“We don’t want to wait another 20 years! This Wednesday, the Porte de Montreuil collective is calling for a rally in front of the Recyclerie Emmaüs (20th arrondissement). The reason for their anger? They see the dawn of a new postponement of the works of the district, announced since… 2001.
The large Porte de Montreuil development project voted almost unanimously by the Paris Council in 2019, the inhabitants of the district hoped to see the construction machinery busy in 2022. Instead, they saw the operation, led by Nexity and the City of Paris, called into question at the request of the Paris environmental group. “That’s when we started to mobilize, explains Anne-Laurence Vesperini, spokesperson for the collective, we felt that things were turning sour. Their instinct did not deceive them.
“It would be for years”
This Sunday, the Greens presented a counter-proposal to the initial project with our colleagues of the Parisian. “It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back,” comments Anne-Laurence Vesperini. Because the alternative project, touted as more ecological and more in line with the city’s climate objectives, does not convince local residents.
Not because the latter are opposed to a greener district or because they are fans of the building-bridge planned in the Nexity program, but because they believe in it only slightly, if at all. Above all, they don’t want to wait any longer: “They’re selling us a project that can be done in three years, but that’s not possible. There would be all the studies to do, negotiations with the previous promoter for compensation for costs already incurred, new votes to apply. For that alone, it would last for years. »
Because it is also on the field of the speed of the works that this battle between the majority and… part of the majority takes shape.
“Chiefs” and NGOs opposed to the project
And if the ecologists concede, through the voice of Emile Meunier, elected official and member of the Urban Planning Commission of Paris, joined by 20 minutes, that the proposed deadline is utopian, they ensure that it will be finished well before the Nexity project: “To launch it, they must file a permit which will be the subject of numerous disputes since several NGOs have already announced that they want to file appeals to these buildings. They are ready to go to the Council of State. It could take years. »
Another disturbing element in the progress of the case, the flea market. Installed for almost 150 years, the Nexity project provides for a relocation in the hall of a shopping center. A veritable institution in the district, the market may not survive this project. First, because its new location could make it lose much of its charm, and thus scare away followers. And then because there wouldn’t be enough places for all the “Puciers”. For the moment, between a quarter and half of traders would find a place there. Finally, because it would cost them more for small spaces (9m² against 25m² on average). Conditions that put off the vast majority of those concerned and who could also file appeals.
“The city is committed to a project that cannot see the light of day, adds the elected environmentalist, the more we insist, the more it will delay the work. »
The inhabitants are preparing for a long fight
On the side of the municipality, however, we guarantee that we want to speed things up. Jacques Baudrier, deputy mayor of Paris for public construction, even hopes to launch “hostilities” from 2023: “We have already discussed this subject for a very long time. And suddenly, the Greens turn around. “Exasperated by the situation, Jacques Baudrier called on his colleagues at the Council of Paris to be more responsible: “Their project has not been assessed and is totally unrealistic. Both financially and in terms of noise pollution. We must move forward on the established project, for the good of the inhabitants. »
The elected officials hope to find an agreement by the vote on the local urban plan, the consultation of which should end in March with a vote.
“We ask the municipality to respect its commitments. The building-bridge or not, who cares. More trees? Of course we are for it. We’ve been waiting for 20 years, crossing this dirty, polluted, noisy and dangerous roundabout twice a day. Work must begin” For this, they want to mobilize this Wednesday and could consider moving up a gear to defend their cause: “We are not an organization with means. We don’t have a lawyer yet, but we have skills and we are getting organized,” warns Anne-Laurence Vesperini.