A Personal Message From No Love Locks

19 August, 2015 nolovelocks 1 Comment

Dear followers,

It is with great sadness that No Love Locks announces the passing of co-founder Lisa Taylor Huff, after a battle with cancer. Lisa loved Paris passionately, and remained active in the fight to save its heritage throughout her own personal fight. “I would rather fight for something, then against,” she said. Lisa came to Paris in 2006, and in 2013, attained dual US/France citizenship. She is survived by her husband and her step-children, as well as her family in the States.

Lisa campaigned tirelessly for the preservation of the heritage of Paris. In her own words: “I have been passionate about our cause since the beginning, when Lisa Anselmo and I first began discussing our mutual distress over the deplorable condition of some of the bridges in central Paris, most notably the Pont des Arts and the Pont de l’Archevêché. I have had a deep personal connection to the Pont des Arts for many years, dating back to my first visit to Paris in the 1990s and leading up to the first Valentine’s Day I spent with my husband, when we took a picnic on the bridge in February 2008.”

Lisa spoke and wrote extensively about the plight of the fragile heritage sites in the city, and was interviewed internationally on the subject. But she was more than the co-founder of No Love Locks. Lisa was a writer, blogger and life coach, helping people to achieve their dreams. Her generous spirit, kindness, and passion touched the lives of many—from her closest friends and family, to the thousands of people who read her blog. You can discover her inspiring words here.

"Les Deux Lisas" ("The Two Lisas"), Montmartre, 2013 — “Les Deux Lisas” (“The Two Lisas”), Montmartre, 2012

On a personal note, I’ve known Lisa since I was 16, and have lost a great friend, someone who was like a sister to me, and will miss her every day. We began No Love Locks together because we wanted to do something to help preserve the beauty and history of the city we loved. We were both surprised by the attention, support and success No Love Locks has achieved, and happily, Lisa was able to witness and celebrate the removal of the locks from her beloved Pont des Arts.

But the fight is not over. There are still many other bridges and sites around Paris endangered by “love locks,” and only when the city creates a ban on this practice will the authorities have the power to finally end this form of vandalism, and the heritage sites of Paris can be restored and preserved for future generations.

Help No Love Locks in Our Continued Fight
No Love Locks will not cease until there is a ban in place, but I will need your help to achieve this. In the coming months, I will be posting on Facebook ways you can help, either by donating your time and special skills, or by supporting or helping to organize events in the city. No Love Locks cannot succeed without you, because without my co-founder, I am only one person. But with you, No Love Locks will be nearly 100,000 strong.

Thank you for your continued support of the efforts of my late co-founder and myself, as we fight to preserve the beauty and history of Paris.

Warmest regards,
Lisa Anselmo
Co-founder, No Love Locks

Press requests: nolovelocks@gmail.com

Nouvelles/News

Un message personnel de No Love Locks

19 August, 2015 nolovelocks

Chers supporters,

C’est avec une infinie tristesse que No Love Locks annonce le décès de notre co-fondatrice Lisa Taylor Huff, suite à sa bataille contre le cancer. Lisa aimait passionnément Paris et est restée active dans le combat pour en sauver le patrimoine tout au long de son propres combat personnel. Elle disait : “Je ne veux pas lutter contre ; je veux lutter pour”. Lisa est arrivée à Paris en 2006 et a obtenu la double nationalité française et américaine en 2013. Son mari et ses beaux-enfants en France ainsi que sa famille aux USA lui survit, sa mère, sa sœur, son beau-frère et leurs enfants.

Lisa a fait assidûment campagne pour la préservation du patrimoine parisien. Avec ses propres mots :” J’ai été passionnée par notre cause depuis le début, quand Lisa Anselmo et moi avons commencé à parler de notre désarroi mutuel devant la condition déplorable de certains ponts au centre de Paris, principalement le Pont des Arts et le pont de l’Archevêché. J’ai toujours eu une relation personnelle profonde avec le Pont des Arts, depuis ma première visite à Paris dans les années 90, jusqu’à la première Saint-Valentin passée avec mon futur mari, lorsque nous avons pique-niqué sur ce pont en février 2008″.

Lisa a écrit et parlé à de nombreuses reprises de la plaie qui touche les sites fragiles du patrimoine à Paris, et elle a souvent été interviewée dans de nombreux médias français et internationaux à ce sujet. Mais elle était bien plus que la co-fondatrice de No Love Locks, Lisa était une écrivaine, une blogueuse, une coach reconnue aidant les gens à réaliser leurs rêves. Son esprit généreux, sa gentillesse et sa passion ont influencé les vies de beaucoup de personnes – depuis sa famille et ses amis proches aux milliers de personnes qui lisaient son blog. Vous pouvez découvrir ses mots inspirants sur son blog (ici).

“Les Deux Lisas” (“The Two Lisas”), Montmartre, 2012

Sur le plan personnel, je connaissais Lisa depuis l’âge de 16 ans et j’ai perdu une grande amie, comme une sœur pour moi et elle me manque chaque jour. Nous avons démarré No Love Locks ensemble parle que nous voulions faire quelque chose pour aider à préserver la beauté et l’histoire de la ville que nous aimions. Nous avons été toutes les deux surprises de l’attention portée à No Love Locks, du soutien reçu et du succès obtenu. Heureusement, Lisa a pu célébrer et assister à l’enlèvement total des cadenas sur le Pont des arts qu’elle aimait.

Mais le combat n’est pas terminé. Il y a beaucoup d’autres ponts et sites dans Paris mis en danger par les “cadenas d’amour”. C’est seulement lorsque la Ville interdira formellement cette pratique que les autorités auront le pouvoir de mettre fin à cette sorte de vandalisme, et que les sites du patrimoine parisien pourront être remis en état et préservés pour les générations futures.

La Lutte Continue…
No Love Locks ne cessera pas son combat jusqu’à cette interdiction, mais j’aurai besoin de votre aide pour y arriver. Durant les prochains mois, je publierai sur Facebook des solutions pour que vous nous aidiez, en donnant de votre temps, en fournissant votre expertise, ou en aidant à organiser des événements dans la Ville. No Love Locks ne peut réussir sans vous, parce que sans ma co-fondatrice, je suis seule. Mais avec vous, No Love Locks représente 100 000 personnes.

Merci pour le soutien permanent que vous nous apportez, à ma co-fondatrice disparue et à moi, dans ce combat pour la préservation de la beauté et de l’histoire de Paris.

Chaleureusement,
Lisa Anselmo
Co-fondatrice de No Love Locks

La presse, SVP contactez : nolovelocks@gmail.com

Positive Progress

The REAL Pont des Arts, revealed once more

19 September, 2014 nolovelocks 3 Comments

Late yesterday afternoon, we received word that something amazing had happened on the Pont des Arts.

So this morning, we raced there to see for ourselves. And here is the surprise: GLASS PANELS!

The REAL Pont des Arts, revealed by specially designed glass panels!

No Love Locks has today received official confirmation from the Mairie de Paris, the office of First Deputy Mayor Bruno Julliard, that these two panels will shortly be joined by a third. They are being placed on the Pont des Arts as a test of an alternate to the type of fencing that permitted more than 60 metric tons of padlocks to be attached. As part of their efforts to remove padlocks from all bridges and monuments in the city, the Mairie must also address the issue of preventing new locks from being attached. These glass panels are the first serious such effort at prevention. It is clear to see from the photos that there is no place for a lock to be attached – hooray!

According to the Mairie, this is a special type of glass, and it is not plastic or Plexiglass. It is designed to be shatter-resistant, anti-glare, and it is treated with something that will not allow graffiti tagging. The City wants to test how well this works, and if it is a success, we can expect to see other panels replaced with the same glass over a period of time. The costs to the City to replace all 110+ panels on this bridge alone will no doubt be considerable, but when compared to the damage caused to the bridge from the locks over the past 6 years, and the constant upkeep costs as well as the security risks posed by the heavy locks, this is an investment we hope the City will deem worthy.

The difference between the ugliness of the locks and the graffiti-covered boards, and the lovely, clear glass panels - it's astounding! — The difference between the ugliness of the locks and the graffiti-covered boards, and the lovely, clear glass panels – it’s astounding!

While this is exciting to see, the fight to rescue Paris from locks-obsessed tourists is far from over. There are so many bridges and monuments in Paris where this plague of padlocks have already spread, and it will not be easy to prevent them in all cases. We still intend to push for a ban on locks, and for multi-lingual signs to be posted at all bridges and monuments informing the public that padlocks on city property, on historic structures, will be treated as vandalism and subject to fines accordingly. It is clear that the City wants the locks to be gone from Paris, just as we do. We still firmly believe a ban will help make that a long-term reality, and we still urge our supporters to continue to spread the word that love locks are NOT an appropriate symbol of love and that they are selfish acts of vandalism. The love locks epidemic is the result of a certain type of tourist, someone with an entitlement mentality. But let’s be clear – no one has the right to put a lock on Paris!

This new development is an important, visible step in the right direction. It gives us hope that the end is in sight, and that we are winning the war on irresponsible tourism. We can now begin to imagine the riverfront of Paris soon reverting to its original beauty, the public spaces returned to Parisians who have been deprived of them and to the millions of responsible visitors who genuinely love this special city.

Looking through the clear, locks-free glass panels at the river and riverbanks below, one can only think: This is the Pont des Arts as it is SUPPOSED to be. These are some of the best views of Paris at their loveliest and most unspoiled.

This is OUR Paris, friends, now being restored – one glass panel at a time.

Uncategorized

A UNESCO World Heritage site, covered in plywood?

7 September, 2014 nolovelocks 5 Comments

Today, I took a walk over the Pont des Arts. I hadn’t been back there since early July after yet another panel had collapsed, and the condition of the bridge was so appallingly bad on that day that I actually felt unsafe on the bridge for the first time. After having made over 40 visits to that bridge since the beginning of our campaign in January, that’s a significant statement.

I was, of course, aware that in recent weeks the City has begun simply attaching plywood boards over the worst of the collapsing panels in an effort to protect the public and to prevent new locks from being attached. But I was not at all prepared for seeing more than half the bridge boarded up! There are, as of today, 57 out of 110 plywood covered panels on the straight expanse of the iconic bridge — plywood that is also now covered from stem to stern in the ugliest graffiti. This once calm and lovely UNESCO World Heritage site has turned into just another boarded-up, graffiti-covered urban trash dump.

How is that “love”?

And yet as ugly as it is to see all those boarded-over panels, the plywood actually makes much more sense than continuing to replace the grillwork with new wire, because the panels only fill up with locks again within mere days. Better to let visitors see the destruction and havoc their “innocent little love locks that aren’t hurting anything” (a lame protest we have heard often in the past 6 months) are actually causing. Wake up, people — if you’ve put a lock on this bridge, YOU caused this mess. Hope your “declaration of love” was worth it to you, because it certainly isn’t worth it to Parisians. Enjoy your vacation while we pay to clean up your garbage.

In any event, better to just board up the bridge than continue to pour taxpayer money down the toilette over and over again. Until the City can finally figure out how best to remove all the locks and prevent new ones from being attached — we do know they are working on this — and until the Mayor’s office is finally ready to face the reality that some people won’t stop until they know this is BANNED and that fines will be levied, there is no point in trying to replace the grills at all. Even with the boarded panels, there were still some tourists on the bridge today locking up their stupid little locks, and the illegal locks sellers are still there in force although I suspect business has dropped off now that more than 50% of the bridge is unable to accept new locks.

In the coming days, we will have more to share with you about the state of our campaign, what we know about what the city is planning to do, and what our next steps are. Until then, let me share with you the images I took today on the Pont des Arts. They will break your heart as they break mine, because this was once my favorite view in Paris. Look at it now.

— Lisa Taylor Huff

City Hall & the Locks, Positive Progress

Paris City Hall Takes a Stand: NO MORE LOVE LOCKS

14 August, 2014 nolovelocks 1 Comment

Yesterday, on the Pont de l’Archevêché in the 5th arrondissement, Paris City Hall held a press conference to officially announce their anti-“love lock” campaign. Vanessa Panetto, head of communications for the city spoke to some 20-odd journalists about the plan for addressing the “love locks” problem plaguing Paris.

Panetto began her statement with the issues of weight and safety, citing the potential dangers of collapse, a very real threat that has clearly pressed them into action, finally. According to Panetto, the #lovewithoutlocks selfie campaign, which launched this past Monday, is just the first step in what appears to be a speak-softly-but-carry-a-big-stick plan. “We’re testing a more conciliatory approach first,” Panetto told the press, “but if it does not work, a ban could be the solution.”

This was the first time City Hall publicly threatened a ban on “love locks,” though when asked by journalists present, Panetto would not commit to a date when a ban might be imposed. Meanwhile, after three months of heavy tourist traffic, the Pont des Arts has nearly 20 panels in some state of collapse, many covered by plywood boards or construction barriers.

In addition to the selfie campaign, the city of Paris has placed 23 large stickers on the Pont des Arts and Pont de l’Archevêché urging love-lockers in French, English and Spanish: Our Bridges Can No Longer Withstand Your Gestures of Love. NO MORE LOVE LOCKS!

It remains to be seen if tourists will heed the new campaign, especially since they have not been dissuaded by the obvious signs of damage the locks have caused. But it is encouraging to see City Hall finally taking a stand. In the end, though, they may have to take out that big stick—in the form of an outright ban on “love locks”—before Paris loses some of its most cherished landmarks.

NO LOVE LOCKS™

A Personal Message From No Love Locks

Un message personnel de No Love Locks

The REAL Pont des Arts, revealed once more

A UNESCO World Heritage site, covered in plywood?

Paris City Hall Takes a Stand: NO MORE LOVE LOCKS

Free Your Love. Save Our Bridges.

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

Spread the word:

Free Your Love. Save Our Bridges.