The Antwerp city council will meet tonight in the city hall. We are looking ahead to some of the items on the agenda. You can follow the city council here from 7:30 PM in text updates (bottom) and images (live stream at top).
Tonight at the city council:
- Discussion about the name Police Square in front of the location of the new police station in Berchem (read more)
- Urban green fund: The city allows project developers and property owners to help pay for the construction of neighborhood greenery (read more)
- Discussion about systematic identity checks on Operaplein and in several streets in Antwerp North (read more)
- Groen hopes to convince the majority of the need for two hundred additional public toilets (read more)
- Debate about new figures homeless people (read more)
Sale of property in Lange Nieuwstraat
Ilse Van Dienderen says that Groen was against the point surrounding the sale of the building at Lange Nieuwstraat 81. The party had hoped that the city would give it a cultural interpretation and not simply proceed with a sale.
The point is nevertheless accepted.
The place for the police master building in Berchem will become Politieplein
Claude Marinower (Open VLD) does not complain about the name, but about the condition of the road surface. He scornfully compares it to the ‘Strade Bianche in Antwerp’ or a rejected rally course. Mayor De Wever answers that it is a regional road and acknowledges that the road surface is in dismal condition. Mobility ships Koen Kennis (N-VA) says that he has already raised this with the AWV.
Mayor De Wever states that the name Politieplein was given mainly to provide a well-known postal address that sounds recognizable to citizens. “We have never expressed any physical, spatial ambitions about it. It is mainly to avoid confusion with the Borsbeeksebrug. We have not upset anyone with this, I believe.”
The PVDA disapproves of the naming, the other parties are in favor.
With a delay of more than ten minutes, the city council can now start.
Mayor De Wever apologizes for the delay.
Most councilors and members of the city council have already taken their permanent place in the council chamber on ‘t Schoon floor. The hearing can start any moment now.
Police Square: The location of the new police headquarters in Berchem will be called Politieplein. The name should increase recognisability for Antwerp residents. Opposition party Groen regretted in the council committees last week that the square was not named after a woman.
READ ALSO. Antwerp Police Master Building can now be found on… Politieplein
Urban green fund: The city of Antwerp allows project developers and property owners to help pay for the construction of neighborhood greenery. The urban green fund was established for this purpose.
This new regulation is part of the Building Code. It concerns residential projects of more than ten independent homes or sixty rooms that provide less than the required green space on their own grounds.
READ ALSO. From now on, project developers will contribute to greening the city
Identity checks: The police carry out systematic identity checks at Operaplein and in several streets in North Antwerp. With these actions the police want to put an end to the nuisance. Groen has a series of questions about how these identity checks are carried out and how ethnic profiling is prevented.
READ ALSO. Antwerp police will now also systematically check against nuisance in Antwerp North
Toilets: Opposition party Green hopes to convince the majority of the need for two hundred extra public toilets in Antwerp. Antwerp currently has 51 public toilets, half of which are just urinals.
READ ALSO. Groen pleads for two hundred extra toilets in the city: “There are now 51 public toilets for half a million Antwerp residents”
Homeless people: Antwerp has 3,454 homeless people. This was evident from a recent measurement. 910 of them were children. What lessons does the city of Antwerp draw from these figures?
READ ALSO. 910 children in Antwerp are homeless: “Great shortage of affordable housing for families”
Tags: LIVE Follow Antwerp city council urban green fund public toilets systematic identity checks Antwerp
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