Diemen

Diemen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands with a population of around 24,000. Diemen is located in the province of North Holland directly to the east of Amsterdam within the capital's metropolitan area.

Geography
The town is split into three areas: Diemen Noord, which contains, besides a lot of newer buildings for the upper class, many of the town's older buildings and is quite a middle class area. Diemen Centrum is located south of Diemen Noord and is a more modern working and middle class area, separated from the Northern part by the A1 motorway. Lastly, there's Diemen Zuid which is the largest of the three areas. It is located south of a canal from centrum. It is often grouped together with the Bijlmer.

Diemen Zuid contains a large part of INHOLLAND College, one of the Amsterdam area's Colleges along with one of the stations of the Amsterdam metro.

And besides the town, Diemen consists of several green zones, mainly located to the south and east of the town, which give the municipality a more rural feel than the surrounding Amsterdam municipality.

Local government
After the 2010 local elections in the Netherlands, a coalition of PvdA, GroenLinks, D66, and SP was formed in Diemen. The College van burgemeester en wethouders consists of mayor Amy Koopmanschap and the four aldermen Lex Scholten (PvdA), Ruud Grondel (GroenLinks), Jeannette Pietersen (D66), Maïta van der Mark (SP), one of each coalition party.

The municipal council of Diemen comprises 19 seats, which are divided as follows:


 * VVD - 4 seats
 * PvdA - 4 seats
 * GroenLinks - 3 seats
 * Leefbaar Diemen - 2 seats
 * D66 - 2 seat
 * SP - 2 seats
 * CDA - 1 seats
 * Democraten Diemen - 1 seat

Transportation
Diemen has two railway stations: Diemen and Diemen Zuid. The trains of NS call at both stations, the metros of the GVB only at Diemen Zuid.

Tram (line 9), bus and night bus services connect Diemen to Amsterdam and other towns in the area.