Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 392 posts

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#11

Post by kibwen »

lefrenchy wrote: post #4
hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

[flagged]

One of the major problems with cars is the terrible lack of density. Per-occupant, a car occupies more space on the roadway than any other form of passenger transport. And as cars get larger, that lack of density gets even worse. There's only so much space on the road, so something has to give.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#12

Post by InsideOutSanta »

troupo wrote: post #8
lefrenchy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Here's a helpful comparison https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/opel-astra-1998-cou...

That's an amazing website; thanks for linking it. Apparently, lengthwise, my car easily fits between the wheels of a Ford F-150 without even touching them. My car's full height is substantially below where the F-150's windows begin. That car could probably drive over my car and barely even notice it.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#13

Post by delichon »

In an American city I would bet on the mobility impaired people to win the cage match against the fewer cars people. They are tougher than they look.

Edit: The responses reasonably talk about the officially mobility impaired people. I was thinking more about the unofficially mobility impaired people by obesity, like me. French obesity rates are ~16% compared to ~42% in the US. That contributes to a fierce US constituency for cars.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#14

Post by iamkonstantin »

hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

I think it’s no easy task to reform a city away from being car-centric. In my home town of Ghent (in Belgium), we’ve had several iterations of a traffic plan that gradually reduces the number of parking spaces, rises taxes and car related costs, makes streets one way or deprioritises cars (e.g. a car doesn’t have priority over a bike anymore) etc. It’s not easy but the city today is a lot more liveable than it was when all this started.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#15

Post by stingraycharles »

hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

> But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air.

You’re missing the point: tourists are good for the city. If Paris gets a reputation of being polluted, tourism will decline.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#16

Post by ceejayoz »

delichon wrote: post #13

In an American city I would bet on the mobility impaired people to win the cage match against the fewer cars people. They are tougher than they look. Edit: The responses reasonably talk about the officially mobility impaired people. I was thinking more about the unofficially mobility impaired people by obesity, like me. French obesity rates are ~16% compared to ~42% in the US. That contributes to a fierce US constitu…

Huh? Fewer cars seems like a win to those who really rely on them. Could probably wind up with more accessible spots if done right.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#17

Post by zamadatix »

hshdhdhj4444 wrote: post #2

This article has such a weird framing. It keeps repeating how the cleaner air is so good for tourists. But tourists visiting Paris for a week don’t get the majority of the benefit from cleaner air. The Parisian residents living there throughout the year do. Maybe because it’s CNN, an American outlet, they’re focused on the “tourist”, but these benefits have mostly accrued to Parisians. Also, the 4% increase in traffi…

Paris is consistently somewhere in the top 10 cities worldwide by number of tourists per year and this is an extremely important factor to the city. Even if if Le Monde was writing this in French the impacts to/from tourism would be relevant to the article.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#18

Post by kevinklaes »

delichon wrote: post #13

In an American city I would bet on the mobility impaired people to win the cage match against the fewer cars people. They are tougher than they look. Edit: The responses reasonably talk about the officially mobility impaired people. I was thinking more about the unofficially mobility impaired people by obesity, like me. French obesity rates are ~16% compared to ~42% in the US. That contributes to a fierce US constitu…

Fewer cars overall should increase the availability for those who need it. Same for drivers overall but most can’t see past the first step which is reducing lanes and parking.

Re: Mayor of Paris removed parking spaces, reduced the number of cars

#19

Post by consumer451 »

Complete tangent, but I met my equally nerdy brother in Paris last month.

It was my first time, and his fourth. We stayed South of the Republique metro station.

After the literal 30th indie Manga [0] shop that we walked by, I asked him: "how are all these shops financially viable?" He said: "look inside."

Holy crap, they all had customers inside! I had no idea that Japanese culture has such a strong presence in the heart of Paris, in the middle of Europe.

[0] I should be clear, this was not just Manga. There were so many cool indie retro video game shops that it blew my little mind. I should probably get out of my Silesian village more often.

Post reply on HN