Spreading the love: Paris love locks to be sold to help refugees
Paris is not only the "city of love" but the city of love locks.
The weighty tradition of locking small padlocks to the sides of Paris bridges as a symbol of eternal love became so trendy in the past few years that some crossings were covered with them.
The Pont des Arts bridge in particular became the epicenter of the locking trend and about a year and a half ago, the city starting removing them citing safety reasons.
But now officials are thinking creatively about what to do with the thousands of signed locks.
The city is set to sell batches of the locks with the proceeds going to refugee groups, the Guardian reports.
The first deputy mayor of Paris, Bruno Julliard, told the paper the lock sale should happen next year and is expected to raise as much as €100,000 ($107,000). Any remaining locks will be melted down and sold for scrap metal.
No Love Locks, a group that has been fighting against the locks for years, is onboard with the sale.
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A true love story indeed.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
