Polish immigrants are having a positive effect on problem areas in the Rotterdam borough of Charlois, according to local council chairman Ed Goverde in the Volkskrant.

‘They play a role in lifting up the neighbourhood,’ Goverde told the paper. ‘I would rather have a Polish family than a drug dealer.’
Although may Poles come to the Netherlands to do seasonal work, a large number are also keen to settle, learn the language and send their children to school, Goverde says. ‘Whoever thinks they are going home, is wrong,’ he said.

Businesses
While some Poles are being exploited, and forced to share rooms with seven or eight other people, others are opening shops, and there is even a Polish hairdresser he said.
And at school, Polish parents are more involved in their children’s education than the native Dutch.
Poles account for around 5% of the population of Charlois. Some 1,300 are officially registered in the area and a similar number are not.