Homeless in Paris

Well, not really. Not homeless yet, anyway. I wanted to write about the different relationship Parisiens have with their homeless community than we seem to in Austin. I'm wondering if this is a big city vs. smaller city thing, if it's a European thing for cities of all sizes, or if it's just a Paris thing.

Parisiens will walk up to and talk to their homeless. The homeless people here stake out a regular spot. There is always the same guy with his entertaining puppet next to the grocery store, the true wino on the other side of the grocery store.

People actually approach the homeless here, in Austin we seem to work hard to not see the guy with the sign at the busy intersection. Maybe it's the pedestrian big city that brings us closer, we have no car doors that we can lock. I find myself once again challenging knee-jerk American reactions, and losing stereotypes and fears I've had since I can remember.

There are also homeless that have been homeless a long time, they choose to live that way. Two women sit on opposite sides of rue St. Antione. A woman who lives in the neighborhood said they have been there for 16 years! Every night, the Red Cross of Paris shows up on rue St. Antoine, passing out food to them.

There is a homeless guy in Place des Vosges. Place des Vosges is the oldest square in Paris, with beautiful covered walkways surrounding it. There's a square with nice fountains, and playgrounds. Sarah and I had a champagne picnic here when we first moved in. A reasonable apartment on Place des Vosges will cost over 1 million euros. But the homeless guy is camped out with mattresses under the archways, just hanging out. While it must really stink to be homeless, this guy has managed to find one of the most beautiful places in Paris to be homeless. Beats the heck out of sitting at a busy intersection of the 183 access road in Austin.

The true wino can get a bit angry sometimes, but today there was some guy waiting for the bus, sitting there talking to him. People are giving them coins, or giving them an extra pastry they purchased for petit dejeuner (breakfast).

Oh, the pic is from the Mayor's pad. The Mayor of Paris has a 10,000 sq ft apartement in City. I wanted to post another pic, and I don't have one appropriate for the post. Nice digs, Mr. Mayor.