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BBC looks at France's mayoral elections and the race in Paris between Racida Dati (connected to Sarkozy) and Emmanuel Gregoire deputy to Anne Hidalgo Mayor of Paris. 930 miles of bicycle lanes in Paris have reduced pollution in Paris by 10 years, which helps Gregoire. Dati says Paris "is dirty and unsafe." She points to 10 billion euros in debt for Paris. Dati comes from the conservative side and is a protege of  former president Sarkozy of the Republicain party.

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Both Valerie Pecresse of the Republicains and Anne Hidalgo of the Socialists each win a small share of the vote. Pecresse less than 5% in France's presidential elections, Anne Hidalgo about 2%. These 2 parties dominated French elections for the postwar period for 6 decades. They have stumbled into a complete loss showing how they failed to connect with voter's concerns about high cost of living, jobs, manufacturing outshoring, neglect of infrastructure, and neglect of rural areas, much the same as in the US.

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Champs Elysees has become a tourist trap with about 72% of people on the avenue tourists. It is shunned by Parisians and most people who have seen it deteriorate so much. Now mayor Anne Hidalgo is planning a 200 million euro redesign to turn it into a garden space for locals.

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The Impossible City Paris in the 21st Century by Simon Kuper is reviewed in the Washington Post. It shows the incredible revival of the French capital and its suburbs as France has done an exceptional job of preparing the city for the Olympics. No other city has done so much for its population. Martin Gelin says after visiting the city now compared to 4 years back- parking spaces have become cafe patios, heavily trafficked boulevards bike lanes, new bookstores and galleries popping up everywhere, the city building sports and cultural facilities in neglected neighborhoods. Attention to social housing and huge expansion of public transit. Car traffic halved so air is cleaner than in 1990's. Paris is different from New York and London- it is avoiding "plutocratisation" of the city so that the best spaces do not go to banking and finance. In Paris the social housing units have tripled since 1990's including in 13th, 19th and 20th arrondisements. Paris does not want to become a city of millionaires,  tourists and poor people like San Francisco, says Kuper. Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris wants 30 percent of all Parisian homes to be social housing by 2035, and another 10% as affordable housing (with rents  at least 20% below market rates). Grand Paris project will create 68 new subway stations so all of Metropolitan Paris is within 10 minute walk to a subway station. Diversity can be seen and it creates a healthy human experience in cities so that people are less likely to act with prejudice. ...

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1.2 million people left Paris just before the lockdown to places in the countryside from Brittany to Normandy. What happened to these people and the Paris they left behind? There are positive developments- for the first time many have experienced the quiet of the countryside and being close to nature in a way they never did before, realizing now how precious this is. Some families have decided to make a new beginning leaving Paris and starting a new life in another part of the country. This means less stress for the family trying to get their children to the right schools, less stress at work with the new rules on how work will be organized, and a chance to be closer to nature and away from the bustle of the city. Others are returning but aware of how they were perceived. Parisians who stayed say this Paris under lockdown is "everything we need." The city was quiet with an unusual calm, a peaceful environment and neighborhoods that were never like this before. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris is looking for ways to keep some of what was gained such as more cycling and a better lifestyle. She is putting in new bike lanes as quickly as possible for as many kilometres as can be done. Hidalgo vows to keep the city from being overcrowded with cars after reopening May 11. A journalist who was going around this quiet calm Paris says Paris has never been more pleasant than it is now. Who could have imagined that there is something to be learned from adamantine difficulties, from stumbles such as this one. Paris and France were stuck in a problem that they had prepared well for in 2002 with SARS and 2009 with H1N1, having afterwards abandoned the public health precautions during austerity policies and misplaced priorities.      ...