Thirty years ago Amsterdam installed its first city districts. At the highpoint of this era, in 2002, there were 14 city districts (stadsdelen). Each had its own council (stadsdeelraad). And each thus provided a place where Amsterdam politics, with all its ups and downs, became truly local. It might seem strange to an outsider or, for that matter, to an insider to have so many small ‘parliaments’ in a city with less than 800,000 inhabitants. But this won’t be an issue next year.