Saturday, May 18, 2013

Rendons le Coeur De Ville à nos clients - Perpignan

"Give back the heart of Perpignan to our clients." This is a little bug bear of mine for the past few years as I've watched my adopted town being mismanaged to death and strangled by the short shortsightedness of the local government.
When I moved here 11 years ago, Perpignan was a thriving town. It still is a beautiful town with La Basse, the canal running through it, the Castillet proudly guarding it's pedestrianised quarter and a quaint and pretty centre full of character and history.
Little by little, the local power dudes are sucking the life out of this lovely town.

  • Parking is impossible and they have more than doubled pay for parking areas
  • Rates are exorbitant
  • Festivals are being moved away from the town centre
  • Planning permission has been given to massive soul-less malls on the outskirts of the town ( free parking etc)
  • Planning permission has been given for blocks and blocks of ugly modern apartments in the surrounding towns and villages
  • One way systems have been put in place that have killed off small businesses
  • Police are never to be seen en ville

And there's more....
So, some of the local businesses have come together and created this association  "Rendons le Coeur de Ville à nos clients" ( Ok, not very catchy , but they're French, remember). I support them wholeheartedly in their efforts to revitalise the centre and to breathe life back in to this ville that I have grown to love so much.
Like their page here on FaceBook
Vive Perpignan!!!!!
Spot the most obese French name you will ever see

3 comments:

  1. They did this sort of thing to my much smaller town and crowned it by accepting Paris overflow...v undesirable with the pitbull tattoo and drug culture...and lodging them in the old town centre which is now a squalid mess.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Between 1986 and 1996 Perpignan was a very poor town. When I visited in 2006 (backpacking along the Fenoulliedes) I was surprised to see how wealthy the town was. Designer shops etc. The most disastrous thing to happen in the area is to have windfarms slap bang next to Queribus (the last Cathar stronghold)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why do all shops close at 7pm during the summer?

    ReplyDelete

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