Within the past week, I've read articles in The Atlantic and Vanity Fair about Tim Piazza, a Beta Theta Pi pledge at Penn State University. Those articles confirmed what I have long suspected: Even though the legal drinking age is 21 almost everywhere in the US, and even though national fraternity organizations (and, often, college and university administrations) claim that "hazing" is not allowed and that fraternity recruitment programs are "alcohol free", the booze flows freely and pledges are often treated terribly.
I can only imagine what would happen if those frats operated in Amsterdam--and, more specifically, had access to something that's been part of its landscape for some time.
I'm talking about the "beer bikes", so beloved by stag parties and other (mostly male) groups who do all manner of things in the Dutch capital (and in other places) they would never do at home.
The "bike" is really more like a cart with pedals. Whatever one calls it, it's essentially a rolling bar, or at least a rolling beer garden. Not surprisingly, users of the beer bikes, almost all of whom are tourists, often become rowdy and, to put it politely, have difficulty navigating those vehicles.
So it's also not a surprise that they have become almost as despised by residents of the city as they are beloved by revelers. Last year, then-mayor Eberhard van der Laan, who died last month, heard the collective cries of "Genoeg is genoeg!" (All right, that's a Google translation.) and instituted a ban on the beer bikes.
That ban was challenged by beer bike operators and struck down. However, the other day, the Amsterdam District Court agreed with the ruling. It took effect the other day.
It's been a long time since I've been in Amsterdam and, I admit, when I was there, I was probably was in an even more altered state of consciousness than most patrons of the beer bikes. Still, I remember the narrow streets that run alongside, and are punctuated by, the canals. As I recall, navigating some of those streets is difficult even for sober cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. And if I had to get up and go to work every day in "The Venice of the North," I probably wouldn't be too happy about losing sleep to, and weaving around, loud drunks. So, I think I can understand and sympathise with those who wanted the ban.
Now, whether it will curb some of the "undesirable" tourism some city leaders and other residents lament, I don't know.
I can only imagine what would happen if those frats operated in Amsterdam--and, more specifically, had access to something that's been part of its landscape for some time.
I'm talking about the "beer bikes", so beloved by stag parties and other (mostly male) groups who do all manner of things in the Dutch capital (and in other places) they would never do at home.
The "bike" is really more like a cart with pedals. Whatever one calls it, it's essentially a rolling bar, or at least a rolling beer garden. Not surprisingly, users of the beer bikes, almost all of whom are tourists, often become rowdy and, to put it politely, have difficulty navigating those vehicles.
So it's also not a surprise that they have become almost as despised by residents of the city as they are beloved by revelers. Last year, then-mayor Eberhard van der Laan, who died last month, heard the collective cries of "Genoeg is genoeg!" (All right, that's a Google translation.) and instituted a ban on the beer bikes.
That ban was challenged by beer bike operators and struck down. However, the other day, the Amsterdam District Court agreed with the ruling. It took effect the other day.
It's been a long time since I've been in Amsterdam and, I admit, when I was there, I was probably was in an even more altered state of consciousness than most patrons of the beer bikes. Still, I remember the narrow streets that run alongside, and are punctuated by, the canals. As I recall, navigating some of those streets is difficult even for sober cyclists, pedestrians and drivers. And if I had to get up and go to work every day in "The Venice of the North," I probably wouldn't be too happy about losing sleep to, and weaving around, loud drunks. So, I think I can understand and sympathise with those who wanted the ban.
Now, whether it will curb some of the "undesirable" tourism some city leaders and other residents lament, I don't know.
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