Milford chronicle., 1896-09-18
PARIS SIDEWALKS.
Threatened Removal OF Open Air CafI
Table and Shop Shows.

Threatened Removal Of Open Air Cafe
Table and Shop Shows.
Paris is just now excited over the pros
pect that something will be done to clear
the Sidewalks ON the main streets Of the
membranes with which they are blocked
by the cafe proprietors and other trades
mon. The municipal council has mada a
very small beginning at the most molten
sive end by ordering the women who sell
newspapers in the lliosks to take in the lit
tie tables on which they spread their wares
The cafes however, the chief offenders
whose tables and chairs extend to the edge
of the sidewalk and oven into the roadway
at times, facing foot passengers to walk
out into the middle Of the street, have so
FAR been left untouched. The reason for
this is that the city draws large revenue,
amounting to millions of francs which it
is unwilling to lose. from concessions TO
private individuals of the use of the public
pavement.
The concessions are made according to a
fixed tariff, which varies in proportion to
the business importance Of the streets for
which they are granted. On the Boulevard
des Capucines and the Boulevard des Ital-
lens, in the neighborhood of the Grand
Opera the central point of Partisan life,
tho tax is rs francs for each square meter;
on the Avenue du Grand Opera it is 90
francs; on the Rue des Holder, which
leads to the Care ST. Lazare, the busiest
railroad station in the city, it Is 80 francs;
on the Avenue DIES Champs Elysees, 20
francs; in the St Honoro quarter, the
Boulevard st. Germain, the Boulevard
St. Michel the main thorOughfare of
the Latin quarter, it is 20 francs, and it
was down to francs and oven franc for
out Of the way streets. The commission
naires and bOOtblacks pay the full tariff, the
newspaper dealers, flower sellers, cake and
milk vendors pay half tarifp and the fruit
Sellers whose stands are in the roadway
in front of tho theaters, only during per-
formance, pay quarter tariff. The second
hand dealers in books and coins along the
river quays pay francs a meter. Spaces
from foot to n foot and half wide arc
let to merchants who wish to display their
goods outside their stores, while the cafe
permits for the space on the sidewalk, on
which chairs and tables may be placed; the
"terrasses, - as they are called, are made
out for strips varying from two to ten feet.
A section of the law which is never enforced
requires the sidewalk to be kept clear on
public holidays such as the Fourteenth of
July and Shrove Tuesday.
From the cafe terrasses and display
spaces for stores the city of Paris derives
revenue of 1900, 600 francs year 1t gets
9s, 600 francs for the right to let chairs in
tho Bots de Bo1logne the Champ Elysees,
and the other public parks. Small stands
in the public streets yield les, 900 francs,
and the columns on which the theater post
ors are displayed 20, 600 francs while still
other sums come in from the grants for
penny in the slot machines for the illumi-
mated advertising spaces on postoffice
boxes, and 50 on. The newspaper kiosks
have been attacked first by the city au-
thoritios, because they are more Immediate |
ly subject to its authority, the city having |
reserved the right to establish regulations
for thoir management There are about |
$50 Of these kiosks in Paris, which arc let
from time to tiino Mt public auction, the
price paid at present being 240 francs |
year for c;lch kiosk.
The municipal council of Paris is con
sidcring how in other ways it can raise
the revenue now obtained from these
sources, so as to restore sidewalks ard /
streets to the usa Of tho nnhlic. Thought