Budapest’s Erzsébetváros, known as the city’s vibrant party district, is grappling with rising anti-social behavior and noise complaints from residents. Residents like local parent Sándor Szikszai have raised alarm about how the district’s nighttime economy has affected families. He writes in because his son regularly sleeps through class. The unending racket in her neighborhood makes it impossible for him to sleep.
Erzsébetváros, Budapest’s seventh district, covers only eight streets. On peak days, it attracts up to 25,000 guests. During special, super-crowded events, that small city can increase to 35,000! This new influx of visitors has brought with it heightened disruption to residents’ quality of life. Szikszai describes the environment as hazardous for families, stating, “When you are taking your child to the kindergarten, you have to walk through an obstacle course of excrement and urine.”
The safety and comfort of children in the district has been recently raised. Szikszai remembered a shocking case of a semi-conscious tourist who wandered into a kindergarten and decided to take a nap there. He elaborated on the distressing sight parents encounter daily, saying, “Sometimes parents are faced with the sight of used condoms pulled onto the fence of the kindergarten. There was one case when a drunken tourist entered the kindergarten and lay down to sleep there.”
In recognition of the damage and continuing harm, Mayor Péter Niedermüller has pledged to bring more cultural programming across Erzsébetváros. If successful, these initiatives will bring a more conscientious, less reckless crowd. They change the narrative from nightlife to civic life and cultural life.
We distributed flyers outside the airport. We cautioned tourists on the disaster-related fees they’d incur if they defaced public parks. Niedermüller explained. “If they don’t behave appropriately if they are screaming during the night and we prepare films which educate them about what kind of behavior is not accepted.”
The mayor’s actions are beginning to reflect a larger understanding that it becomes more important to find a balance between tourism and community health. Erzsébetváros has its own problems stemming from its reputation as a Budapest nightlife hotspot. City officials are committed to creating a slower, safer, more family-friendly environment for everyone who resides there.
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