Dear Kees,

It is about 6pm on Monday July 1 and the aircraft noise over our house on the Hartenstraat is unbearable. Schiphol said that the flights over Amsterdam were due to the repair of the Buitenveldertbaan in June and that it would stop. But it’s already July and there is absolutely NO change. I’m afraid they are simply using it as a normal runway. I do not understand how Schiphol can simply flout all the rules. Unless of course the gemeente Amsterdam and the government in the Hague WANT them to get around the rules!

It is truly outrageous how no one in the city has any say about it. For instance, if a company were to build a loud, smelly factory near your house, there is a procedure they must follow before they can build it and the Gemeente, before giving them a permit, must take into account the residents’ objections with respect to noise, pollution, traffic, etc. Well, this is exactly the same. The tremendous increase in the number of flights is a similar nuisance that requires the same "permit process".

I have no faith in the national government or our Gemeente. I do not think they will do anything about it. I think that the flights over Amsterdam will only get worse. Perhaps we should all be making preparations to live somewhere else and that "somewhere else" is nowhere near the Randstad. I understand that people as far as Heiloo have been terrorized by the aircraft noise. I’ve heard pretty bad noise as well in Noordwijk and Haarlem. Almere is probably next. I would not even consider Ijburg.

When I came here at the end of 1994, Amsterdam was still a pretty decent place to live. I cannot say the same today. I also fear that if we stay too long in the city, by the time we move out, the property value of our houses will be far less than they are today simply because we are under the flight path. Houses in Badhoevedorp and Hoofddorp "trade at a discount". I’ve seen the same phenomenon in my old hometown of Los Angeles.

Sincerely,
Esme Vos
Resident of the Hartenstraat