If Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has his way, free wireless Internet will soon be on offer. Delanoe has strong views about how to make Paris competitive in the 21st century, and has been reshaping the city’s image since he was elected in 2001. He wants to make Paris greener, more high tech, less uptight.
“Paris is extremely strong when it is most welcoming,” Delanoe says. Previous mayors and the national government, he said, had “museumified” the city. His goal is both to attract young people, some of whom in recent years have chosen to move to London for employment opportunities, and to attract new business, which increasingly looks to Eastern Europe or the Far East when opening offices.
“We can’t leave Asian cities like Seoul or Tokyo, or American cities like San Francisco or Philadelphia, to make the running” — that is, to dominate — “in digital matters,” said Delanoe when announcing plans to create 400 free wireless hot spots.
Since his election, he has launched an impressive array of projects.
§ Paris Plage, the beach on the Seine, complete with brightly colored deck chairs and umbrellas set among 2,000 tons of sand trucked in by the city, has been an international sensation and a hit with Parisians stuck in the city during the dog days of summer.
§ Soon it will be possible to rent bicycles at low cost in the Metro subway stations for those who want to bike around central Paris.
§ Less well known is the massive work being done on a tramway designed to circle Paris, allowing residents of outlying districts to travel from one to another without having to go through the city center. The tram, which will be bordered by lawns and thousands of trees, is one of an array of policies aimed at improving the polluted Parisian environment.
§ Laying fiber-optic cables to 80% of its buildings by 2010.
§ Paris Biopark, a complex for biotech companies.
Story: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo … e-headlines (via MATRA in Montana USA)
