Visiting New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Saturday that traffic congestion was blocking his city's economic growth, and hailed Parisians for trying new ways to beat road congestion and pollution, including a popular rent-a-bike service, according to AP. «You've got to hand it to the people of Paris. They're willing to try different things,» Bloomberg said examining a stand of rental bikes after lunch with Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe. «Some will work and some will not. Obviously this has.» Bloomberg, on a European trip focusing on environmental issues, moved on to a meeting with France's ecology minister, Jean-Louis Borloo. First, he had lunch in the gilded Paris City Hall, which sits in a heavy traffic zone in the city center. Bloomberg and Delanoe said later that their cities share many of the same problems, particularly a housing crunch, poverty, the omnipresent threat of a terror attack and environmental concerns. They agreed they could learn from each other on how to make their cities greener. «We both have terrible traffic problems that are strangling our economic growth,» Bloomberg said, and added that he would examine some initiatives Paris has put in place to deal with traffic issues. Making Paris greener has been a top priority for Delanoe, a Socialist who took office in 2001. In an attempt to reduce traffic and pollution in the city, Delanoe carved out special lanes on busy streets for bicycles, buses and taxis, and recently installed a network of thousands of bikes that can be rented for a small fee. «This is one of those creative ideas, and whether it works or not (in New York) we'll have to see,» Bloomberg said. On the street outside City Hall, Deputy Mayor Annie Hidalgo showed Bloomberg how the system, installed in mid-July, works, as perplexed bike renters gawked. Bloomberg said some parts of the idea could fit in New York, but noted that helmets were required in his city even for bicycle riders _ not the case in Paris. Initiatives to promote sustained development on the national level were expected to be the topic of Bloomberg's meeting with the ecology minister. Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy created the Ministry of Ecology, Development and Sustainable Management after taking office in May. On Thursday, Minister Borloo pledged to craft 20 rules that would change the way the French eat, move and live, and put France on the cutting edge of the fight against climate change. France was the first stop on a tour that also takes Bloomberg to London. On Sunday, he is expected to deliver an address on the global economy at a Conservative Party conference and to meet Monday with London Mayor Ken Livingstone.
