You Better Get To Amsterdam Before It’s Too Late
Yes, that’s right, book your flights, buy your plane tickets because Amsterdam’s famed Red Light District may be going bye, bye. According to a recent article in Newsweek, the government there are fed up with the the legal brothels citing that they breed criminal activity and human trafficking. Are these people crazy or what? They are going to cut off about 80% of their tourist revenue! Cmon now, lets be real. The only reason people go to Amsterdam is to smoke weed in the coffee shops and bang hot prostitutes. What is this world coming to? Are they going to shut down the Carnival in Brazil next? Or how about canceling the yearly Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans? Here is an excerpt of the article:
Two weeks ago a young Dutch fashion designer named Bas Kosters opened a new store. His colorful and sumptuous creations—skirts, handbags, sweatshirts—merit attention. But the most striking aspect of his new venue is the location. Kosters’s work is on display in Amsterdam’s Red Light District behind two tall windows that until recently were used as a brothel. The ladies have vanished. The red lights and curtains have been removed and replaced by Kosters’s hyperfashionable clothes.
Kosters found this studio thanks to an ambitious plan by the Amsterdam city government. Arguing that too many brothels and sex bars are linked to criminality, the authorities plan to all but erase the Red Light District. If the plan goes through, the peep shows, sex shops and prostitute windows that line the small alleys and canals will have to go, giving way to galleries, boutiques and upscale restaurants and bars. Goodbye to the big neon signs advertising every possible form of sexual indulgence.
Amsterdam without the Red Light District? Wouldn’t that be like Paris without the Eiffel Tower? Amsterdam’s mayor, Job Cohen, and his aldermen have demonstrated little nostalgia for the district, which has been the world’s most famous home of sexual permissiveness since the 15th century. They first unveiled the plan to close it in December; last month they revoked the licenses of two widely known sex venues, the Casa Rosso and the Banana Bar. The next step is to buy out the real estate owners. Last fall the city struck a deal with a powerful brothel owner, Charles Geerts (known as “Fat Charlie”), to buy 20 buildings.
