When it comes to helping chronic alcoholics and making city streets more pleasant, there are a number of approaches taken across the globe. One of the more unusual comes from Amsterdam.
As the Agence France-Presse reported yesterday, a new program in Amsterdam pays chronic alcoholics in beer and tobacco to clean city streets. The goal is to help curb the disturbances and unpleasantness these chronic alcoholics have historically created in Amsterdam, and also provide them with a purpose they otherwise lack. The alcoholics are split into two groups of roughly ten people, each working three days a week. All of the participants take part voluntarily.
As the Agence France-Presse notes: “For a day’s work, the men receive 10 euros (around $13), a half-packet of rolling tobacco and, most importantly, five cans of beer: two to start the day, two at lunch and one for after work.”
While such an approach would likely be scorned here in the states, according to Gerrie Holterman, who leads the Dutch project, the results have been mainly positive so far. “This group of chronic alcoholics was causing a nuisance in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark: fights, noise, disagreeable comments to women,” Holterman tells Agence France-Presse. “The aim is to keep them occupied, to get them doing something so they no longer cause trouble at the park. … You have to see things like this: everyone benefits. They’re no longer in the park, they drink less, they eat better and they have something to keep them busy during the day.”
As the Agence France-Presse reports:
The day begins at around 9:00 am, with the workers drinking two beers and some coffee, if desired, before going to clean the streets.
Sat at a large table, Gerrie carefully notes each person’s beer consumption, but there is an atmosphere of trust: if she gets called away, the alcoholics themselves record how much they have drunk.
“I think I can speak for the group and say that if they didn’t give us beers then we wouldn’t come,” said Frank, wearing a fluorescent street cleaner’s bib and carrying a bin bag and litter-grabber.
Check out the full story here.
