Paris Officials Object To Naming Street After Steve Jobs
CUPERTINO (CBS SF) – Officials in Paris, France are reportedly objecting to naming a street after late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, citing the Cupertino-based tech giant's practices.
The mayor of the city's 13th district wants to name a street "Rue Steve Jobs" near a tech startup campus currently under construction, Reuters reported.
"Steve Jobs was chosen because of his impact on the development of personal computing and because he was a real entrepreneur," said a spokesperson for district mayor Jerome Coumet.
Reuters said communist members of the council are objecting to the honor because of working conditions in Chinese factories where Apple products are made, along with the company's alleged tax avoidance in Europe.
In August, the European Union ruled that Apple had to pay $14.5 billion plus interest in back taxes to Ireland, saying it paid next to no taxes in the EU for more than a decade.
Other streets around the tech campus would also be named after other tech pioneers, including U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper and British computer scientist and World War II codebreaker Alan Turing.
Five former presidents, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy have streets named after them in Paris.
Other Americans who have received the honor in the City of Light include Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Edison.
