Street in Amsterdam not cleaned for months due to error in system: “It was a big mess”
The Karthuizersstraat in Amsterdam’s Jordaan has not been cleaned by a sweeper from the municipality for almost eight months due to a fault in the system. Local resident Ignace van den Bosch raised the alarm with the municipality several times, but without success. “I’m not a whiner, but this was very annoying,” says Van den Bosch.
According to the resident, who has lived in the street for more than thirty years, it is a huge mess in the street, mainly due to tourists. “The street is in every guide about Amsterdam, there are daily tourists in the street and they leave a lot of rubbish behind,” he says. “Everywhere you look, you see garbage: papers, cans and other kinds of junk.” The first time he complained was in July last year, but the problem was not resolved.
Once AT 5 O’CLOCK After contacting the representative of the Centrum district, the municipality found out that exactly this street was accidentally removed from the route. Van den Bosch reacts suspiciously to this. “That seems very strong to me, because the removed streets were not cleaned either.”
The municipality has announced that they will organize a meeting with the cleaning team to find out how this can be done underground. “Annoying that this has to be resolved in this way,” said the statement from the district.
According to Van den Bosch, the fact that things did not get completely out of hand is due to the volunteers of the homeless shelter de Tweede Mijl in the area. “The people from the shelter go through the neighborhood with garbage picks, so it wasn’t too bad,” he says. The municipality has promised that the street will be included in the route again.