Wat is er mis met deze steeg?

Tuesday afternoon (photo [1]) the first illegal rubbish appears. By Wednesday morning it has been joined by several more bags ([2]). By Thursday evening there are about 15-20 bags of rubbish, many many cardboard boxes and one dismantled household item, possibly a fridge [3].

By Friday morning the rubbish mountain extends 2 metres into the alley, is a metre and half wide, and a metre high. It spills out into the Warmoesstraat [4] and [5]. Unfortunately not an hour after the rubbish has been picked up, the abandoned fridge or whatever it is (grofvuil) has been joined by several new bags of rubbish [6]. But I am pleased to add that both the rubbish and grofvuil were picked up by the end of the afternoon. Also the several bags of rubbish that were deposited over the weekend were picked up. Thank you!

[Sent to the gemeente June 19, 2011]

Sent to the gemeente June 15, 2011

Friday morning June 10 at 11:16 (photo [1]) the first illegal rubbish appears. Which is added to later in the afternoon ([2]). But I’m pleased to say that during the whole weekend most of the zwerfvuil that gathered on the corner was picked up during the weekend. Thank you! It makes a difference.

We also tried fighting one problem with another. We have arranged the fietswrakken into a Garbage Barrier, in other words we have piled up the 12+ abandoned bikes into a physical barrier just behind the rubbish can. It helps a bit. What would be even better would be if the fietswrakken were REMOVED. We are seriously considering welding them into a piece of deformed street art. Anyway photos [3]-[5] show that the rubbish was kept to a minimum on the weekend.

Monday sees a return to normal (anti-social) behaviour. The rest of the photos show that the rubbish slowly piles up (ILLEGALLY!) during the whole of Monday.

I notice that the garbage truck has been coming somewhat earlier. This doesn’t really solve the problem. But we do need serious solutions. Please save us from the abandoned bikes and the rubbish from our neighbours.

Sent to the gemeente June 10, 2011

Tuesday morning June 7 at 8:30 (photo [1]) the corner is rubbish-free. But, unfortunately not fietswrakken-free. First photo taken just after the rubbish has been picked up (poor guys were busy for at least 15 minutes clearing the corner of everybody else’s rubbish).

By 13:42 the same day the following has magically appeared on the corner: 6-7 bags of rubbish, one open Albert Heijn bag of rubbish, an open crate, with of course, more rubbish in it and some carpet tiles. Photo [3] is at 10:00 on Wednesday June 8. Several cardboard boxes and more bags of garbage have joined the growing pile.

By Thursday morning (photo [6]) there are even more cardboard boxes and 2 wooden palettes, and don’t forget the never-ending bags of rubbish. Someone (horeca?) took delivery of 2 or 3 washing machines or refrigerators or something similar on Wednesday. And decided to add their packaging rubbish to the corner. Why not? There’s rubbish there anyway.

By Thursday night (photo [9]), oh joy of joys look at all that lovely rubbish, at least 6 hours before there is meant to be any rubbish on the street. What do we have? More large cardboard boxes, orange boxes, and about 20-30 more bags of rubbish. Oh we’re so lucky! Rubbish pile now extends about 2 metres into the alley, is about one metre height and almost a metre wide.

Sent to the gemeente June 6, 2011

The rubbish that was left at the corner of the Warmoesstraat and the OZ Armsteeg on Friday was picked up by late Friday. Thank you.

Unfortunately the clean corner did not last long. It never does. Starting on Saturday June 4, a cardboard box and about 10-12 bags of rubbish were left there. Over the weekend several bags were added. By Sunday night (June 5) there are about 20-25 bags of rubbish, several open Albert Heijn bags of rubbish, and a restaurant-sized olive oil can.

By Monday morning (June 6) a cardboard box has been added, and about another 10 bags of rubbish. During the morning (13:49) the following are added: several more bags of rubbish, a restaurant-sized mayonaise bucket, more cardboard boxes, several open (AH) bags of rubbish. By about 16:30 a wooden chair has been added, more cardboard boxes, and an empty paint container. Of course, don’t forget the extra bags of rubbish that accumulate.

By 19:00 Monday evening more furniture has been added. The chances that the people responsible have rung Grofvuil are practically zero. (So we are now dependent on the mood of the rubbish guys tomorrow morning as to whether the furniture will be picked up or not.) By this time the rubbish heap is about a metre high, extends about 2.5 metres into the alley and is about a metre wide.

By 20:40 on Monday evening, between the fietswrakken (12 of them) and the rubbish there is still a metre through which we can exit the alley (aren’t we lucky!).

Later in the evening (23:30) of course more rubbish has been added to the growing pile. Now it extends 3 metres into the alley, is about 1.5 metres high and a metre wide.

The garbage truck came before I could photograph Tuesday’s rubbish pile. The guys did take the furniture (thank you!).

I think that since November 2010 there has maybe been three days when there has been no rubbish on the corner. Welcome to the OZ Armsteeg, 24 hours of rubbish a day, 7 days a week.

For a while there I thought that we could actually get rid of this blog. I thought that our many problems were solved. Okay, many of our original problems were solved but unfortunately we are STILL stuck with the garbage problem. Here follow copies of the photos and the electronic complaints that I have been sending to the gemeente since the end of May this year.

Sent 31 May, 2011

Okay, I have kept quiet for a long time, but the rubbish problem on the corner of the OZ Armsteeg and the Warmoesstraat has NOT improved. I do appreciate the efforts of the reiniging/gemeente around Christmas and the New Year to force the horeca in the Warmoesstraat to sign a formal rubbish contract. But to my intense frustration, due to the badly executed Christmas action, all the work that we as residents have put in over the many many years to reduce the rubbish mountain in the OZ Armsteeg has been totally undone.

Please witness the attached series of photos from the last few days. It started on Saturday with a few rubbish bags that get left on the corner. Over the next few days more and more rubbish gets added. By Monday evening there is a rubbish heap that extends about a metre and half into the alley, is half a metre high, and about a metre wide. Finally on Tuesday morning there is a MOUNTAIN of rubbish that is taller than an adult, extends 4 metres into the alley and spills out onto the Warmoesstraat. Combined with the &*@#!!#@ bikes/fietswrakken that have still not been picked up, there is less than half a metre of space through which we can actually exit the OZ Armsteeg.

[As a side note the 12 bikes/fietswrakken have been there for several months. I have rung several times about them; I have talked to two handhavers about them; my husband has recently sent an email to Roel Plugge. But they are STILL there. Please please please remove them!]

I am EXTREMELY disappointed. We have worked very hard to convince our neighbours (mostly horeca) that they should NOT be dumping their rubbish in front of *our* front door. Just before Christmas the rubbish mountain had more or less dwindled to a semi-respectable, almost copeable rubbish pile. But the current situation is unacceptable and totally not good for my blood pressure.

Now we are back to where we started from. See Rubbish Photos for photos from 2006-2007. See also this story, from September 2008, about the history of the rubbish mountain: Street corner history. This is a problem that has existed for more than TEN YEARS. And, no, I’m still not used to it, and, yes, it still irritates me that my neighbours haven’t figured out a better place for their rubbish. (If the links don’t work please go to http://www.watisermismetdezesteeg.nl and click on the links “Rubbish photos” and “Street corner history” on the top right hand side.)

Okay, rather than only complaining, complaining, and complaining some more, I also have some suggestions that may (or probably may not) help.

(1) Please put up a sign on the side of Warmoesstraat 23, in the OZ Armsteeg, saying when rubbish may be put there, and when it will be picked up. Since Christmas there is so much confusion that our new neighbours (KLM huisjes, for example) have no idea when the rubbish will be picked up. This sign should clearly state that only household rubbish from the Oudezijds Armsteeg should be placed there and definitely not commercial rubbish.

(2) Please ask the Reiniging to pick up the stray bags of rubbish that do get left there, even when it is not a rubbish day. I realise that this possibly only encourages people to leave bags there on non-rubbish days. But the alternative is that rubbish only attracts more and more rubbish (see attached photos)

(3) Please send a letter to ALL the apartments/horeca in the Warmoesstraat and alleys that rubbish should NOT be placed/dumped/deposited on the corner of the Warmoesstraat and OZ Armsteeg. PUT YOUR OWN RUBBISH IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN FRONT DOOR!!!

(4) I believe that the only long-term solution to getting rid of the rubbish mountain in the OZ Armsteeg is to build something that makes it impossible for people to leave their rubbish there. I suggest that the rubbish bin that is now there should be placed somewhere else (Guldenhandsteeg, eg), or removed entirely, and that for example a gigantic cement box for plants should be placed on the corner.

I realise that some of my suggestions conflict with each other, but, in desperation, I offer them in any case. I am really really REALLY fed up with this ongoing, unsolved, aggravating, twice-weekly problem. My corner of the world is not Naples, but it sure as heck feels like it sometimes.

Gezien de economische crisis is bouwvolume hopelijk niet meer de enige motivatie en richtlijn.

Vaak zie je toeristen, die waarschijnlijk een ‘niet-sex’ route willen kiezen, de steeg inkijken en vervolgens maar doorlopen op de Warmoesstraat. Dit is jammer, de O.Z. Voorburgwal, aan de andere zijde van de steeg, is erg mooi en maakt een historisch mooie en sexloze route naar de Zeedijk mogelijk.

Een klein pleintje + eventueel een klein muur-fonteintje aan de oneven zijde maakt een terrasje mogelijk voor de brouwerij,
maar nog veel belangrijker het laat zonnelicht uit het zuiden toe in het midden van de steeg.
Ook kan door een boom groen in het zicht gebracht worden (zomer schaduw, winter blad-loos) als je de steeg inkijkt.

De paar oude fassaden die zo nu en dan tentoon gesteld worden bij het scheepvaartmuseum kunnen permanent getoond worden. Dit geeft een mooie combinatie van nieuwbouw en historisch-respect. Samen met wat uitleg (pleintje was eens het dichtbevolkste gebied in de wereld), zou de steeg een bescheiden toeristische attractie gaan vormen.

De steeg krijgt een vrij open inkijk op het binnenterrein. Smalle steeg met groots zicht. Een van de vele mooie verrassingen van Amsterdam? Een kans die de gemeente zou moeten grijpen. Weinig extra geld, groots resultaat. (Natuurlijk verhinderen de hekken, eventueel verwerkt in de fassaden, toegang tot het binnenterrein.)

Deze planning maakt de steeg zelfs attractief, in plaats van een nauw en beangstigend smal straatje wordt het opener en interessant.
Als de onderste bebouwing van de oneven zijde (eventueel ook met oude fassaden en mogelijk met iets straatverbreding bij de fontein) ook nog eens uitnodigend wordt kan een historische aanwinst voor de stad gecreëerd worden. En dit is allemaal zichtbaar vanaf de uiteinden van de steeg zodat je de steeg wilt inlopen in plaats van mijden. Dit is tevens goed voor de gevestigde horeca en bedrijven in de steeg.

Al met al kan er op de huidige bouwplannen bespaard worden. Moet het bouwvolume in de toekomst alsnog uitgebreid worden kan dat t.z.t. altijd nog gebeuren. Als je de oude Amsterdamse fassaden ook nog eens weglaat (is maar een idee) zullen de bouwkosten, tijdens deze economische depressie, stukken lager uitvallen. Ook zou deze planning de zaak die nu bij de raad van State loopt een heel andere wending geven.

Goed voor toerist, bedrijven en lokale bewoners.
Een zinnig alternatief voor deze buurt?

Weet iemand wie in Amsterdam in de positie verkeerd om iets te kunnen doen met een voorstel zoals deze?
Gemeente, openbare ruimte, Stadsherstel, wie o wie kan met zoiets benaderd worden? Heb je een naam en/of nummer graag aan mij doorgeven.

Met vriendelijke planning, Herman.

Hello,

does anyone know who the construction rubbisch belongs to thats in front of

our entrance where the water hose is?

regards,

Richard

Forgot to mention this earlier, but the gemeente will pick up any dead Christmas trees this week and next week. They can be put out on the normal garbage days, but please keep them separate from the garbage mountain.

Okay, so it’s 1.46 am on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, and guess what?! I do not hear any overly-loud music. In fact I have not heard any excessive noise from Old Quarter (or anyone else for that matter) since Herman rang the HOT-lijn (020-421 4567) ten days ago.

I was pretty skeptical at first, but I must say that ringing the HOT-lijn does seem to work. Herman complained about something quite specific (OQ’s live band playing the same loud music every night), which may have helped.

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