by Ben Jackson
Deadlines for long term goals has been Paris’s approach for its Olympics and Paralympics planning and legacy.
In a press conference on Friday, August 9, Paris Mayor Anne Hildalgo explained that the Olympics accelerated many of the plans that the city had by imposing a deadline for getting them done. The press conference was conducted in primarily French, with accompanying translation provided by the Paris Media Centre, so this article will be avoiding direct quotes unless the speaker was speaking in English.
Mayor Hildalgo was joined by Andrew Parsons, the president of the International Paralympic Committee, Pierre Rabadan, the Deputy Mayor for sports, and Lamia El Aaraje, the deputy mayor for universal accessibility.
A reporter asked about the budget of the games and said that an Oxford Study suggested that the Games were not worth it for cities. The question was also in translation, so it may have lost some nuance, but the Oxford Olympics Study (2024) only examines cost overruns at Olympic Games, not returns on investments in the games.
Mayor Hildago said the Games were a worthwhile investment because they led to benefits for the citizens of Paris. The Games led to the cleaning of the Seine, development of pedestrian spaces, replacing a two-lane road next to the river with a pedestrian walkway, and improving accessibility for people with disabilities. All of that would have eventually happened without the Games, but the Games made it all happen more quickly so citizens can enjoy the benefits soon and for a longer period of time.
With the Olympics closing soon, and the Paralympics set to open shortly afterwards, accessibility was a big theme of the press conference. The city is proud of the work that it has done and the Mayor the work in preparation for the Games has helped people gain opportunities by switching the conversation from disabilities to specificities about how to make the city more accessible for everyone.
Deputy Mayor El Aaraje said preparations for the Olympics and Paralympics were undertaken with the idea that the city should adapt for people as opposed to people trying to adapt for a city. This helped lead to the installation of more than 1700 audible signals to help visually impaired people manage 228 crosswalks, and all 59 Paris bus routes and 1,750 stops being made accessible according to a report from the city. Mayor Hidalgo noted these changes would have taken longer without the deadline of the Games looming.
For his part, President Parsons said that the work being done in Paris reflects a choice to be an inclusive city and that inclusion is something that does not happen automatically, it needs to be a choice.
He said that the Olympics were a great test event for the coming Paralympics and that all the Parisians who had left Paris in August for vacation would return home to a great party. He said in order to help draw families to the games, the Paralympics was working to keep the cost of the majority of its tickets near the 25-euro level.
In regard to the legacy of France’s Paralympics, Parsons said the Committee hopes to increase participation in para sports in the country and it has a target to make 3,000 sports clubs more accessible. By combining the entertainment of sport with the purpose of accessibility, the Paralympics aims to be the most transformational event on the planet, he said.
In the question-and-answer period, the mayor was asked about homeless people being moved out of Paris and whether or not they would be allowed to return. This was an odd question, because like any other large city, there are plenty of people who, through some combination of circumstances, have ended up without a permanent place to live.
During the Olympics, these people are still present in Paris, so it does not appear that the city has moved them out. This reporter has seen people sleeping on the street, in the subways, and in tents in alleyways.
Mayor Hidalgo responded by saying that the goal should not be living on the street with some idea of “bringing back the homeless” after the games and that Paris is looking for ways to increase affordable and emergency housing. She gave as an example a women’s shelter built inside of city hall that can house 30 to 60 women inside of rooms where she hosted the Queen of England in 2014.
More broadly, she said the larger goal is to have a city where working class, middle class, and wealthy people can all afford housing and live side by side. That increases the diversity of the city and enriches city life.
Completing the plans to put on the Olympics will yield long term benefits for the City of Paris and its people, she said. Looking out over the long term, the Olympics will be a net positive for the city because they accelerated its plans to become a more ecologically sustainable, accessible, and pedestrian friendly city. The nearly decade-long preparation and 15 days of the Games should yield at least 20 years of legacy after the Games, she said.