Everything is possible in theory, nothing is possible in reality. That is the slogan of the Planning Department of the city of Amsterdam. In 1993 I became the happy owner of commercial premises in the center of Amsterdam. And until today, 2010, it is standing empty. Avery idea for a business and use of the space that I submitted failed for one reason or the other. Internet cafe - "Cafe? NO!" - "But I'm not going to serve coffee, it's only going to be a little coffee machine in the side." - "Cafe? NO!" - "So only internet, no coffee?" - "Oh you probably will serve coffee, so: NO!" Conference rooms. - "Without coffee?" Failed from the same reason. - "Rehearsal rooms, for musicians, the arts.. without coffee" - "NJET. We have enough drugs with the coffee shops." - "Refugee Center?" - "Why they don't drink coffee? NO!" - "Chinese supermarket... there's nothing here about coffee or tea house." - "Supermarket.. loading.. trucks.. NO, you will not get a license to unload the trucks. CAPICE?!" - "So parking inside the building", I said. _ "That certainly not. There are plenty of laws about cars and it's very limited how many cars you can park inside a building. And then running it commercially, do you think we want to share our income with you, do you know where our money's coming from? From the sky? No, from the street. And there is a limit to how much we can charge you for using your place." - "But there's not enough parking places in the center." - "It's not our problem, you can use your feet, like all the tourists." - "Lockers! There aren't enough lockers in the central station, and my place is practically next to it..." - "Huh...." (Hope is growing...) "No, of course not, you know criminals use lockers. You know what we mean, you must have seen it in the movies. Absolutely NOT." - "So what is possible?" - "You can apply for everything, every sort of commercial use. You can even apply for a cemetery if that's what you fancy. You can always apply... Have you already received the brochure of our new plan to activate the center of the city of Amsterdam?" |