor of worldwide mobility and freedom of mobility. It’s very tough for me to say that is sufficient. We have an enormous constructing task forward of us- we’re going to construct full new neighborhoods with 70,000 homes. We additionally need to rethink mobility within the area, so it turns into simpler for the center and the decrease class to dwell in Amsterdam. We are already a dense metropolis, however we see nonetheless prospects to turn out to be extra dense. We are additionally seeking to prospects to construct on water. We hope we additionally discover options there.

What are you doing to make homes extra inexpensive for middle- and lower-income residents?

We attempt to affect the housing market as a lot as we are able to, and there we differ from London or New York or different big cities. Building firms and corporations that lease have to adapt to a 40-40-20 rule, which suggests 40% social housing 40% middle-class housing and 20% higher class. That offers us some risk to maneuver the housing market.

Amsterdam has additionally been a pacesetter in regulating Airbnb. Do you suppose you want extra measures to control the corporate and comparable short-term rental providers?

Yes, I feel we nonetheless want extra measures. We have been in a position to regulate Airbnb, particularly within the historic metropolis heart, however what we do see that particularly in our most susceptible neighborhoods we now have homes the place no one lives anymore as a result of they lease it out. People who do dwell in these neighborhoods really feel estranged. That is absolutely not good.

Another huge concern is local weather change. Are you fearful about the way forward for Amsterdam in 50 to 100 years? Some scientists say town might look so much completely different by then.

Amsterdam has confirmed itself to be a really resilient metropolis for lots of of years. It has a inventive inhabitants; we all the time discover options. Amsterdam is constructed on wood sticks. Who might think about? And it is nonetheless there! So no, I’m not fearful. I do suppose we now have challenges- however we’ll discover options.

Is it simpler to push your agenda together with your political background? Is it simpler to persuade town council on a few of your proposals?

We have a liberal metropolis council, and sure, it is in a conservative nation. Amsterdam has all the time been an odd place. I feel they do perceive what my motives are. I do not need to make Amsterdam conservative. The reverse: I’m very happy with the tolerant custom in Amsterdam. For occasion, the commercialization of the historic metropolis heart has pushed away the nightclubs, and that is a pity. That needs to be a spot the place all of the progressive and liberal actions of town come collectively. It has been such a spot prior to now. Traditionally, it’s a place the place mainstream and underground Amsterdams discover one another. I need to carry unconventional Amsterdam again.

Disclaimer: These are the non-public opinions of the creator.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)