Anne Hidalgo’s Paris: Celebrating Ten Years as Mayor Amidst Controversy

Anne Hidalgo celebrates ten years since her election as mayor of Paris on Saturday. To its credit, more social housing and space for pedestrians and cyclists, but the “peaceful” capital that it claims is facing strong criticism over development choices, work and maintenance.

. A more cycle-friendly Paris

A street in Rivoli invaded by cyclists, where until recently cars were king: the decline in space dedicated to automobiles in the capital is striking.

“In ten years, we have developed the equivalent of a Paris-Bordeaux”, or some 500 km of cycle paths, the socialist, elected for the first time in 2014, then re-elected in 2020, congratulates herself in the Nouvel Obs.

By encouraging Parisians to take the bike to avoid the crowding of the metro, the health crisis has given a boost.

“Since there have been cycle paths, walking around Paris by bike has been great,” judges David Da Silva Frade, a 41-year-old consultant.

But these developments are far from unanimous, like the rue de Vaugirard track, both on the decision-making process and on the final choices.

“We discover one morning that we have a cycle path at the bottom of our house!”, criticized opponent Rachida Dati in 2020, asking for more consultation with district mayors.

Pierre, a 34-year-old project manager in the industry, deplores the fact that new cycle paths are “built against common sense, too small from the design stage, without taking into account turning curves or intersections”. Result: “everyone is arguing”.

By provoking this “displacement chaos”, “Hidalgo has succeeded in fomenting a war of all against all”, tackles opponent LR David Alphand.

After having obtained, following a legal battle, the pedestrianization of the roads on the right bank, Anne Hidalgo is also proud of closing 200 streets to traffic to leave more spaces for pedestrians.

While the transformations are well received by local residents, many deplore the endless work, sometimes repeated from one year to the next.

. More social housing, fewer Parisians

This is Anne Hidalgo’s other major achievement: with less and less available wasteland, the town hall managed to reach the threshold of 25% social housing imposed by the SRU law at the end of 2023. “Social diversity is thus preserved,” underlines the Town Hall.

But that did not prevent more than 120,000 Parisians, out of 2.1 million inhabitants now, from leaving the capital in a decade. An “anomaly” in a Parisian region experiencing demographic growth, underlines Mr. Alphand who sees an “objective link between the arrival of Anne Hidalgo and the departure of Parisians”.

The reason for this is the high cost and cramped conditions of housing. Forced to find a solution, Anne Hidalgo now welcomes the “dedensification” of her city, a “necessity” for “living better in Paris”.

“Fall in the birth rate, increase in the number of separations, aging of the population”: his first deputy Emmanuel Grégoire, who hopes to succeed him in 2026, highlights “demographic phenomena” hitting Paris before “the entire country”.

. A road that leaves something to be desired

Ransacked tree bases, visible presence of rats, dangerous potholes, traffic lights or patched street lamps, bollards on the ground, questionable cleanliness… The opposition castigates an abandoned public space, while the city’s debt is approaching ten billion euros.

At the end of March, the local media relayed the dismay of a bar owner who, fed up with seeing passers-by stumble and injure themselves on a defective paving stone, paid for the repair out of his own pocket.

The town hall “has considerably strengthened the resources” allocated to roads but “there is still progress to be made”, admits Emmanuel Grégoire, highlighting “the phenomenal intensity of use” in one of the densest and the most visited in the world. “We have to constantly redo things, whether for incivility or accidents.”

Three years after its emergence, the SaccageParis movement remains active, galvanized by the humiliating score achieved in her own city (2%) by the former PS candidate for the 2022 presidential election.

Cleanliness is a “structural problem that Anne Hidalgo has not resolved,” believes political scientist Rémi Lefebvre.

2024-03-29 18:41:49
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