Re: <nettime> London's Replacement as City of Cupidity

[Mathilde muPe <mupe@desk.nl>]

   I cannot iunderstand why anyone with non-stoned mind could claim  that
   Amsterdam could be the next banking Valhalla. (Including dutch
   newspapers )

   Besides that Dutch government has capped bonuses for any employee.
   There are more obstructive points;.
   The city may look nice but in Amsterdam building ground have a pre
   defined destination stated by local government. There is hardly space
   for large building projects in the centre.
   And on the point of housing, it may seem cool to live on the canal, but
   those houses are under 'monumentenzorg ' (one cannot just breakout a
   wall to create inside a 2000 millennium version of that house). There
   is a shortage of housing, and that will also apply to the upper-market
   if the capital city would move here. Amsterdam cannot house the
   employees and entertainers of the banking city. The only transport that
   works well in the centre is a bicycle or moped, the rest means dealing
   with congestion and shrinking public transport network.
   Outside the ring it may be possible to create a luxury Valhalla but the
   major roads around the city are congested with traffic jams.
   So even if I would set aside my concern about gentrification of
   Amsterdam, I don't think my home town can become a banking refugee
   resort.
   Since money is little issue for the banking city; I hope they consider
   other alternatives; Buy Detroit, or join the building project pissing
   contest in Dubai, create an island in the ocean and put a flag on it.

   Mathilde muPe



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