Emmen wants its own selfie spot, but is €50,000 too expensive?

Raadhuisplein at night. Photo Rene Mensen via Wikimedia Commons

The Dutch city of Emmen, in the province of Drenthe, is to get its own ‘selfie hotspot’ but not everybody is happy about it, local papers reports

The city, with a population of 100,000, is following in the footsteps of the capital where the giant letters IAMSTERDAM on Museumplein attract thousands of selfie-taking tourists. Emmen council wants to place the the letters WE MM on the Raadhuisplein in the centre of the town.

Locals are complaining that the €50,000 set aside for the project is too much and should be spent on other things, especially since the council is cutting spending on sports facilities and pools, the Dagblad van het Noorden writes.

According to a poll in the paper people also say Emmen shouldn’t try to copy Amsterdam. But local councillor Bouke Arends thinks otherwise. ‘We’re proud of our town but in this region it doesn’t always do to show it. But why shouldn’t we show the rest of the world how well we’re doing? With a budget of €400 million we can afford it,’ he told the Volkskrant.

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