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

[Patrice Riemens <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

LOL!

However ...

On 2016-07-03 12:07, Mathilde muPe wrote:

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

Bankers aren't stoned, they fuel on coke - makes them even crazier!

> Besides that Dutch government has capped bonuses for any employee.

But it might not apply to those on 'expat' status ... (OK, I haven't 
checked)

> 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.

Under then new, weird political conservative - centrist - left of the 
left municipal govt. alliance things may change fast. Land ownership (up 
to now leasehold only) is being privatised, zoning laws might come for 
the chop next. The historic centre was almost razed in the early sixties 
to make way for 'modernism' (& road traffic), you never know if it won't 
still happen.

> 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).

Heritage conservation? Wait till some political party decides to 
'disrupt' this 'old school, soooo previous century' dispensation. And if 
it could happen in London, why not in Amsterdam?

  There
> is a shortage of housing, and that will also apply to the upper-market
> if the capital city would move here.

There is an even bigger shortage in London. Didn't prevent the rich to 
buy properties even if they didn't intend to live there.

Amsterdam cannot house the
> employees and entertainers of the banking city.

Oh yes it can. Needs only to get rid of all these pesky social tenants 
scandalously occupying prime real estate. Deport 'm all beyond the Ring 
.. or beyond ... (my GP advises me to stop here to avoid blood pressure 
harm ...)

  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.

True but relatively irrelevant. Somehow the rich always know how to 
transport themselves (check out Mumbai or Sao Paolo)

> 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.

I don't think either, but not for the reasons stated above.

> 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.

The latter is (was) also Peter Thiel's idea ('Seasteading)
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/welcome-libertarian-island-inside-frightening-economic-dreams-silicon-valleys

Morlock Elloi on this list suggested Ryad - good choice!, and for the 
moneyed and connected: booze (& coke) aplenty!

>    Mathilde muPe

Cheers indeed!
p+2D!

#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org
#  @nettime_bot tweets mail w/ sender unless #ANON is in Subject: