Around forty parking spaces on the street will be removed from July 1st. A decision that worries shopkeepers and the town hall of the 6th arrondissement.
A letter and a surprise for the residents and traders of rue de Vaugirard, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. Deborah received the news mid-week. “It’s a street development project document… We don’t really have any explanations, we just know that they are going to remove all the parking spaces,” explains the hairdresser.
From July 1, the 300-meter portion between rue Madame and boulevard Raspail, around forty parking spaces will in fact be eliminated. The decision, taken by the cycling mission and the Paris town hall, will also lead to the elimination of delivery places.
Enough to fuel concerns among the craftsmen and shopkeepers in the area. “We don’t know how to stock the merchandise. Load, unload… We make terraces, gardens, flower decorations. We need the car not to be far away. It’s going to be complicated, we can’t organize ourselves so we’re just going to suffer,” laments Yannick, a florist in the street.
The mayor of the 6th arrondissement regrets not having been consulted. “Formally, I can’t do much. The bicycle mission is a bit like a state within a state, an extraterritorial status that decided without arguing the removal of these parking spaces,” explains Jean-Pierre Lecoq (LR).
The 6th district town hall wants to suspend this decision
“In addition to the delivery trucks which will not fail to stop on the road (in front of the store to be delivered!) or to park astride the sidewalks, the speed of traffic observed day and night risks generating accidents including pedestrians and cyclists will be the first victims,” continues the local town hall in a press release.
As the elimination of places approaches, Paris town hall is sticking to its positions. “Today we need to recover space to adapt it to the issue of climate change. And to allow people to be able to walk better and cycle better,” insists David Belliard, deputy (EELV) at the Paris town hall in charge of public space.
“I hear what the town hall of the 6th arrondissement is saying. We are going to ask, to reassure everyone, that the municipal police force be deployed in a stronger manner when we remove these parking spaces,” assures he.
In her press release, the mayor of the 6th arrondissement asked for this decision to be suspended until September in order to “conduct an information and consultation meeting” with residents and shopkeepers in the area.
Johan Cherifi, Nicolas Dumas, Bettina De Guglielmo and Gabriel Baldi
