Hey, friends! I'm excited to announce the creation of a new project, called NO LOVE LOCKS™, the brainchild of myself and my good friend Lisa Anselmo. You might recall recently that Lisa A and I both wrote rather passionate posts on our respective blogs about the epidemic of so-called "love locks" that have been covering and spreading over five bridges (and counting) in Paris, as well as in other cities around the world. Because we're both Parisian as well as American, and we love Paris so much, we are deeply concerned about the structural and environmental impact of the tens of thousands of locks that are damaging the city's bridges and obstructing the once-stunning views, not to mention the discarded keys that are polluting the river, and the possibility of the total collapse of one particular Parisian historical landmark, the Pont des Arts.
We decided to create NO LOVE LOCKS™ in order to find ways to educate those who might be tempted to put a lock on these bridges, and to partner with the city of Paris to support any efforts to remove the locks, repair the bridges, restore the views and find better ways to help people make special memories in our city.
So, we've started our web presence with the main web site (www.NoLoveLocks.com) and a Facebook page, and we are even in the running to be selected by the Paris city fathers as one of the "pioneers" who will be awarded one of the brand-new .PARIS domain names in the next few weeks! If we are chosen, it will be huge in terms of our ability to connect with the powers that be in Paris and to partner with them to seek solutions that will help restore the bridges to their original purpose while also finding more appropriate (and less destructive) ways to help tourists and Parisians alike to express and commemorate their love. After all, Paris is still the city of l'Amour!
Here's where YOU come in: in order to claim a special Facebook page name for our cause, we need to have a minimum number of "LIKES" on that page, and we need them FAST. It would mean a lot to us if you would take a moment to go to the NO LOVE LOCKS™ Facebook Page and click that all-important LIKE button RIGHT NOW. Then when you're done that, take a moment to read the posts and look at the photos we've already uploaded, and visit www.NoLoveLocks.com to see how our central web site is coming along -- and FYI, the .COM site, although it speaks mainly of Paris at the moment, is really intended to shine a light on this as a global problem that cities around the world are facing. We are also interested in hearing from people in other cities where this has been a problem; we want your stories, as well as to know what sort of solutions your town has been implementing. And we plan to create logos and images you can use to help spread the message, if you feel so inspired.
At the "heart" of this is our message: FREE your love -- SAVE our bridges! We want to go on record as being 100% FOR finding ways for people (couples in love, families, friends) to commemorate their special moments in Paris and elsewhere. We just feel there must be a better (and more romantic) way to do it than with locks that will only rust and create damage. Do we really have to resort to vandalism to express our affection? We think not. That's why NO LOVE LOCKS™ has been created.
Thanks in advance for liking our new page and helping us get this thing off the ground.
