For once, we will start this paper by quoting a caustic anecdote from the comedian Haroun, integrated into one of his sketches on Marseille, and viewed nearly 5 million times on YouTube to date. “One day when I was in Marseille, I told a guy who was parking that he couldn’t stand there,” he says. It was an emergency thing for the firefighters. He said to me: “In Marseille, when you are looking for a place, it is an emergency. illegal or inconvenient parking was all relative.
A situation that has the gift of exasperating the readers of 20 minutes. “Do you know about double-line parking?” Asks Olivier. The Marseillais invented the triple file! Even if it means blocking the street which has only two lanes and because they only have one minute … “” I live in the 7th arrondissement, confides Mickaël. There are constantly cars parked on crosswalks, intersections, bus lanes, sidewalks and cycle paths. “” I have lived in Marseille since 1994, abounds Eric. You just have to see around the stadium on game nights. It is total anarchy. “
“The police must organize belote competitions”
Practices that even some of our readers, questioned on the subject, do not hesitate to defend. “I create parking spaces myself, without ever hindering traffic or visibility,” Séverine assures us. What drives me crazy is rather that in the middle of traffic, the car in front stops, puts on its warnings and fetch its drink from the power supply… ”“ Being able to park in an anarchic way is rather a good thing, because it is often on a temporary basis, argues Vincent. It did me more service than it bothered me. I think that being able to set the warnings to stop for five minutes should not be called into question as long as there is room for other cars, bikes or scooters. “
A situation that has become habitual, due, according to many of our readers, to a certain laissez-faire attitude. Many of them believe, in fact, that the work of the municipal police in this area is insufficient, or even non-existent. “Boulevard Bompard, planned to be a two-way street, is reduced to a single lane, plague Romain. The sidewalk is reserved by drivers. Parents driving their children are obliged to walk on the road with children and strollers in the middle of a bend. During that time, the municipal police must no doubt organize belote tournaments … “
“Incivism + impunity = total mess”
“I am a shopkeeper, place aux Huiles,” Beatrice introduces herself. The delivery parking row is permanently occupied by cars. I have never seen a municipal police officer. Their phone number rings busy or someone hangs up on you… ”“ Incivism + impunity = total mess ”, tackle Eric.
“Since the beginning of the year, the municipal police have carried out 16,000 impoundments, an increase of 15% compared to 2019”, defends Yannick Ohanessian. The deputy mayor in charge of security had called the press to an operation to control the inconvenient parking in the city center. The opportunity to respond, in particular, to accusations of inaction.
“We favor pedagogy”
“The priority of this municipality is to deal with this scourge in this city,” says Yannick Ohanessian. We must get out of this culture of impunity, so that everyone understands that there are rules. We will tackle as a priority the inconvenient parking lots on the cycle paths. “Currently, three scooter riders and four people from the kidnapping unit are working specifically on these issues,” says Stéphane, head of the municipal police scooter unit. We have dedicated teams that patrol the city in the morning and afternoon in the hypercentre. But we favor pedagogy. Out of eight out of ten cars fined, people come to their car within the minute, saying that they have two minutes. “
“We are also working to increase the number of municipal police, so that there is an island in each district, announces Yannick Ohanessian. And municipal police officers will have to devote themselves particularly to these troublesome parking issues. Currently, 480 municipal police officers work in Marseille. The Marseille Spring has promised to double the workforce by the end of the mandate.