Stressful week for the initiators of the new Assen youth center

“It’s a coincidence,” Meertens says. The building had been vacant for five years. “Due to the publicity surrounding the youth center, the space also attracted attention. I think it played a role.

Give the chance to a year

But are things now in limbo? Despite the interest, Meertens is confident it will always work. “We would like to give him a chance for a year. Like a kind of pilot project, ”he explains. “So we hope that there will be companies who want to sponsor us. The municipality will also examine the possibilities.”

The new center is managed by the El Padrino foundation, of which Meertens is the face. He was disappointed by the neighborhood’s nuisances and wanted to offer young people an alternative to hanging out in the street. “We used to have a soos or a cabin where we could meet, nowadays you don’t see it anymore,” he noted. “This initiative was born from there.”

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The center will have pool tables, a Playstation, a panna cage and a bar where young people can buy soft drinks and snacks. According to Meertens, there is room for around one hundred to one hundred and fifty visitors, but he wants to start with fifty to sixty young people first.

Critical

Local residents are critical. They fear that young people will cause the same nuisance as last year in the densely populated part of Kloosterveen. The neighborhood workers, Ina Terpstra, would like to allay this concern. “I understand the residents very well, but it is very well thought out. Measures will be taken to ensure that the nuisances are as much as possible contained within the limits.”

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