A still green but quickly developing area

Image via WikipediaI recently worked for a conference held in this area's administrative 'capital' and some of the information I received reinforced observations I had made on the ground or read in the papers.

This general area (91 on the map), which was originally mainly farming land and a few small and bigger villages is quickly turning into a premium location for high-level scientific and HPC businesses and organizations.

Added to the fact that plans are being hatched to expand the Paris geographical perimeter, this means that our side of the suburbs, relatively preserved and 'clean,' might be the venue for a boom in coming years.

An interesting thought, as this will inevitably bring more business, alongside the increasing number of housing development projects. The days are close when there will be a lot less greenery and a lot more cars, buildings, etc.

Mmmmm... watch this space.

Parking Sides

I have been so busy with work both out of the home and from home, that I have spent the last couple of days entrenched in my office. I remembered yesterday that on the first day of the month, I have to park the car on the other side of the street, unless I am prepared to be fined for being parked right in front of my house.

We are in a part of the neighborhood where the street parking system is: from the 1st of any month, all cars must be parked on the odd-numbered side of the street, and from the 16th, on the even-numbered side.

This is a fine system if everyone complies, but there are always the odd characters who: 1) don't notice, 2) are away at the time of the change, 3) don't care. And it's funny to see how detached some people are from this mundane detail, when others insist on it fiercely.

My experience with my neighbors is really telling:
On one side, a young man driving an Audi couldn't care less. He's lived here for a few years now, and I think only on one occasion did I see his car parked across the street. You would think that the tires are glued to 'his' sidewalk.
On the other side, an elderly, rather grumpy character always parks his car in his driveway, so never leaves it in the street. Not only that he once called the local police because my cleaning lady (who comes once a week) was parked on the wrong side. Fortunately the local police came and told us off in a gentle way, and didn't ask for money. My cleaning lady, who lives in another section of the neighborhood is not subject to the same system, so she never knows, and she goes by which side my car is parked on.

This is not as trivial as you might think. Our streets are quite narrow, this being an area that was originally built-up with little bungalows, few people had cars at the time, and although today's houses are much bigger, and indeed bigger all the time, the streets are staying just as narrow. So on change day, if someone 'forgets' to park on the same side as the other cars, it becomes quite difficult to slalom between cars.

Which is why I must go and move mine now!

1st two red flowers of the season: Fancy Tulips

1st two red flowers of the season: Fancy Tulips
Originally uploaded by solstice54

Flowers in the garden come up in colored waves. The yellow wave is still on, and these two beauties are the first of the red wave. Love them!

A New Team

Attending the inaugural meeting of the new municipal council this morning was interesting. I had attended a council meeting just once a long time ago, when our parents' association was lobbying to get important work done around the school. It was the 'old team' already, so it can't have been more than 12 years ago.

The hall was packed with all those who had voted for/were supporting the new team. 33 councilors in total, 25 for the majority, 8 for the minority (basically the former Mayor and 7 councilors). I bet she, who is now the head of the minority, must have been quite embittered to have been ousted by a slim majority of 86 votes. But such is democracy.

So the former Mayor opened the meeting, announcing the results of the election and saying a few words about how much they had achieved --not in my neighborhood, at least--, and would be helping along, etc, then she handed over to the oldest elected councilor. He, apparently not quite familiar with the ritual --did he really care about protocol, considering he was one of the old team?-- was a little slow in doing what he was supposed to do, i.e. see to the new Mayor's election proper. What we voted for last Sunday was a list of councilors, but the Mayor didn't get elected officially until today, at the first meeting. Well everyone knew who was going to get the position, since he led the winning list, but these little details count too. Then the main councilors, nine of them, who are going to assist him, were also elected. The other side declined to take part. With only 8 seats, they obviously couldn't do anything. It could have been worse: In another very disputed suburb, the incumbent list got all the seats, minus one. That minority member must feel very isolated indeed.

Apart for the ceremonial (with the tricolor belts and so on), there was little to be done in terms of work. So the meeting was adjourned till next week. There was a buffet with drinks afterwards, and I was able to chat with a couple of councilors. They were happy, but they are also very much aware that there is a lot of work to do. And they know that the minority is not going to make it easy for them. Unless those realize that with a ratio of 3:1, they might be better inspired to cooperate and not stop all projects. Their head, by the way, never lived in this town, she lives in Paris.

The big question mark is still about why the heart of the town, with all the amenities --shops, hospital, Post-Office, banks, doctors, train station, you name it--, with a very conservative population, voted overwhelmingly for a Socialist list. They are indeed the voters who ensured the new Mayor's victory, with up to 58% of the votes. In my own precinct, the old Mayor would have won. The only explanation, apart for a change in demographics (not true), is that these older and richer voters are not too happy about what is happening up at the top. So the issue with the President's bad ratings may be more true than we think.

Watch this space. We might have some interesting developments. It seems that the new Mayor has a lot of ideas about participative democracy, so our neighborhoods might finally become alive!

A new mayor and a light diet

After 12 years of the same team, it feels a bit strange that the incumbent mayor is leaving office after last Sunday's local election. The new mayor won on the first round, whereas a number of others have to toil this entire week to try and get in next Sunday.

Although he won only by a slim majority (86 votes), he got in. Next, we'll see what's going to change.

The first meeting of the new team will take place on Saturday. I feel like going, because it's an event, after all. I have attended only one such meeting in the 20 odd years that I've lived here, that tells a lot about how close, or remote, we can be from our leaders in the suburbs.

That's quite different from what happens in the myriads of small municipalites. In smaller places, there is only one list, gathering together all the components of the political spectrum. Here one reason why we had only one round of votes must have been that there were only two lists, so it was easier to choose. Some cities had four lists to choose from, and few mayors can get elected in the first round when votes are scattered. After all you need to have 50% of the votes plus one to be elected.

I know a couple of people who got elected, teachers and parents of my children's friends. Those parents and I were members of the same parents' association. Old times.

On a totally different note, I am reading a book that was a best-seller in the USA, "French Women Don't Get Fat." It's a good book, full of commonsense tips. The style is brilliant (I'm reading it in French), so I think it must have translated into English to start with. The first leek soup was a disaster. I left too much green and thus got quite uncomfortable for a couple of days. But Mireille is good at lifting your spirits and making you feel that you can do it. I'll see: I've lost a few hundreds of grams but that is no indication whatsoever. Tomorrow I'm having lunch in Paris, and I can be pretty sure that I'll need a leek soup for supper because I can very easily put on a full kilo just eating at a restaurant.