Amsterdam To Make Its Prostitution Less Visible

Roxanne by The Police

Here's the story: Amsterdam to make its prostitution less visible

Quote:

Scantily clad prostitutes beckoning from behind windows – long a familiar sight in the city's red-light district – will become rarer, city officials said Monday.

Mayor Job Cohen unveiled plans to resell buildings in the area to commercial developers and crack down on pimps and petty crime. The plan would cover both the prostitution district and the adjoining area around Central Station, the city's gateway for most tourists.

Cohen said a move in 2000 to legalize prostitution failed to curb gangsters running Amsterdam's sex trade.

Legalization "didn't bring us what we hoped and expected," he said, "especially with regard to the exploitation of women in the sex industry."

Cohen said the city hopes to complete the overhaul before the 2012 opening of a subway line.

Prostitution has been a part of Amsterdam since the first merchant seamen pulled into its harbor, and mostly has been tolerated by authorities. The open sex industry, with its movie theaters, live shows, sexual aid shops and women in windows, is part of the city's image.

The city began auditing real estate and closing brothels and sex clubs in the area in 2003 to clamp down on money laundering. In September, officials announced a deal to buy buildings housing a third of the prostitutes' windows.

Asked whether the city's tourism industry would suffer if it loses its freewheeling reputation, City Councilman Lodewijk Asscher said any losses would be "short-term."

"We know that the tourists that come here now, the rowdy Britons, aren't always the tourists that you'd like to have in the city," he said.

My thoughts:

So much for the idea that legalizing prostitution solves all the problems associated with that vice.

Any thoughts?

Comments

[Jimbo]

My wife and I were in Amsterdam two months ago. The city was beautiful and quaint, with the notable exception of these seedy areas. We actually walked through--on accident--one of these streets, and it was rather sickening and depressing. And believe me, they won't miss the rawdy, drunk/high visitors that come to these areas.

No city will lament getting rid of this garbage after doing it.

Hmm, the mayor can't believe legalizing prostitution didn't lessen the exploitation of women? Is he kidding me? Would anyone be shocked that legalizing slavery would not end the exploitation of slaves? How do these people become our leaders?