Several associations and residents gathered at the foot of the Eiffel Tower on May 4, 2022, in protest against the redevelopment of the site. Despite the promise of the City of Paris not to cut down any trees, they demanded a complete change in the "OnE" project. https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/societe/mobilisation-pour-sauver-les-arbres-et-contre-le-projet-de-reamenagement-du-site-tour-eiffel-1651708276
They have won their case with the Paris City Council: no tree, century-old or not, will be cut down at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. However, these associations and local residents mobilized this Wednesday evening, May 4, around the bicentennial plane tree, in the 7th district of the capital. They demanded a complete review of the "OnE" project, which is supposed to redevelop the site.
The objective of the work designed by the agency Gustafson Porter + Bowman is to offer, among other things, a luggage store for tourists and premises for the operating company of the Eiffel Tower. The goal? Find "the conditions expected by visitors as well as residents", and this on the horizon of the Olympic Games of 2024, justifies the city plan.
More than 125,000 signatures to save the trees from being cut down
After a petition launched by five associations, led by France Nature Environnement Paris - and relayed by personalities such as journalist Hugo Clément and host Nagui -, the city hall, through the voices of Christophe Najdovski, deputy for green spaces, and Emmanuel Grégoire, 1st deputy, finally decided that no trees would be cut down for the project. Dominique Dupré-Henry, member of FNE Paris, asks for a stronger commitment: "All the trees will be condemned because of the constructions, too close to their roots."
Feel free to take a look at journalist Hugo Clément's Instagram account to follow the various ecological fights: https://www.instagram.com/hugoclementk/?hl=en