In the Parisian news today, it was announced that a “fleet of blue, eco-friendly electric cars will hit the streets of the French capital next autumn and cost no more than a tube fare to zip around town.” I was skeptical when I first read this, it was too good to be true and to come from the private sector.
Certainly, “Bertrand Delanoë, the city’s Socialist mayor hopes Autolib will be as popular as Vélib, the hit bike rental scheme he introduced in 2007 and which has been adopted by cities around the world including London. [The] town hall had selected a four-seat vehicle made by the French company Bolloré, whose industrialist owner famously lent his mega-yacht to President Nicolas Sarkozy after his election.” “Hit bike rental” is generous, my boyfriend, a native Parisian (he works, I swear!), tells me that it has been plagued with many problems – most notably theft. (Suspiciously, they all gather at the bottom of large hills, too.)
The context of the article is key, “Paris’ mayor has declared war on privately-owned cars, building a network of bus and cycle lanes that are the bane of motorists.” I’ve also been told that they’re considering banning 4×4 cars in Paris. Conveniently for the mayor, his “eco-friendly” program will be considered “acceptable.”
I’m certain this plan is privy to a plethora of problems. Something that I do believe has a bright future for changing cities in 2011, though, is a service called “Agent Anything.” I wrote about it’s predecessor this past summer, which creates a network for hiring people to run tasks and errands for a fixed, negotiated price. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t a mayor’s personal initiative to manufacture the way citizens live.
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Comments
Have you ever lived in Paris.
This is a city where ne [insert verb] pas means what ever the verb says in mandatory.
Drivers are the worst. I predict this will go nowhere fast.
Nice article, but still trying to get over the fact you have a French boyfriend! Why? He's French?
Yes, it's cool. I've seen the movies and you probably need to get it out of your system. But sooner or later he is going to say something and you are going to look at him like he has three heads! I've spoken to Frenchmen, as well as Germans, and walked away wondering how they managed to get where they did.
Frankly, I'm not sure how any of those countries function. Maybe it is that they are used to so little; little cars, little streets, little hope for a future, so little sense of what freedoms they should have but instead willingly gave up.
I've seen Europeans standing in the aisle at some place like Walmart with a stunned looked on their faces because of the vast array of stuff that is cheap. Many had no idea places like the U.S. existed. If they did they would tell mayors like that numskull to take a hike.
French…. Jeezz…
Oh well, C'est la vie.
Socialism is force. Socialism is coercion.
Questions?
@Archer52 He's a staunch contrarian, that's how we get along! Also, when I met him, I had a white stripe painted down my back (http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4016/j9hj4fw1.jpg)