Ménilmontant, emblematic symbol of the failed redevelopments of Paris town hall

Maxime De Blasi lives in the Ménilmontant district, and author of the article

Le Grand Paris des grands parias?

For a town hall that prides itself on being green and close to citizens, we have seen better.

Since the beginning of the summer, it suffices to go to rue de Ménilmontant in the 20th arrondissement to realize this: from the beginning of the afternoon this street, which allows from Place de la République to reach the Porte des Lilac, is paralyzed by a line of cars in the direction of the climb with all that follows, pollution, horns and pedestrians forced to cross to slip between the cars blocked on the pedestrian crossings.

Conversely, in the direction of descent reserved for buses and bicycles, the street is often blocked because of deliveries and traffic jams in the other direction.

Maximum risk for everyone, pedestrians, bicycles, residents, children (many schools and colleges face the street) but also cars because starts on a hill in this steep street are not easy.

A petition launched by a collective of local residents reached nearly 2,000 signatures in a few days, as the consternation and concerns are great.

By way of illustration, on an application developed by INRIA with the support of the City of Paris, a local resident noted on September 23 air pollution amounting to 102 AQI (air quality index ), qualified as "very high", against 32 AQIs in December 2019, ie "low pollution".

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At the origin of this nightmarish situation is the decision taken without consultation by the central town hall to prohibit cars from the climb of the Gambetta avenue located a few cables away, in favor of "coronapists", these generalized cycle paths during deconfinement.

However, Avenue Gambetta served from République to Place Gambetta, then the gates of Bagnolet and Les Lilas.

As a result, vehicles wanting to join the ring road go to rue de Ménilmontant, especially since rue de Belleville was also prohibited in the direction of the climb two years ago, preventing reaching the Porte des Lilas .

A measure presented as "green" which has a very gray impact on the lungs of residents of the working-class district of Ménilmontant.

And for motorists who need 45 minutes in rush hour to cover only two hundred meters.

An officially green decision that masks the failed redevelopment of Place Gambetta

Why such a decision maintained at all costs for three months when an elected official who would take the time to venture into rue de Ménilmontant would realize the stupidity of thus reducing from three to one the axes of exit from the East? Parisian?

So that a few rare bicycles can circulate on Avenue Gambetta (which incidentally is on a steep slope)?

Admittedly, the City of Paris responded to the petition by expressing “the attention paid to this situation” but it has not moved even though the avenue Gambetta runs alongside the Père-Lachaise and it is not to be missed. of respect to our dead to say that the lungs and ears of the inhabitants of Ménilmontant should be given priority.

In reality, behind the “green” justification put forward by the municipality, it is necessary to put oneself back before confinement to discover the real structural problem.

Indeed, as reported in an article in the Parisian at the end of 2019, it is clear that the redevelopment of Place Gambetta, which is also the town hall square in the 20th arrondissement, was missed.

This, which is part of the redevelopment of seven large squares in Paris imagined by the central town hall, reduced the traffic lanes on the square from three to two, resulting in the paralysis of this square during the three months preceding the confinement, source noise pollution and pollution.

A local resident noted (...) air pollution amounting to 102 AQI (air quality index), qualified as "very high", against 32 AQI in December 2019

And all this for what?

To install wooden benches in the middle of the road, obviously deserted, no one wishing to sit in the middle of pollution and noise to chat or take the air!

This situation could make you smile if Place Gambetta was not very close to the Tenon hospital (and its emergencies), the Saint-Fargeau fire station, as well as the 20th district police station, whose vehicles are paralyzed. Place Gambetta.

Therefore, it seems clear that behind the justification of cycle paths and "ecology" (at the cost of insane pollution reported rue de Ménilmontant ...), the closure to cars of the avenue Gambetta which serves the square of the same name especially has the advantage of decluttering Place Gambetta.

Paris City Hall must reconsider the development of Place Gambetta

The town hall is placed between two evils: either to recognize that the redevelopment of the Place Gambetta after a year of works and nuisances was a mistake, and to go back by removing these benches on which no one sits, or take advantage of the extension of the cycle paths at the end of the deconfinement to quietly close Avenue Gambetta and de-clutter the square as if by miracle, at the cost of disastrous consequences for the Ménilmontant district, which it is true is not located under the windows of the town hall of the 20th century.

It is this last choice that the Central Town Hall obviously made.

It is true that in light of the unfolding of the first term, recognizing an error is not part of the software of the municipal team, all the more so with a presidential campaign that will start in less than a year.

Significantly, during the municipal campaign of the 1st round in March, the outgoing mayor of the 20th, labeled LREM, denounced in her leaflets a reorganization imposed by the Central Town Hall.

True or false, the latter bears the responsibility today, especially since the new mayor of the 20th district is of his color.

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It is also true that the development works of Place Gambetta have already lasted a year, at a cost of several million euros, and that going back could encourage the regional chamber of accounts to take an interest in proper use. public funds in view of the result, especially since the overall cost of fitting out the seven places seems very underestimated to some (officially € 44 million, when in 2014 the Institut Montaigne, relayed by Les Echos, estimated the necessary budget between 89 and 169 M €).

However, alongside other obvious failures like that of the Place de la Bastille - of which no pedestrian, bicycle or car can decipher the organization of traffic, this program has also led to successes, such as that of the Place de the nation.

So it is only time for the municipal team to hear the anger rising in rue de Ménilmontant… as well as the horns of paralysis.