Dispatch from France: Greenlinks at a Grand Scale

By Sedra Shapiro-Nathan, Sonoma Sun Foreign Correspondent

I’m writing this first dispatch from Neuilly-sur-Seine, the town my husband and I now call home for the next year, just outside Paris. It’s about as close to Paris as the Springs is to Sonoma Plaza — an adjoining community tied in by one main corridor. Neuilly is known as an upscale, residential town with tree-lined boulevards, schools, cultural venues, and small parks. Think of it as Sonoma’s scale in population, but pressed right up against the heart of a global city. We chose Neuilly for its walkability and connection to the wider region — qualities I’ve long hoped to see strengthened in Sonoma.

I had no idea how much one boulevard could guide a whole city’s revitalization. Living here, it’s a pleasure — and yes, sometimes disruptive — to watch the Allées de Neuilly project unfold in real time. This is not simply a streetscape improvement. By 2027, the Avenue Charles de Gaulle, once a car-choked artery stretching from the Arc de Triomphe to the business district of La Défense, will be transformed into a landscaped promenade that combines housing, cultural venues and expansive public green space. What was once a highway corridor is being re-cast as the civic front door to Paris.

The scale and vision is incredible: 200 new social housing units, 350 large trees and 25,000 shrubs planted, gracious pedestrian promenades, outdoor cafes and park benches. Small architectural pavilions, called Folies, will punctuate the new landscape with cafés, kiosks, and cultural spaces. And throughout, the design prioritizes walking, biking, and transit over private cars. Separate bike paths are lined with greenery. No ugly pylons here!

Now imagine something like this along Broadway: a grand entrance into Sonoma, redesigned as a multimodal green transportation spine leading to the Plaza. From the Plaza outward, that spine could extend through the community, linking parks, green spaces, neighborhoods, and places of commerce into a continuous network. Of course, this kind of transformation would not happen overnight. But if we put forward a plan and a vision for a healthy, safe, walkable community, then we would have something real to aim for — a framework to guide projects rather than treating them as isolated one-offs. The French example shows what becomes possible when infrastructure, housing and green space are reimagined as one system. In Neuilly, service roads are being ripped up and replaced with wide, tree-shaded promenades, protected bike paths, and center plazas, all while keeping room for vehicles. Each project is designed as part of a greater whole. That balance is the point: cars are not erased, but they no longer dominate.

And picture a transformation along 5th Street West, which we all know needs more shade and trees. Sonoma’s updated Active Transportation Plan, developed as part of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority’s 2025 Countywide ATP, identifies this street as a Tier 1 priority for separated bikeways and safer crossings. Goal 3 calls for “community-oriented, place-based projects,” and Policy 3-10 directs the city to “explore opportunities to improve green infrastructure, including multi-use paths along creeks and street trees to create cool corridors.”

Here in Neuilly, I walk past corridors where bike paths are tucked under rows of tall plane trees, set apart from cars by low hedges and greenery. People sit on benches beneath the shade, parents push strollers, and cyclists ride in calm rather than chaos. Cars still pass by, but the rhythm of the street feels different — quieter, more balanced. Seeing it here makes me wonder what 5th Street West could feel like if we gave it that same attention.

Here in France, boulevards are not just traffic conduits, they are places to live, gather and experience culture. Up at La Défense, massive sculptures by Joan Miró and Alexander Calder punctuate the plazas, turning everyday commutes into encounters with art. Trails and promenades double as destinations for work, residents, and visitors alike. The design links housing, mobility, green space and cultural life into one integrated system.

Just before I left, Larry Barnett reminded us of the quiet power of Sonoma’s existing Greenlinks –  those shaded, tree-lined paths that support daily health, recreation, and even grief. Reading his words here in France, the connection is clear: whether it’s a modest path in Sonoma or a grand Parisian boulevard, quality of life comes from connections — to housing, to art, to green space and to each other.

In Sonoma, we have an opportunity to strengthen those connections by tying trail planning and our circulation plans to affordable housing, enlivening corridors with public art, and investing in green infrastructure that supports both climate resilience and community health. Linking them together under a single vision in our General Plan could make our small town more resilient, more welcoming and more vibrant. Wealthier cities may have the budgets for grand boulevards, but the inspiration is transferable: integrated planning not only makes communities thrive, it draws in resources and partners, and creates places people truly want to call home.