Brussels (The Brussels Morning newspaper): Brussels Midi station reflects broader issues of urban neglect and crime in Belgium. Local mayors seek national help to improve safety and manage asylum centers, advocating for better coordination and police presence.
It has been said that Brussels Midi station is not that great. It shows Belgium’s coordination problems and lack of means to improve things. The gray concrete buildings and dirty streets highlight deeper issues of the country’s government and urban plan. The surrounding area of Brussels Midi station has a lot of major problems such as the high crime rate, which sometimes leads to deaths through criminal violence. According to the resources, local mayors are asking for assistance from the national railway operator, hoping it will force the government to get rid of these challenges more efficiently.
What solutions can address Brussels Midi station’s challenges?
The adjustments have only offered temporary relief or simply transferred the problems elsewhere instead of addressing the facts behind the crime and lack in the region. The existing problems prove that it is hard to handle those troublesome zones inside Brussels, reflecting much wider concerns over how the area copes with urban social problems. According to Saint-Gilles’ mayor, placing all refugee processing centers within areas characterized by extensive drug-related issues serves to increase problems and creates negative impressions among people about these areas. He further noted that such arrangements represent Brussels’s local authorities as weak and lead to conflicts on financial resources among different areas. It has been said that one possible solution would be an even distribution of processing centers across other parts of the country, which he believes will resolve some local challenges, while at the same time easing the management of asylum seekers.
The mayors want to put a police station right in the asylum seeker center to deal with crime better instead of just doing occasional restrictions. According to the resources they’ve even found a spot for it and hope to have it up and running “by the end of summer.”
