Amsterdam’s War on Sex has begun, and they seem to think they can eliminate “sleaze” by making it illegal again:
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.The driving force behind the cleanup is Lodewijk Asscher. A young star of the Dutch Labour Party and deputy mayor of Amsterdam, Asscher believes it’s time to deliver his hometown from sleaze—even if he’s scuppering a $100 million-a-year industry in the process. He is pleasantly surprised, he says, by the public support he’s gotten for the plan. “Every day I get e-mails,” he says. A recent survey confirms the sentiment: the city administration’s polling agency found that 67 percent of Amsterdam’s population supports a clampdown on sketchy business. The Amsterdam City Council approved the plan about two weeks ago by an overwhelming 43-2 majority.