Sunday is the second round of an election that is unprecedented to say the least, since it was marked by the Covid-19 health crisis.
A few hours before the vote, we questioned the candidates vying for mayor of Paris-Centre on a controversial subject: pedestrianization.
To Ariel Weil (head of Anne Hidalgo's list) we must put an end to the idea of no parking – no business (no place to park your car – no business). Because the era of pedestrianization with a public of onlookers and consuming too little to support local businesses is over.
Better Ariel Weil, mayor of the 4th arrondissement and head of the Paris Center en commun list, considers that we must put a brake on noise pollution and air pollution caused by cars.
For him, giving the city back to its inhabitants, by increasing the number of soft mobility options, is more than ever demanded by city dwellers in all major cities in the world.
While Pacôme Rupin, the candidate of the Republic on the Move and that of the Republicans, Aurélien Véron, affirm that moderate pedestrianization can be an asset but generalized it only moves traffic jams, flatters Parisians by excluding suburbanites.
For the heads of the list Rachida Dati et Agnès Buzyn, excessively pedestrianized, Paris would become an open-air shopping center where small businesses would be swept away in favor of large groups capable of paying high rents.
Text: Katia Barillot
Photos: ©Rob Smith
Video: ©Le Marais Mood
26.06.20
