Some might accuse mayor Anne Hidalgo of being a bit of a Parisian version of scrooge. Others, many others in fact, will agree with her stance.
After City Hall scrapped the annual Christmas Market on the Champs-Elysées this year, the mayor has now made it clear she wants the big wheel on Place de la Concorde taken down too.
The wheel has taken pride of place in the square each winter for the past 16 years (it is actually in place for six months for November to May) but Hidalgo has had enough.
She believes the temporary attraction is out of place with the historic setting of one of the city's grandest squares. City Hall says the mayor wants Place de la Concorde to rediscover “the character of its heritage”.
Later this month she will ask city councillors to vote through a motion to ensure that 2017 is the last year for the wheel.
It appears she will get her way after councillors already passed a motion last year to hold a debate on the presence of the wheel.
The move will no doubt spark the ire of Marcel Campion, who has run the attraction as well as the Christmas Market on the Champs-Elysées.
Fairground workers already held two days of protests against the scrapping of the market, in which they blockaded roads around Paris leading to traffic chaos.
Campion, known as the “fairground king” said Hidalgo's move to pull down the wheel is a “settling of scores” and shows she wants to banish fairgrounds from Paris altogether.
But the mayor's opposition to the big wheel is not just about heritage and history.
(What Place de la Cncorde looks like without the wheel. AFP)It appears Paris authorities are no longer comfortable working with the “fairground king”.
After years of suspicion Campion, or at least his company “Festivals and Leisure” (Fêtes et Loisirs), is finally under formal investigation for various offences including: colluding with competitors, abuse of property, money laundering, favouritism and involvement in organised crime.
Campion probably didn't help his cause this week when he called Hidalgo “mentally disturbed”.
Deputy Mayor Bruno Julliard insists Paris is not against the idea of a big wheel, they just don't want it such a historic setting, next to the Jardins des Tuileries.
He says city authorities will reflect on options to erect a big wheel in another part of the city.
