On this Paris street, parking and delivery spaces cut “without delay or consultation”

Not only is it the most expensive in France, but it is also becoming increasingly rare. In Paris, the on-street parking is a real headache. For residents who are not tenants or owners of a designated space, as well as for delivery professionals whose spaces are squatted. But for many others, since a single badly parked vehicle can hinder the movement of pedestrians, cyclists, bus drivers, emergency workers, etc.

Around forty places

In the 6th arrondissement, the situation is likely to become more tense in the coming days. More precisely rue de Vaugirard, on the portion between boulevard Raspail and rue Jean-Bart. Some 200 meters only once interrupted by the rue d’Assas and filled, on the odd-numbered side, in the direction leading to the Luxembourg gardens with the equivalent of around forty parking and delivery spaces. Locations on the hot seat, assures Jean-Pierre Lecoq.

The mayor (LR) of the district actually says that he discovered signs at the beginning of the week, at intersections, announcing the removal from July 1, 2024 of any vehicle parked there. A measure auguring, in his eyes, “the pure and simple elimination of parking and delivery spaces”. Problem is, the decision emanating from Paris Town Hall would have been taken “without delay or consultation with the district town hall, local residents and traders”.

Jean-Pierre Lecoq recontextualizes: the central town hall and the Mission Vélo only warned him of their intentions “by a laconic email Sent three weeks ago. To which he responded by expressing his disagreement. Not so much in substance as in form. “We will say that, under the pretext that I am right-wing, I am a protector of motorists, of the car,” he anticipates. I am just a mayor who would have liked to be involved in the discussions and be able to inform his constituents and business representatives. »

His protest, combined with a request to postpone this decision until September, having gone unheeded, Jean-Pierre Lecoq reportedly sent a new letter to the director of roads and transport of Paris and to the deputy secretary general of the City, this time insisting on the nature of the announced works. Because, when asked what exactly the signs that appeared on rue de Vaugirard presume – a one-way street? the creation of a cycle path? the renovation of the roadway? – he retorts: “But I don’t know! Ask the Town Hall! “. Done, but without direct response at this time.

A dangerous axis

To our colleagues at ParisianDavid Belliard confirmed the removal of parking, due to a project to make the street safer for cyclists. And the deputy mayor (The Ecologists) of Anne Hidalgo mentioned the implementation of a long-term cycle path project. Jean-Pierre Lecoq concedes: the rue de Vaugirard, in its section targeted by “David Belliard and the only associations he trusts”, is dangerous.

That afternoon, the two-way street is the scene of a noisy and far from precise ballet between RATP buses on line 89, cyclists, motorists, delivery men, tourists, students from the Catholic Institute of Paris, patients from the Arthur-Vernes clinic, customers from shops as varied as a restaurant, a Monoprix, a bedding store, a greengrocer, a florist… Horns and trucks driving up onto the sidewalk to get around obstacles contribute to the commotion.

Wanting to escape the blazing sun, Jean-Pierre Lecoq crosses outside the lines and calls out, “Be careful.” He is worried about security, or rather the insecurity that the removal of parking spaces could generate among users of Rue de Vaugirard. You can’t push the walls, he tackles. The street is not wide, if we want to keep the two-way system for cars and buses, I don’t see where we would put the cycle path.” What about delivery trucks?

“I don’t know how we’re going to do it”

“If we remove their spaces, they will have to park further away or will park astride the road and the sidewalk, which is not wide,” continues the councilor. So they will waste time and could also cause accidents. » When questioned, the street greengrocer, who is delivered two to three times a week, decides: “It’s a real problem: I don’t know how we’re going to do it. » A few meters away, at the florist, same story: »We will pick up the goods very soon at Rungis, so things are still going well there. It’s for later, when we’re going to do the private terraces, and we have to carry everything onto the truck, that it’s going to be complicated. »

In the middle of noon, this employee of a food store who seems exhausted says “I don’t know what they’re planning. Anyway, we’re in Paris, so we adapt to everything.”

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