“Paris is a festive city. We all participate. We all have drinks regularly on the terrace in the summer. It’s very nice “, said Fatoumata Koné. And the elected representative of the environmental group at the Council of Paris, meeting until July 8, clarified: “I think it contributes to a Parisian way of life that is envied around the world. » But partying does not preclude politics.
Thursday, July 6, the right (Republicans, centrists and independents) and environmentalists joined forces to outvote the municipal majority led by the mayor (Socialist Party) of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, on the issue of cafe terraces and restaurants. “The executive must take very short-term measures to respond to an anarchy that has imposed itselfconsiders David Alphand, elected LR. We cannot spend a summer under the conditions of the weeks that have just passed. »
In both camps, the challenge is not to return to this legacy of the health crisis. Mme Koné recalled that it was” a good idea “. The objective is “to better regulate this device”. In fact, the phenomenon is already framed. In June 2021, regulations for displays and terraces were published in order to perpetuate the ephemeral terraces created in 2020 to support restaurateurs during the Covid-19 crisis. And, after the 12,000 authorized in 2021, the City only validated 3,000 this summer.
There are “abuses”
But environmentalists, members of the majority of Mme Hidalgo, recall that the law of August 22, 2021 on the fight against global warming has prohibited heating and air conditioning systems outside since April. “An ecological aberration” spread here “Half a million tonnes of CO2 » per year in the atmosphere. But there is ” abuses “they found, and “some Parisian restaurateurs have even declared in the press that they will not comply with the law”, are offended the elected environmentalists. They recall that “certain districts of Paris are suffocated by a phenomenon of festive monoactivity” and that all this generates noise pollution, in particular.
They are in unison with the right. “Terraces are part of Parisian life, but Paris cannot be reduced to a gigantic terrace”estimated Aurélien Véron (LR) in session, and “the lack of sanctions and the lack of control have resulted in a nightmare for a lot of Parisians”, he added. He listed “the dubious aesthetics of certain terraces, the overflow on the sidewalks blocking access to pedestrians, sometimes even to persons with reduced mobility [personnes à mobilité réduite] and children’s strollers, late closing beyond 10 p.m. imposed by the June 2021 regulations…
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