Amsterdam: Pieter Vlamingstraat 98 resists eviction

Today, Friday the 16th, the building is not yet evicted.

The buildings on the Pieter Vlamingstraat 94-96-98 had been empty since 2008, when the tenants were kicked out. The demolition of these and other surrounding buildings started in 2009 with the exception of Pieter Vlamingstraat 98, where the owner of the coffeshop on the ground floor refused to leave. The original plan of De Key was to demolish the existing social houses for building luxury apartments for the free market. The neighbors protested against the plan, started a court-case and the project was eventually rejected. De Key then proposed to build both social and private sector apartments, but this was rejected as well. Eventually De Key proposed to build 145 apartments for students, and the projects got finally approved despite the opposition of the neighbors, who started yet another court case against De Key but lost it at the end of 2014.

In July 2012 a group of people squatted the Pieter Vlamingstraat 98 and the empty field that was left after the demolition of the buildings aside. These fields are quite common in Amsterdam Oost, where housing corporations like De Key, after demolishing entire social housing blocks, run out of money to complete the project and left only waste lands behind. At the time of the occupation, the state of the house was very poor. All the basic infrastructures were missing, and the structure of the building was rotting away. The squatters massively renovated the building to make it livable. Through these years more then 30 people have called this building ‘home’. A lively communally grew around it, and started a number of activities for the neighborhood such as a neighborhood garden (Roomtuintje Oostbos), a give away shop and a free library. [Read More]

Amsterdam (The Netherlands): September 2013 at Joe’s Garage

Joe's_Garage_September_2013

Time for some news, summer has been quite busy at Joe’s Garage and around. The one year squatted office building on the Arent Krijtsstraat 1 in Diemen is gone, back to the owner, with a fence around it but not much of a future. On June 30th, after seven years of emptiness, the Cruquiusweg 117 was squatted, making place for a new project, De Binderij, bringing some new life to this spooky Cruquiusgebied. Numerous anti-squatted buildings are rotting away in this desolate neighbourhood, symbolising more than ever the failure of local politicians in developing a neighbourhood or just keeping life going on. On July 2nd, the City of Amsterdam launched its second eviction wave of the year, unleashing its dogs to evict nine squats. Swammerdamstraat 12 was evicted for the fourth time. The greedy owner did not wait long to demolish it, infuriating still more neighbours. Thanks to the mayor, an extra sand yard has appeared! Squats on the Czaar Peterstraat, the Simon Stevinstraat 25 (Willem Beukels Alternatief), the Cornelis Drebbelstraat 35 (LaRage) and the Bessemerstraat 23 (El Taller social center) were also evicted. [Read More]

Netherlands: Squatting not dead yet

You might think that squatting in the Netherlands has died a death since criminalisation in 2010. But that’s simply not true!

All over the country unused buildings are still welcoming new inhabitants and things are still happening:

  • Whilst things have become tougher in Amsterdam with the new mayor who says a law is a law and must be enforced, squatting continues, with two new places successfully cracked this weekend in the east of the city. You can read the neighbourhood letter of one place, Ringdijk 8, here. It was squatted by a large group and welcomed by neighbours. Earlier in the day, fifty squatters helped to take another building, on Pieter Vlamingstraat 98, which has stood empty for years. [Read More]