'DEELRADEN' IN AMSTERDAM 2 (26 february 2004)
In the previous weblog you could see how Amsterdam has the misfortune of being saddled with sub-councils (deelraden), which have to be financed by the citizens of Amsterdam.
But do people get anything in return for their money? I started writing about these sub-councils because of my own experiences. When I tried to phone them, they were friendly enough to first allow me to finish half a chapter of the book I was reading.
After that they did indeed answer my question: what do I need to get a passport for my daughter? But when I came the next day, all the twenty photos that I brought were rejected. There was some shadow visible in the background of all of them. Of course, this had not been mentioned during the telephone conversation.
I decided to consult their website; did the site say anything about the background of passport photos? I must say there were very nice things on the site: a coloring contest for children, a quiz about garbage collection and lots of exciting events that bring the administration closer to the people.
But what does the site say about passport photos?
a recent photo, of good quality, taken from the front.
Is that all? Yes madam, that's all they say. It doesn't say whether it should be black-and-white or colour. And it doesn't say they will reject photos ...
- longer than two inches
- wider than two inches
- in which the face is less wide than an inch
- in which the face is wider than one and a half inches
- with a dark background
- with a shadows in the background
- that have been used in another i.d. document
- with spectacles that reflect the light
- showing a head that is covered (doesn't apply to moslems)
- that are reproductions (which in fact all photos are)
But all this information was not available from the site of Oud-West, the sub-council that rejected my photos.
Am I the only one who is dissatisfied with these sub-councils (deelraden)? It took me a short time to find lots of texts written by other people who are about as enthusiastic about sub-councils as I am. All of them have been written by inhabitants of Amsterdam, so most are in Dutch. Here are just a few:
| text 1 | text 6 | text 11 |
| text 2 | text 7 | text 12 |
| text 3 | text 8 | text 13 |
| text 4 | text 9 | text 14 |
| text 5 | text 10 | text 15 |
Until a few years ago there was no sub-council for the centre of Amsterdam. The politiciams decided such a sub-council should be created. But the opponents organized a referendum to find out which part of the electorate wanted this sub-council. And what was the result? More than 85% voted against it.
But the politicians (who wanted this sub-council very much) found a way-out. Only 23% of the electorate had shown up. This was not enough. And the referendum was declared invalid.
Strange enough, elections don't have a minimum number of voters. No political party would protest if political parties were elected by, say, 10% of the voters. So thirty-nine council members decide that the votes of more than 100,000 citizens are irrelevant.
Speaking of democracy ...
