Social Sofa

Symbolic handing over of social sofa to community

November 2009 - The social sofa is finished and it looks great. It was transported to Bankastraat with a forklift truck on 26 October.

The present location of our social sofa is not ideal, so it has been agreed that a more suitable spot will be found once the remodeling of the broad section of Bankstraat has taken place. In the meantime we can all still get a lot of pleasure from it; perhaps even enjoy a few rays of sunshine as well. The mosaic decoration on the sofa reflects the link between the former Dutch East Indies and the street names in Archipelbuurt.

The symbolic handing over to the community takes place on Saturday 14 November at 15.30 next to Café Banka.

Five minutes of fame - our Social Sofa volunteers in the limelightt

Thanks to The Hague EXpats TV, the labour of love to create our beautiful Social Sofa has been captured on film for posterity. Even as the sofa was being worked on it was fulfilling its function: bringing people together.

Australian Lisa, who arrived in the Archipelbuurt just nine months ago, and Jennifer from the UK have certainly made a few more friends in the neighbourhood and have been able to practice their Dutch.

We owe all of these volunteers a huge vote of gratitude for their wonderful work. It will be a joy to behold for many years to come!

The work is finished

26 October 2009 - Sofa is transported to Bankastraat where it replaces the wooden bench next to Cafe Banka.

22 October 2009 - It took 17 days of hard work by a group of dedicated volunteers, but wasn't it worth it!

Relocation

	Photos: Karen Kommer	Designer: Irene Vonck

Work has started in earnest on the Social Sofa 14 October 2009 - As you can see below, thanks to the hard work of the volunteers the A&W Social Sofa is taking shape. And even the kids and expats are getting in on the act! 10 October 2009 – Extra help sought. Work is well underway on mosaicing the social sofa but extra volunteers would be most welcome. Do you have time to lend a hand? Then pop along to Sumatrastraat 241 (through the entranceway to garage number 263) any weekday between 9.00 and 16.00 (work usually goes on into the evening too). 1 October 2009 - Suitable accommodation has been found and with the help of Irene Vonck, the designer of the theme for the sofa, a group of dedicated volunteers has started its labour of love to produce A&W's Social Sofa. The Indisch theme is beginning to take shape as the island contours are filled in with the mosaic pieces on sheets of adhesive film, which can be easily flipped in order to glue each island of the Indonesian archipelago to the sofa.

Designer: Irene Vonck /       Photos: Karen Kommer

Pear trees in Balistraat

11 April 2009 – Once again we can marvel at the amazing show of blossom put on by the flowering pear trees in Balistraat. 

According to Bas Steenks, coordinator of The Hague’s very own Nature Conservation Society AVN, the specimens in this tree stand vary in age but most are still pretty vigorous and with the right care will go on for a good while yet. It is an almost unique example of prime urban greenery. Well worth preserving such a beautiful street scene and replacing failing trees with the same species when the time comes.

AVN website

Photos: Bas Steenks

Recycling containers Burgemeester Patijnlaan

11 December 2008 – Pledge for facelift received

The recycling containers on Burgemeester Patijnlaan will get a facelift in the new year. They will be repainted and the rubber seals will be replaced. New logos and signs will also be added. Unfortunately replacement of the old containers with new ones is not possible at the moment. This will be done in several separate phases but the exact schedule is not yet available.

3 December 2008 – Letter from A&W to the council’s Centrum district office

There are 6 containers located on the pavement on Patijnlaan: 2 new ones for textiles  and 4 old ones, 2 for waste paper and 2 for glass. The containers for paper and glass arrived here years ago after several re-locations in the neighbourhood. All were objected to but at least here there is plenty of space on the pavement and they can be emptied into the lorry without any problems. The A&W Residents Association approved this location and Couperusduin residents were assured that an attentive eye would be kept open for any problems.

The old containers are now in need of replacement; the rubber seals on the containers for recyling glass are split or have (on the side facing the ditch) completely disappeared.

Signs indicating the colour of the glass are also missing; all together a dirty, sorry mess. The pavement under and around the containers is filthy too; in spite of Couperusduin residents doing their best to clear up the worst of the litter (mostly other people’s).

Is it Patijnlaan’s turn for underground recyling containers? We have urged for this but in vain. Anyway a thorough facelift is certainly long overdue.

Mallemolen ready for Queen's Day

Photo: Karen Kommer

The Mallemolen's makeover is finished, the new paving has transformed the street into an attractive esplanade. Removal of the paved sidewalk makes the street appear broader and allows the terraces to show to full advantage. Trees and attractive plant containers complete the picture. The street is a pedestrian area so no more cars or bicycles to disturb the diners. In short, the Mallemolen is ready for the summer, and for Queen’s Night/Day of course!

Schuddegeest gets a sculpture

1 February 2008 – Alderman Bert van Alphen unveils the sculpture of the lamplighter by The Hague artist Loek Bos on the square at the entrance to the Schuddegeest and Mallemolen mews. The event marks the 150th anniversary of the 1854 Association, which owns the Schuddegeest mews, and the official opening of the renovated Mallemolen square.

Dec 2007 – The messy entrance area to the hofjes Schuddegeest and Mallemolen was recently repaved and transformed into a pleasant courtyard in which three trees will soon be planted. To complete the metamorphosis a sculpture by The Hague artist Loek Bos is also to be installed.

The 1854 Association owns the Schudde- geest mews and presented the city with an artwork to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2004. They wanted the piece to encapsulate the trade of one of the residents to first live there. As well as coachmen, chimney sweeps and saddlemakers these included one or two lamplighters. In order to give an impression of what the sculpture will look like Loek Bos has made a photomontage.

Alderman Bert van Alphen and sculptor Loek Bos                                                  QvH

First replacement tree in Soendastraat

Three lorries from the firm “Jan Knijnenburg” made a lightning visit to the Archipelbuurt today.

Workmen dug a huge hole in the ground (at the request of the council) in preparation for replanting - in front of the home of the Toetenel family - in Soendastraat at the spot where the missing tree had once stood.

Unfortunately they managed to severe a telephone cable in the process. “Is your telephone working, madam?” Apparently it wasn’t: although the line wasn’t actually “dead”. It wasn’t possible to e-mail either.

A KPN van arrived an hour later. Plenty still to do!

Jacqueline de Vreese, 17 Dec 2007

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Trees missing in the Archipelbuurt + reaction from council (BSD)

Sawn-off tree stumps in the Archipelbuurt and gaps in the pavements are all testimony to the fact that at least nine trees have been felled but never been replaced.

It concerns trees that have been removed in the last five years because of disease or the result of traffic accidents. But why haven’t new trees been planted to replace them?

 

Soendrastraat

A couple of Acacias on the east side of the broad section of Bankastraat must have also disappeared at sometime in the past. The replanting of two or three of this species in front of the entrance to Alexander’s Hof would certainly be a scenic asset to the street.

(F.B. July 2007)

Reaction the BSD (City Management Service)

1. Celebesstraat - corner Bonistraat	Plant Sorbes aria (or another species) during planting season 2007/2008.
2. Malakkastraat 11	Impossible to replant: too little light. All quadrants in the street have become trios.
3. Borneostraat 102	Stump to be removed and pavement closed over. Remaining horse chestnut trees in the row are all affected by bloedingsziekte but do not yet have to be removed. When this does become necessary another sort of tree will be planted. (Hopefully within a reasonable period of time!)
4. Soendastraat 22A	A new Sorbes species will be planted during tree-planting season 2007/2008
5. Sumatrastraat 6 (Albert Heijn)	Stump will be removed with a rotary cutter. If requested, the possibility to plant a new tree - after consultation with concerned parties.
6. Burg. Patijnlaan 1900 (Het Schakelpunt)	Trees have Dutch elm disease, which means that they cannot be replaced with new elms. Possibly another sort of tree could be used.
7. Burg. Patijnlaan - corner Bonistraat	Two new trees have been planted (a birch and a deciduous conifer). Old stumps must still be removed.
8. Timorstraat – opposite entrance to rear access to Couperusduin	Tree missing from the row of horse chestnuts. Once all trees have been removed a different sort of tree will be planted to replace them.
9. Timorstraat - opposite Malakkastraat	Also concerns a horse chestnut tree.

 

The pavement in front of the entrance to the Alexanderhof on Bankastraat is not wide enough to plant trees. The trees would be too close to the building fronts and after 5 to 10 years cause obvious problems. Planting in the road is not an option.

Did you see the 'Before' and 'After' photos of Nassauplein? What a difference! The clean-up job is thanks to Bboz - Buurtbeheer en Ontwikkeling Zeeheldenkwartier (Zeehelden district maintenance and development trust). This trust, set up in 1996 to manage and maintain public facilities and open spaces in the Zeehelden district through the development and implementation of projects intended to safeguard the unique character and quality of life there, has recently been working in the Archipelbuurt too. Bboz employees keep the area around the recycling containers tidy - not any easy task as the photos prove! - and also go into action with their Poepzuiger (vacuum cleaner specially for dealing with dog excrement) to clear up any ‘hotspot’ in our neighbourhood.

Bboz provides employment and training for the long-term unemployed and people with a physical handicap sustained in the workplace. While those sentenced to community service or suffering from drug addiction are given the opportunity to do something useful with their time. In order to get these people ‘back on the rails’ it is important that they have regular and meaningful employment, carefully supervised of course by Bboz staff.

In a couple of months the work done by Bboz in our neighbourhood will be evaluated, after which a decision will be made on how their duties in the Archipelbuurt can be expanded upon. In the meantime, we are extremely grateful to Bboz, and in particular to contact person Leo Hofman, for the fantastic work (and extreme makeovers!) done in our district so far!

Communication with Bboz goes via the Archipel/Willemspark Residents Association’s working party Public Space so if you have any suggestions or questions contact dorien@archipelbuurt.nl

Dorien de Buck, March 2007

P U B L I C   S P A C E

Trial to tackle the seagull problem starts 15 April 2010

The Hague municipal council is launching a trial in mid-April to reduce the problems caused by seagulls: namely, the noise, the ripped open bags of rubbish and the mess from their droppings. The nuisance cannot be completely eradicated but some of the measures will help.

As of 15 April inhabitants of The Hague can report problems caused by nesting seagulls. As part of the trial, instances reported by residents in Scheveningen, Escamp, Centrum and Haagse Hout will be dealt with by replacing the eggs – if the nests are accessible – with dummy eggs. This will hopefully reduce the nuisance caused as the birds will continue brooding the nest until it is too late to lay another clutch and the associated aggressive behaviour will subside.

Safety – Because the substitution of the eggs must be carried out carefully and with consideration for the welfare of the birds, the council has engaged the services of a specialist company with all the necessary equipment and expertise. The ministry of Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality has granted an exemption from the Flora- en Faunawet (Wildlife and Countryside Act) in order to make the trial possible.

All reports are of value – The results from the trial in Scheveningen, Escamp, Centrum and Haagse Hout will be compared with reports received from other city districts in order to monitor the effectiveness of the measures taken. It is therefore important that inhabitants in the districts where no action is currently being taken also report any problems they are experiencing. The trial will be evaluated at the end of the summer.

Set of measures – The substitution of dummy eggs is part of a wider set of measures to tackle the nuisance caused by seagulls. The most important of these is to limit the amount of food available to the gulls. This is in great part down to the city’s citizens who can assume personal responsibility by not putting their rubbish bags out on the street any earlier than is really necessary: wait till 07.30 on the morning the refuge is to be collected. The less time the bags are on the streets the less chance the gulls and other animals will have to tear open the bags. Putting out food for birds and animals should also be curtailed once the winter is over.

Extra measures to combat the seagull problem

The Municipality of The Hague is to take extra measures next year to deal with the nuisance caused by seagulls. Profiting from lessons learned by the neighbouring city of Leiden, the Council will be making use of dummy eggs to fool the birds: they spend so long trying to hatch them that they have no time for a second brood.

Leiden has also had some success with a new kind of dustbin bag. These are not only made of stronger material, but are yellow - a colour apparently seagulls do not like. The city will also be installing a resident falconer, as soon as the Ministry of Agriculture gives permission.

November 2009

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Living near the sea has its problems

The Hague is close to the sea. You can tell by the bracing air and the seagulls. Something that many visitors to the city greatly appreciate.

But not everyone appreciates the herring gull (or the black-backed gull): all that screeching, scavenging and the droppings. Residents of Archipel & Willemspark too, complain about the noise and the mess. Yet the so-called gull problem is primarily man-made. The inhabitants of The Hague make their streets so inviting to the gulls: bread in the parks, litter on the streets, rubbish bags put out too early. It is all too easy to give these beautiful birds the blame; they are only following their instincts: finding food and taking care of their young. By reducing the amount of food left in public places, you reduce the number of gulls!

FB - August 2009