Zuidoost

The Complaints Centre on Undesirable Landlord Behaviour is registering a rise in complaints, the organisation indicates in its annual report. Complaints vary from deception to outright intimidation. The rise can be explained by improved record keeping, but landlords also appear to become increasingly impudent.

Someone who appealed to the rent tribunal was told by the owner ‘that he would make the tentant’s life a living hell and that he also knew people who were willing to take care of that’. Other tenants who appealed against the rent saw their central heating removed, even though it was -10 C outside.

HP/De Tijd Magazine has a special issue on Amsterdam. One of the articles explains how urban hunter Wateetons from Amsterdam Noord catches a duck in the park with his bare hands. He remembers the first duck he caught in the Red Light District: “It was a really ugly duck. But it tasted terribly good.” The magazine covers itself by briefly quoting someone from the animal protection society at the end of the article.

Amsterdam may stop municipal development aid to Surinam in response to Desi Bouterse’s rise to the presidency, reports NRC Handelsblad. Mayor Eberhard van der Laan is preparing a proposal to reconsider international aid. Aid co-ordinated by the Amsterdam police has already been put on hold, according to the paper.

Should Van der Laan decide to suspend all aid to Surinam, then this will have a considerable impact on the city’s controversial development aid programme. According to an evaluation published last year, 33 out of 79 projects being implemented targeted Surinam. Twenty municipal departments and the Centrum and Zuidoost Districts have been involved in aid to Surinam.