Municipal executive must reconsider Memorial of Names |
18-06-2014 |
Amsterdam’s municipal executive must once again consider the location of the Holocaust Memorial of Names in Wertheim Park. The Centrum district committee has called on the municipal executive to take this step in light of opposition to the proposal from local residents. The municipal executive is expected to reach a decision of principle on the issue shortly after the summer.
The memorial location featured on the agenda of the Centrum district committee last Tuesday evening. Owing to protests from local residents, however, all parties decided to postpone taking a decision. The PvdA, D66 and GroenLinks parties tabled a motion calling on the district committee to inform the municipal executive of the objections raised, to speak directly with local residents from the Plantage district, and then either to confirm or reconsider its decision of principle in support of the erection of the Names Memorial in Wertheim Park. That motion was passed. A second motion tabled by the VVD and SP parties calling on the municipal executive to cancel its decision of principle reached on 18 March 2014 was not passed.
Boudewijn Oranje (D66), an executive of the district committee whose portfolio covers this issue, had earlier indicated that this is more or less the line to be adopted as far as he is concerned, and that the municipal executive should meet with local residents even before the summer. A new decision in principle could then be taken immediately after the summer.
Although a definitive decision on the erection of the Memorial of Names is therefore still some months ahead, there is no question of abandoning the initiative. Attracting funding through the adoption of names is continuing without interruption under the conditions set at the outset, namely that in the unlikely event of the memorial not being built, everybody will be returned their money.
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