Petition for traditional arrival of Sinterklaas in Amsterdam
Should there be an arrival of Sinterklaas in Amsterdam in a stadium in Southeast or would you rather take the steamboat across the Amstel to the Maritime Museum? Amsterdammer Menno Köhler and the group of Dear Friends of Sinterklaas started a website with this question. on Sinterklaasinamsterdam.nl and companies plan to get people to organize an old-fashioned entry.
The entry keeps Köhler, former volunteer of the Sinterklaas Foundation in Amsterdam, quite busy since it was announced last week that the entry is canceled and will be moved to the Johan Cruijff Arena. He shared a video on his Instagram page in which he shared his tears about the foundation. He resigned because the traditional entry is canceled and the volunteers are not properly involved.
Halsema mediator
Today mayor Halsema announced that she would do resources to see if she can calm things down again. D66 and CDA submitted questions about the issue in the city council.
Halsema said that she will talk to the organization as a “mediator” tomorrow. “To see if I can help to reduce the unrest and to ensure that the feelings of the volunteers become a bit happier.”
Köhler is not very nice about Halsema being able to reduce the unrest. “I’m scheduled to hear everything this afternoon. Halsema must of course say that she has confidence in it, I understand that. But I have absolutely no confidence that a form will be found with the current chairman and the vice-chairman. The Johan Cruijff Arena is not an option. They then have to cover the entire lawn, because the horse is not allowed to walk on it.”
Köhler started the new initiative with old members of the management team. “There are a lot of former volunteers and administrators who say that they want to, but not when the chairman and vice-chairman are still present. We want to ensure that an entry can be made again. That the steamboat over the Amstel to the Scheepvaartmuseum Als if it is up to me then we will do it as it has always been with a procession over the water and over the land.”