More Olympic torment

I spoke too soon. The Olympic nightmare continues.

There’s yet another Major Media Event planned for this weekend. The entire area around the Champs-Élysées will be locked down—again—for some sort of umpteenth taxpayer-funded Olympic parade, even though the Olympics ended weeks ago and the Paralympics ended a week ago. More pat-down searches, identity checks, stores closed, barricades up. It never seems to end.

End of the Olympic Ordeal

The Olympic farce has mercifully ended. Parisians who were prohibited from walking the streets of their own town have now regained some freedom of movement, at least until the next epidemic, sporting event or other excuse to confine them to quarters again. The price of subway and bus tickets, which had doubled during the Olympics, has returned to its pre-farce level, at least for now. The barricades and endless temporary constructions that defaced the city’s attractions during the games are being dismantled. Hopefully the city will soon be given back to its residents.

Hotels and restaurants that had hiked their prices during the Jeux saw their bookings dwindle, unless they were right next to event venues.     Airbnb landlords who had hiked their rates saw the same, as anyone not interested specifically in these Major Media Events stayed away from Paris. And landlords who had evicted their tenants specifically to cash in with short-term rentals during the Games experienced the same disappointments. Good riddance to them all.

I didn’t go out much during the Olympics and Paralympics. You had to have a special pass to enter many areas of the city, which required weeks to get, lots of intrusive paperwork, and a background check—for every movement. It wasn’t worth it.

Speaking of evictions, I am being evicted for the third time. There are severe constraints on raising rents in Paris, so landlords who want to make more money simply evict their tenants. Legally, this can only be done for certain reasons, such as a planned sale of the property or renting the property to a family member, and these were the excuses used in my case on each occasion. Of course, hardly anyone checks up to make sure the apartment is really rented to a relative or sold, and some apartments are simply rented out again at a significantly higher price. There is a perpetual shortage of housing in Paris, especially after you deduct all the empty, unrented properties owned by rich, absentee foreigners,  and Airbnb-style short-term rentals to tourists.

Let’s hope it will be at least another hundred years before the government forces another instance of the Olympic Games down the throats of Parisians.

The New Year, and the Olympic farce

Only two posts a year; I guess I’m not the most prolific blogger around. But nobody reads the blog anyway.

Last night was New Year’s Eve, and 1.5 million people were expected on the Champs. In fact, “only” about 800,000 showed up, perhaps because of very tight security and predictions of rain (that did not seem to materialize). The security was sort of a practice run for the 2024 Olympic Games, which will afflict the city this coming summer. There were no incidents, so I guess the draconian security worked.

I didn’t attend the festivities, as I am wary of crowds and firecrackers. I don’t want to be trampled or end up like Pete Townsend.

The festivities apparently made allusion to the 2024 Olympic Games, a farce of astronomical proportions that will cost the taxpayers billions and will make Parisians prisoners in their own homes. And unfortunately it will make Paris even more attractive to terrorists. But a handful of rich people will be further enriched by them, and that’s all that counts.

I recommend that anyone contemplating a trip to Paris defer it or at least avoid it anywhere near the Olympic Games. Even prices in the Métro are being hiked to profit from them.