Work has been going on on the quay walls on the first part of Herengracht for years. As a result, cars can no longer be parked for more than three years, and if it is up to the district, it will remain so in the future. But that does not arouse everyone’s enthusiasm, according to resident Thijs ten Raa, fewer parking spaces means more nuisance.
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“In recent years, the residents of this part of the canals have already had to park their cars elsewhere,” says Micha Mos of the executive board of the city center. Due to the renovation of the quays, the canal has been free of parking for a long time.
“The suggestion came from residents whether this could continue any longer, so the district council sent a survey asking whether the people in the area felt anything for it. We are now fortunate that the residents themselves have come to us with this idea. come.”
Before the work started, there was already a plan to get fewer parking spaces on Herengracht. According to the plan, only 20 of the originally approximately sixty places would remain. But after the municipality’s research showed that seventy percent of those involved wanted all parking spaces gone and they liked the parking-free street, the district made a new design in which no parking space was left. Cars can drive at walking pace, but only as a transit route.
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“It will be a jumble of cyclists, pedestrians and cars. That creates an unsafe situation”
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Resident Thijs ten Raa has the feeling that the municipality has not thought through enough: “This makes it a shortcut for people who have to be in the center. He wonders whether the municipality’s research is correct: “The survey that has been drawn up could be completed several times and was far too suggestive in the questions”, he thinks. He sees the problems already increasing, let alone when the work is finished: “It is becoming a kind of Blijburg of the canals. People celebrate, drink and smoke.” If the parking spaces make room for trees and places to enjoy the canals, he is afraid that this will only increase.
Micha Mos doesn’t see this happening: “We want to make the center of the residents again, and of course we don’t want to make something ugly so that it doesn’t attract anyone.” According to him, this is what residents want, and if the majority wants it, that is a logical next step. “Of course it is possible that people voted twice, but after filtering the answers, the majority still came out from local residents.”
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Artist impression Herengracht
In addition to the nuisance, parking for residents will also become difficult. “We are thinking about parking at other places in the area,” says Ten Raa. “But my wife, for example, has difficulty walking, and then the garages are much too far away.” Mos says that people with a disabled vehicle will keep their place: “For people who really need it, the option remains of course.”
What, according to Ten Raa, would be a better idea is a car-free street instead of parking-free: “In this way you can regulate that people who have to be there can park, but that no other cars can pass through.”
After residents had been able to participate until the end of last month, the new design was presented by the district. It still needs to be approved by the city council. “This could be the start of the car-free canals,” says board member Mos. “This could be an example for other parts of the canal.”
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