{"id":103366,"date":"2019-09-23T15:04:19","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=103366"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:29","slug":"rotterdams-restrictive-after-hours-policy-is-harming-student-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2019\/09\/23\/rotterdams-restrictive-after-hours-policy-is-harming-student-life\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Rotterdam\u2019s restrictive after-hours policy is harming student life\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rotterdam\u2019s present municipal administration isn\u2019t giving late-night venues enough leeway \u2013 to the detriment of the city\u2019s nightlife. This policy is hurting students in particular \u2013 even though they hardly have a say when it comes to after-hours entertainment, write Casper Jongeling and Jelrik Westra of Jonge Democraten Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFabienne Hoogendoorn<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

It\u2019s late at night \u2013 or early in the morning? \u2013 and you\u2019re still up and about. You\u2019ve left the club and feel like rounding off the evening at a nearby bar. But where to go to for a beer nowadays after 3 a.m. \u2013 in the country\u2019s greatest port city? By 2 a.m., most places have already pulled down the shutters; the Municipality\u2019s restrictive after-hours policy means they don\u2019t have a permit to stay open any later.<\/p>\n

You aren\u2019t the only one affected by the steady decline of Rotterdam\u2019s night-time offer. There\u2019s a heated debate going on in the city\u2019s municipal council about the failure of the city\u2019s current after-hours policy. A lot of parties \u2013 from D66 to Leefbaar Rotterdam and from SP to VVD \u2013 believe it\u2019s time to cut local nightlife some much-needed slack. Councillor Elene Walgenbach (D66) recently warned in a council meeting that in due time Rotterdam risked becoming a \u2018Meppel on the Maas\u2019.<\/p>\n\t

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Casper Jongeling (24) is chairman of the Jonge Democraten Rotterdam and studied Law and Psychology at the EUR. Jelrik Westra (18) is a second-year student of Public Administration and a member of the Political Board of the <\/span>Jonge Democraten Rotterdam.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

Over the years, local government has adopted numerous proposals intended to stimulate Rotterdam\u2019s nightlife. Examples include the appointment of a special night-time council and scoping good locations for new and existing clubs in the port area. So far, Mayor Aboutaleb (PvdA) has been less than sensitive to our representatives\u2019 pleas. While the Mayor claims he isn\u2019t opposed to after-hours entertainment, his actions speak to the contrary.<\/p>\n

This has everything to do with the policy being implemented by the present Executive. Clubs keep closing down \u2013 but the Municipality isn\u2019t issuing new permits. This is making it harder and harder for entrepreneurs to start or maintain a venue in Rotterdam. The Municipal Executive justifies this policy by claiming that it doesn\u2019t have enough police capacity to maintain order, or that local noise levels would exceed the set limit. In many cases, these arguments aren\u2019t backed up with factual data. <\/p>\n

Over the past five years, the Municipality hasn\u2019t honoured a single application for a new
\npermit\u2013 even though 20 existing entrepreneurs have handed in their 24-hour permits. As a result, nowadays there are only 35 venues left in the city centre where you can have a drink after 2 a.m. on a Friday night, according to a survey conducted by Vers Beton.<\/p>\n

The situation is particularly dire for students \u2013 who after all are bulk consumers of nightlife attractions. As the cradle of the \u2018gabber\u2019 hardcore scene, in recent decades Rotterdam was still known as an innovative centre of after-hours delights. This status has been severely weakened by municipal policies \u2013 meaning that in the longer term, the city may be a fine place to live and work, but will go dead after sundown. This transformation of the city as a centre of entertainment is particularly bad news for the local student scene. Many potential first-year students will be put off by a student town that doesn\u2019t offer a decent nightlife \u2013 particularly with far more appealing cities like Utrecht, Leiden and Amsterdam nearby. And a lower student intake will only reduce the demand for entertainment options even further. Making it all the more remarkable that the debate regarding Rotterdam\u2019s nightlife so far has been dominated by the politicians and officials on Coolsingel. This development will have major consequences for every student in Rotterdam. Students are inadvertently becoming hemmed in by a city that is increasingly falling asleep.<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tFor sake of our student scene, but above all for sake of the lively and raw nightlife that \u2018Manhattan on the Maas\u2019 once knew \u2013 and still deserves.\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Time to do something about this. Rotterdam\u2019s students deserve a seat at the table in the ongoing debate about the future of the city\u2019s nightlife. That is why we call on local student associations to use their stature and influence to put pressure on the Municipal Executive to change its present after-hours policy. If anyone stands to gain from a flourishing local nightlife, it\u2019s the associations \u2013 who stood at the cradle of Rotterdam\u2019s student scene. We call on the University Council to think along regarding Erasmus University\u2019s position in this debate. After all, a healthy university needs a vibrant local nightlife. And we also call on EUR\u2019s study associations to draw attention to this issue via informal lectures and symposia. Students deserve to know what\u2019s going in with their town after dark and to have an opportunity to have their say.<\/p>\n

And there are a number of ways in which individual students who care about a decent nightlife can add their two cents. Demand to be heard. Attend Council meetings, swamp the inboxes of the Municipal Executive with e-mails and call for the revival of the so-called \u2018Night Mayor\u2019, a role so memorably fulfilled for the first time in Rotterdam \u2013 and the Netherlands in general \u2013 by the legendary Jules Deelder. Together, students can take a stand against the severe shortcomings of the Municipal Executive\u2019s current policy. For sake of our student scene, but above all for sake of the lively and raw nightlife that \u2018Manhattan on the Maas\u2019 once knew \u2013 and still deserves.<\/p>\n\n\t

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