Parisians will vote in a referendum on Sunday to determine whether an additional 500 streets in the city should be pedestrianized and transformed into green spaces.
This initiative, driven by the left-leaning city hall, aims to reduce car usage and improve air quality in the French capital.
This marks the third referendum of its kind in Paris in recent years, following the 2023 vote that approved a ban on e-scooters and the decision to triple parking fees for large SUVs.
“For the past 25 years, we’ve been steadily reclaiming public space for pedestrians, creating ‘garden streets’ to introduce more green areas into neighborhoods, turning them into lungs for the communities we live in,” said Deputy Mayor Patrick Bloche ahead of Sunday’s vote.
According to Paris city hall data, car traffic has more than halved since the Socialist Party came to power at the start of the century.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who has led the city since 2014, has overseen significant changes to Paris streets.
Since 2020, 84 kilometers (52 miles) of bike lanes have been added, and bicycle use has surged by 71% since the end of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
If approved, the referendum would result in the removal of an additional 10,000 parking spaces, building on the 10,000 spaces already eliminated since 2020.
The city’s two million residents will also be consulted on which streets should be transformed into pedestrian areas.
Despite these efforts, Paris still lags behind other European capitals in terms of green infrastructure, such as private gardens, parks, tree-lined streets, and wetlands, which make up only 26% of the city compared to an average of 41% in other European capitals, according to the European Environment Agency.
Critics argue that the town hall’s policies make it more difficult for people living in the outer suburbs, where public transport is less accessible, to commute into the city.
“It’s important to remember that Paris is not a museum; it’s a working city.
People from the greater Paris region have to come in to work, and the city needs stores,” said Philippe Noziere, head of the automobile owners’ association 40M.
The divide between central Paris and its suburbs is reflected in car ownership.
In central Paris, only one in three households own a car, compared to two in three in the suburbs. Outside Paris, car ownership in France is 85%.
Should the proposal pass, the 500 additional “green lungs” will bring the total number of these transformed streets to nearly 700, which would account for just over 10% of the city’s streets.
COTU Dismisses Social Media Claims On Mishandling Of Staff As Malicious And Defamatory
Email your news TIPS to Editor@NairobiNews.co.ke
