Posted on 08/11/2009 5:48:05 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Paris' town hall claimed yesterday, following a dramatic drop in fines for fouling offences.
Pockets of resistance, however, remain in the capital's plush, poodle-rich districts, where dog inspectors are to launch a "commando" operation in the autumn to catch offenders in the act.
"In 2001, Paris was the capital of dog mess," said Yves Contassot, the Green councillor first charged by Bertrand Delanoë, the Socialist mayor, with tackling the capital's problem with its crottes de chien.
"It was such a problem that the Japanese even used it as an argument against our bid for the 2008 Olympics!," he said, adding that the municipality had received a blizzard of legal complaints over slipping accidents.
The council knew they had a tough PR job on their hands when in 2004, a Paris-based episode of the hit American TV series, Sex and the City, had its heroine Carrie foul her stilettos on the Champs-Elysées.
A fleet of "motocrottes" – motorbikes with vacuum cleaners – launched during Jacques Chirac's mayorship failed to deal with the root of the problem, said Mr Contassot.
Mr Chirac's successor, Jean Tiberi, simply shifted the problem to the gutter, he claimed.
However the enforcement of 180-euro (£155) fines appears to have turned the tide, according to municipal figures released yesterday; they show that the number of fines for mess offences dropped from almost 5,000 in 2004 to less than 2,000 last year. Right-wing opposition councillors say more needs to be done.
François Dagnaud, a Socialist who works for the town hall's hygiene unit, conceded that problems persist with the dense poodle population of the chic 7th arrondissement, as well as the 14th arrondissement. To change owners' habits, some 90 inspectors are due to carry out "commando operations" in the autumn in these areas, he promised.
"The battle continues. Unfortunately
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Note to self: Do not by property in France in a ‘Poodle-Rich’ district.
Apparently nobody is challenging New York City as the human urine capital of the world.
“In 2001, Paris was the capital of dog mess,”
I was there in 2001 and it’s true. There were piles EVERYWHERE. You literally had to watch where you were stepping rather than do the usual tourist rubber necking to avoid ... well, you know.
Actually, I thought London owned that title these days.
That’s why winter is the best time to visit Paris. All the dog poo is at least frozen!
I was also in Paris in 2001. I had taken an overnight train from Italy, which arrived at a small station where there were no facilities for changing money (this was shortly before the euro was introduced), so I had to walk to a larger station where they did have an exchange window. At the larger station you really had to watch your step because there were so many dog droppings all over the place.
My neighbors remarked it was a major problem in 1975. The whole family went and it was one pile after another.
Visited Paris 3 or 4 years ago. Encountered no messes anywhere.
No hostile French either, though I think I am obviously American over there (I am sometimes identified as German by Germans!). But treat them well, they will treat you well.
I loved Paris and look forward to returning for a more extended stay.
Same here. I also was in Paris for a couple weeks (work) in June 2001 and was astonished that the whole city smelled like dog crap. It happened to be a warm June and that didn’t help matters.
And this wasn’t in some offbeat back alley. I walked to and from work every day there which was basically from Arc d’Triomphe down Avenue Grande Armee and it was a minefield of poo especially in the service road.
Anyway glad they’re fixing that problem.
Next they should find a way to make the hotels smell less like kitty litter.
The only people in Paris - or anywhere in France - who were “hostile” were the immigrants - especially the Arabs. The French were actually very polite and kind.
In 2001 I had no problems with “the rude French”, in fact they all seemed quite OK to me and I had zero problems getting around or in restaurants or anywhere else.
” it was a minefield of poo especially in the service road”
That paints quite a picture and that’s how I remember it. My apartment was on Rue Blanche just a few minutes walk north of the old opera house. I was there for six weeks, and got to go to the Louvre almost every day the last three weeks I was there. By then Spring had started, and that mean the tourists were coming in and so were the strikes. Trains, metro, museum workers. All very civilized.
That was my experience too - at least with the French. The morning I arrived in Paris - by train from Germany - I had a hell of a time trying to convince an Indian (as the Brits would say “Asian”) to take my money. He was a cabbie who thought it was too much trouble to take our luggage and transport us across town. The Arab ‘youts’ harrassed our girls in metro walkways and on sidewalks. But like I said, the French were great.
Except when it's freshly laid! But you can at least tell those because they're still steaming.
“Apparently nobody is challenging New York City as the human urine capital of the world.”
When Guiliani was Mayor the urine smell was gone. Of course liberal bloggers complained that Guiliani was turning NYC into a “police state” and there was nothing wrong with the smell of urine in the streets and subway stations. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight!
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