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“It's true that I do a lot less but, at 60, I'm almost the youngest”
.
If he is still joking on the phone, Mohammed Benmessaoud, president of the association of bookseller friends on the Quai de la Pêcherie is worried.
The work initiated by the town hall to create a closed bus and bicycle corridor will disrupt the logistics of the market, the first in Lyon, created 36 years ago.
First, during the five weeks of construction, then by changing the habits of this small world in a sustainable way.
Because for decades, booksellers have parked their vehicles in double line on the quay,
"on the bus lane"
, as Camille Augey, deputy mayor (EELV) in charge of employment and the sustainable economy, points out. his Twitter account.
Very practical for unpacking heavy boxes of second-hand, fragile and old books, less for road traffic.
Bus lane and pedestrianization
“There was a tolerance, the buses made a small difference
, explains Mohammed Benmessaoud.
Especially since on Saturdays and Sundays there are not many
.
But the flows are expected to intensify with the pedestrianization of the Presqu'île and the postponement of several major bus lines (C3, C14 and potentially C13) now using rue de la République, which will be diverted by rue Grenette via the banks of the Saône.
The municipality therefore met the booksellers on July 12 during a meeting at the town hall of the 1st arrondissement to find solutions.
It is now offering to reserve the delivery spaces created for them on the other sidewalk, on the facade side, as Camille Augey pointed out, repeating in passing its
"attachment to this historic market"
.
“You will have to call the pound”
Not enough to satisfy the booksellers, mostly elderly, who will have to carry their heavy boxes across the road to unload the goods.
A double-file stop tolerance would have been accepted by the municipality, but for too short a period for Mohammed Benmessaoud.
"We need 1h30 to settle in, books don't look like tomatoes or potatoes
," he says.
If the town hall has also made a gesture by inscribing in marble
“without additional cost”
the presence – hitherto unofficial – of stalls on the sidewalk, the dedicated spaces are not large enough according to the bookseller.
As for the reserved places, the one who assures not
“to be opposed to the town hall”
, fears that they will be overrun by weekend night owls.
“We will have to call the pound!
However, they already have a lot to do with the Saint-Antoine market or the Croix-Rousse market”
, anticipates the chief bookseller.
He would have preferred
“parking by boat
(astride the sidewalk, editor’s note)
”
, or outright a move to Place d’Albon, brand new a few decameters to the south.
“We have to find a solution, it is about the survival of this market which is an element of heritage,
he urges.
As it is, I fear that many booksellers will definitely stop”
.
Camille Augey, who was not available to answer us, announced a communication campaign by the summer to make these markets better known, that of the Saône quays not being the only one.
If the town hall assures that it will proceed to calls for tenders to find buyers in the event of departures, Mohammed Benmessaoud assures that the candidates to pay the license of 900 euros per year do not jostle at the gate.
Of the 21 metal lockers, only 15 would be rented today.
