In Paris, in the 8th arrondissement, the sidewalk along the Saint-Philippe-du-Roule church, towards rue de Courcelles, gives a hard time to strollers, people with reduced mobility and the visually impaired.
And for good reason: at the level of the 52 bus stop, the three "
Haussmannian gates
Which surrounded the trees on the sidewalk have been replaced by earthen bins over a meter wide, themselves delimited by log barriers, which drastically reduces the space available to pedestrians.
They are forced to make an obstacle course between two trees, the back of the bus stop, a lamppost and a trash can, to continue their journey.
One only needs to stand in the street for a few minutes to see that families with strollers and people in wheelchairs barely pass by occupying the prescribed ninety centimeters, at the cost of a slalom.
On the other hand, it is impossible to pass each other on the sidewalk at this point, which leads some pedestrians to descend on the road.
Read also: #SaccageParis, from tweets to reality
While criticism of Anne Hidalgo and her team have been raining down for more than a month on social networks through the #SaccageParis, this hashtag denouncing the dirt and questionable developments in the city of Paris, the photo of this sidewalk strewn with obstacles, posted by a user on Twitter on May 2 has been shared several hundred times.
Anne Hidalgo, Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris and David Belliard, deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the transformation of public space, transport, mobility, street code and roads are the main targets by Internet users.
But Jeanne d'Hauteserre, mayor of the 8th arrondissement since 2014, was also questioned on Twitter.
Lack of coordination
Solicited by
Le Figaro
, Jeanne d'Hauteserre believes that the development of this sidewalk is the manifestation of a lack of coordination between the services of the mayor of Paris. “
The different administrations (roads, green spaces, etc.) intervene one after the other and no one has an overview,
” she regrets. “
We contacted the technical services of the central town hall to check that this place complies with accessibility constraints. Like all mayors, I fight to make the city of Paris accessible.
"
On the replacement of the Haussmannian tree grids by boxes delimited by log borders, Jeanne d'Hauteserre has an explanation: “
At the time of the“ yellow vests ”demonstrations, a large part of the nearby tree grids des Champs-Élysées was removed to avoid making projectiles.
The central town hall stored them in bulk and today, we no longer know which grid corresponds to which tree in terms of size ...
"
To read also: David Belliard (EELV): "We have a desire to transform Paris, we were elected for that"
Contacted by
Le Figaro
, the services of David Belliard, deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the transformation of public space, transport, mobility, the street code and roads, pleads compliance with standards of accessibility. “
The various departments that intervened, namely the road and transport department and the green spaces and environment department have ensured that the passage of all pedestrians, even with reduced mobility, is possible. But it is true that the situation is complicated by the work in progress on the Saint-Philippe-du-Roule church which further reduces the sidewalk.
"
The town hall of Paris takes the opportunity to justify the size of the containers surrounding the trees: “
During the first three years of their development, we leave the trees in the ground, without a grid, so that the roots really take hold. These trees being young, it is only in more than two years that the gates will be replaced.
The pedestrians will still have to wait.