Paris residents vote to pedestrianise 500 extra streets
Referendum was marred by low turnout and lack of concrete plans
Hundreds of streets will see new plants installed and cars banned in the French capital. Pictured here is the Rue du Trésor in the fourth arrondissement
Alex_Mastro/Shutterstock
Residents of Paris voted to pedestrianise and ‘gardenify’ 500 streets around the capital in a referendum on Sunday (March 23).
Two-thirds of people voted ‘yes’ in the referendum (66%), however the results have been marred by a historically low turnout.
Media reports vary slightly, but the consensus is that between 3.9% - 4.1% of eligible voters participated, or about 55,000 people of the 1 million plus who were registered to vote.
The referendum was open to people aged 16 and over – however only 300 people aged between 16 and 18 registered to vote.
“Fewer cars and more nature, this result shows that Parisians are broadly in favor [of these measures],” said Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo following the vote.
However, opposition members suggested the vote was pointless.
“Who's against greening the streets? Nobody!” said a council member of the 11th arrondissement and member of right-wing Les Républicains party Nelly Garnier to French media outlet Libération.
The move referendum was also criticised by the Changer Paris group.
Headed by Culture Minister and mayor of the 7th arrondissement Rachida Dati also criticised the measure, the group argues that studies on potential impact to pollution, local economies, and traffic have not been carried out.
It follows low turnout in previous Paris referendums, including for tripling SUV parking fees and banning electric scooters.
Read more: Parisians vote to triple parking fees for visitors in SUVs
Read more: Low turnout as Paris says ‘non’ to electric scooters
Detractors may see this as a further ‘attack’ on drivers in Paris, which has some of the toughest restrictions on cars in France, particularly due to a large ‘limited traffic zone’ in the city centre.
Read more: What are rules of limited traffic zones in France?
Read more: New car-sharing lanes on Paris ring road and two motorways: how do they work?
Which streets are to be affected?
The referendum did not specify which streets are to be pedestrianised.
It is now up to the mayoral office in each of Paris’ 20 arrondissements to choose streets they think are best suited to the measure, with a deadline of April to submit their choices.
It will take between three and four years for the streets to be pedestrianised, at an average cost of €500,000 per street.
Around 10,000 parking places in the city will be removed as part of the measure.
The referendum included several other questions open only to people in certain arrondissements.
For example, those in the central areas were asked whether they wanted more shops and businesses on the Île de la Cité (around Notre-Dame), in the 14th if they wanted to open a new food bank, in the 19th if they wanted to open a memorial garden for pets, etc.
All of the additional questions saw a ‘yes’ vote. However, as it is a referendum, it is not guaranteed that any measures will be introduced.
