Posted on 06/07/2004 4:41:46 AM PDT by The Other Harry
June 6, 2004
Dan Harper: Why Paris works? Less cars
My wife and I just returned from Paris. When I roamed the boulevards and alleys of this amazing city I said to myself, "Why must Santa Cruz be a poor cousin to Paris?"
Santa Cruz has the ocean and a benevolent outdoor climate going for it. Paris doesn’t have surfing or the redwoods.
I’ll concede that Paris has the history. This city goes all the way back to Julius Caesar, and it has become the center for art, fashion and culture. And yes, world history has washed over Paris so many times it’s drowning in man’s civilized past. So yes, I’ll admit that the story of Paris is longer and grander than ours.
Time has made Paris a city of narrow streets and wide boulevards. Contrary to what many Americans say, we’ve found it to be friendly and welcoming. Victor Hugo once said, "Paris is nothing but an immense hospitality."
The truth is, in spite of its shabby corners, Paris works. Everything fits. From those wonderful morning croissants and tiny cups of thick black coffee at street side brasseries to its amazing metro, it’s a people-friendly city.
And why do the people of Paris seem so slim, so fit, when the city is so preoccupied with food and eating? Maybe it’s because it’s not a car culture. People walk rather than drive. Cars are either inconvenient or a hindrance.
Maybe Americans have it wrong. Maybe we don’t have to cut back on carbs. Maybe we should just shuck the cars we carry around on our backs like snail shells.
Our Aptos friends who have relocated to Paris have more than 100 stairs to climb to their apartment in the sixth arrondissement. I suspect we wouldn’t be chubby either if we had to climb 100 stairs several times a day.
Cars in Paris are tiny. For Parisians they are simply a means of conveyance. And the French have found some creative ways of parking them.
They park them on the sidewalks, straight in between full-size cars, and they don’t hesitate to double park or block another car.
Santa Cruz is an example of orderliness by comparison. No one parks on the sidewalks here unless you want to lose your car. And you might be shot if you blocked in another motorist.
So why does life in the much larger Paris seem to work? For one thing, this big city has made the most of its creature comforts, like the Seine River. There’s a pleasant riverside culture in Paris, with trees, boats and bridges.
We’ve given up on our San Lorenzo River, haven’t we? Some time ago the Army Corps of Engineers emasculated the San Lorenzo River and made it a straight line to the ocean. Now it’s as beautiful as a brick, but at least the river doesn’t flood anymore — which I guess was the objective.
If we hadn’t given up on our river, it might be transformed into an oasis of restaurants and shade trees like Paris.
But most important of all, Paris has a grown-up transportation system. There’s an excellent subway, a bus line and taxis that make owning a car slightly silly.
On the other hand, Santa Cruz folks commute to large sprawling neighboring cities without a commuter infrastructure. So we need more freeways with more lanes.
And that’s part of our problem. Increasingly, highways and cars dominate our lives. Then there’s the silly status symbol of our SUVs, which is ridiculous.
Santa Cruz County has railroad tracks but neighbors don’t want commuter trains to use them.
So forget light rail. We won’t give up our cars and we won’t accept or pay for passenger trains.
Maybe we should submerge our road and keep our cars out of sight. Get the Army Corps of Engineers over here to dig a channel through our county. Submerge Highway 1 about five feet.
I know it’s a crummy solution, but I suspect it’s the best we can do.
You know we’re never going to have a Paris metro. It’s always going to be too expensive. So let’s hide the cars. We straightened out the San Lorenzo River. Let’s do it to our cursed freeway.
I’m afraid Paris and Santa Cruz have irreconcilable differences. Both cities are attractive, but Paris has made itself a people city with its cheap public transportation. That makes Paris, with its population of more than 2 million a people-friendly city.
It’s too bad that our preoccupation with the automobile has eliminated the advantage of being a small city.
Get a load of this.
Why would Santa Cruz want to be French?
My in-laws just came back from Paris and told me that it's a disaster. Street people everywhere, defecating wherever they like--the place stinks. They hated it.
Paging Willie, paging Willie.
Harper's bizarre.
The most harrowing drive I have ever had was in Paris..they cross lanes in traffic circles without fear or worry..while I thought we were going to get smashed into any moment.
right
Yep while Grandma is roasting in that non airconditioned apartment, while her family is on a three week holiday in August, and doesn't even have time for a phone call to see how she is doing.
I thought this thread was about why Paris Hilton works. Being a billionaire's daughter and all.
Especially if the people speak German.
One of the metro lines in Paris has no tracks. The cars are rubber-tired vehicles that travel in a concrete trough. They also have tires on the sides to keep the cars centered in the trough. To me, this does not appear to be the height of great engineering.
In many ways, they are more French than the French.
I could say the same exact thing for Naples Italy. They truly take stop signs and red lights as mere suggestions.
However, Paris is an "inside out" city in the Anglo-Saxon sense - its "inner city" ghettos are confined to the outer districts. It is clear that this author has never accidentally stumbled on the pissoir called Saint Denis. These areas are so "no-go" that the police don't dare enter. As many of the people there are Muslim immigrants from North Africa, these have also become hotbeds of Islamic extremism.
It used to be that this system "worked" to the extent that the centre was a museum, where the elderly French bourgoisie could go on a Sunday stroll and be slightly deluded into thinking that the grandeur of the 19th century was alive and well. However the outer districts are increasingly encroaching on the centre - crime, drugs and beggary are on the increase. Hamstrung by socialist politicians (some of which have the temerity to refer to themselves as "the Right"), the police is unable to deal with this. We can see the increasing awareness of this phenomenon throughout France in the rise in the vote for Jean Marie Le Pen, who is one of the few who is proposing radical change for France's problems (albeit, much of his policy is just as statist as those he opposes).
Anyone with the slightest bit of sense would prefer Santa Cruz to Paris. Remember, America is a country that had a revolution to reassert rights and liberties. France is a country had a revolution to put themselves under a more onerous dictator than Louis XVI. The results of these national traits are self evident.
Regards, Ivan
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