Paris to Restore Champs-Elysees to Its Former Glory
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PARIS — Mayor Jacques Chirac unveiled a plan today to restore the famed Champs-Elysees to its former glory by widening sidewalks, planting more trees, redesigning street furniture and preventing the opening of new fast-food restaurants.
“We want to give back to the Champs-Elysees the prestige and pleasure of a superb promenade,” the conservative former prime minister told a news conference at City Hall. “Clearly it has been spoiled.”
The plan would eliminate parking on the contre-allees, the minor roads on either side of the main avenue. This would enable the sidewalks to be widened and covered in granite and a second row of trees to be planted, the mayor said.
A key part of the plan would be to give the avenue a special status as “a zone of protected architectural and urban heritage” to prevent the construction of “unsuitable buildings or facades,” Chirac said.
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