Parisians being told to shed their pride and scoop up dog shit from
sidewalks
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PARIS - Parisians out for a walk with their dogs are stumbling across an unexpected sight these days: city workers handing out bright green canvas pouches with plastic bags stuffed inside.
``I love my neighbourhood - I scoop it up,'' the bags say.
Pooper-scoopers have come to Paris.
As any tourist knows, the French capital is notorious for dog mess littering its sidewalks and streets - and for letting an estimated 200,000 dog owners get away with it. Many Parisians see it as acceptable to let their pets do their business wherever they fancy, then just walk away.
``Since being here I have developed a sixth sense for navigating through a minefield'' of droppings, says Karen Sharpe, a Californian who settled in Paris a year and half ago.
But with the election of a new mayor, the Socialist Betrand Delanoe, a new wind is blowing through City Hall. Officials say they are less tolerant of the 16 tons of excrement dumped on the streets every day, which carries an annual cleanup bill of 70 million francs (US$10 million).
They recently launched an initiative to make dog owners aware of their responsibilities, handing out the little green pouches at 100 free dispensers around the city.
All this comes before a new law takes effect Jan 1 expanding the current ban against fouling sidewalks to the streets, too. Officials say enforcement will be phased in.
On a recent weekday morning, municipal worker Didier Louvet handed out the little bags and accompanying leaflets on the avenue Bourdon, next to the trendy Bastille area. He knows the battle ahead is tough.
``Many dog owners argue, 'I pay enough taxes not to have to scoop it up,' while others say, 'That is humiliating; I won't do it,''' he said.
Currently, only 70 municipal workers are assigned to issue tickets to violators. Last year, 2,300 fines were handed out, little comfort for the 650 or so people - mainly children, the elderly and the handicapped - who are hospitalised every year after slipping on droppings.
Louvet says there has already been an improvement in areas where the pilot project was launched in late October. He says the 100 free pooper-scooper dispensers are being widely used.
But there is much scepticism.
``I don't think it will change anything,'' says Jacques Beaugean, a dog owner. ``Tougher fines are what is really needed.''
The city agrees. When next year's law takes effect, Paris' 2,000 parking wardens will be authorized to hand out tickets to violators.
``Everybody must participate - pressure must be brought down on dog owners,'' says deputy mayor Yves Contassot. ``We all want to see it work. The whole political class supports it.''
Some fear the new law will fail. Professional dog trainer Alain Colonna warns of a backlash from people ``who have spent the last 30 years teaching their pets to do their business in the gutter and are suddenly told that it is not allowed. They will find that abhorrent.''
Some also object to the city's phasing out its famous ``motocrottes,'' the bright green motorcycles with a built-in suction pumps that weave through the streets hunting for droppings.
Contassot says they are expensive - accounting for roughly half of the cleanup budget - and remove only 20 percent of the droppings.
Also, taking the ``motocrottes'' off the streets could help change dog owners' mindsets, Louvet says. ``They can no longer justify not scooping up by saying it will be done by municipal workers,'' he says.
Contassot thinks it will work, because it has worked elsewhere.
``In cities like London and New York the streets are clean, because people are made to clean up and get fined if they do not,'' he says.
If he's right, Parisians too can hope that one day they can stroll mindlessly along gazing at the shops - rather than their feet. - AP