Dogs, and their Traces

One of the things I remember most vividly from previous trips to Paris was the "merdemobile." It was a street cleaning truck with a huge hose coming out of the top. From his seat in the truck in the street, the driver could manipulate the hose to vacuum dog merde off the sidewalk.

Since the French are all about letting the government take care of them, it was perfect.

I haven't seen any merdemobiles since I got here, though. Presumably they're no longer used. Instead, there has been a campaign to get the French to clean up their own messes. These signs, which read "I love my neighborhood/I pick up," can be found all over Paris:


And in the provinces, they've taken it a step further; the city of Dijon provides bags for people to use in cleaning up:


What effect this all has had, it's hard to say. Certainly there is still dog merde to be found on the sidewalks, but my impression is that the problem isn't much worse here than in New York. Whether it's as bad as it was 20 years ago, I don't remember. Perhaps I don't want to.