Paparazzi, Tourists, Marathoners: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

Paparazzi, Tourists, Marathoners: What’s Ruining Our Cities This Week

L.A. is being overrun by photographers trying to snap photos of celebrity spawn. Tourists are making a mess out of Barcelona. And four runners cast a cheatery vibe over what should have been a triumphant day in Boston. Let’s investigate What’s Ruining Our Cites.

Paparazzi are ruining Los Angeles

The horribleness of TMZ is nothing new, of course, but this Rolling Stone expose really hits hard at the way paparazzi are changing safety and privacy in L.A — not only photographers driving recklessly through Santa Monica for the perfect shot, but also the way the sick practice has started infiltrating public spaces. Like this Halloween pumpkin patch: “Glammed-up celeb mums parade their children down slides and past face-painting stands, while paps get their shots from a designated shooting pen. It’s quite the scene. There are now at least 35,000 shots of celebs cavorting in Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in photo archives.” [Rolling Stone]

Tourists are ruining Barcelona

For as long as the Sagrata Familia has been under construction, capri pant-wearing Americans have been there to point at it. But tourism is becoming a real burden on the Spanish city, according to a new documentary. Of course the push and pull between residents and tourists is a delicate negotiation in any big city, but in Barcelona things have gotten nasty, notes The Atlantic Cities: As Bye Bye Barcelona notes, this displacement has been forced and ugly in some extreme cases. Take the story of an old man driven from his flat by prospective hotel owners, who arranged for people to defecate on his doorstep daily.” [Atlantic Cities]

Bib-forgers ruined the Boston Marathon

One year after the bombings, Bostonians came together at this week’s Marathon in a show of civic solidarity. Well, except for these four runners, who forged bibs (all the exact same bib number!) and ran the race unregistered with those fake bibs — even claiming medals that they had not paid for! Some people think they might be students who wanted to run for charity but missed the registration deadline. Some people argue bandits are a Marathon tradition. And some people say, who cares? But still! Many Bostonians were outraged at the very un-Boston Strong behaviour. [Fittish]

Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP


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