With one hand, Nathalie covers her nose and mouth. On the other, she points to the brand new urinals attached to one of the walls in the La Guillotière district of Lyon. “Do you smell that urine smell? It’s disgusting!” she exclaims. Installed by the town hall since the beginning of the year in several districts of the city, these toilets were to improve public health, in particular by avoiding urination on the walls. “Do you find it effective? Nathalie continues, pointing to a large puddle that flows to the sidewalk. That’s urine. The truth is that this place is unsanitary”, believes- she. Accustomed to the media, fond of controversial and definitive formulas, the forties is a founding member of the association of residents La Guillotière enrage.
Since 2019, the organization has been warning about the state of this district east of the city center, with shocking photos and provocative messages on social networks. The local press detailed in detail the facts of insecurity, thefts, brawls and even “gunshots” punctuating the daily life of the inhabitants. “We pass for reactions, but we have real problems, sighs Vincent, also a member of the association. And we are not offered a solution.” This is not quite correct: CRS buses, largely in evidence on Place Gabriel-Péri, come to dissuade cigarette sellers and illegal markets from setting up there in the afternoon. In the morning, the district is squared by rounds of the municipal police. “But it’s not enough, says Nathalie. And apart from that, what is the town hall doing? They are installing pissotières!” In total, 16 toilets have been installed in several areas of the city. Some toilets are reserved for women in order to “promote equality in the public space”. “These urinals are an example of the action of the town hall for us. A lot of display, but few answers, tance Vincent. It’s like that for everything.”
“Adapt”
At first glance, with its colorful facades on the banks of the Rhône, its large white stone buildings and its chic students who circulate on scooters, the city does not seem to have particularly changed since the environmentalists took power in 2020. A hell of a shake-up , however, in this bourgeois city, accustomed to moderate and pro-business governance. The Lyonnais are now slowly getting to know two green leaders. On one side, Grégory Doucet at the town hall. On the other, Bruno Bernard in the metropolis. The first, from the associative world, concentrates the light through his often polemical declarations. The opposition depicts him as “inhabited by his mission”, but also “ideologist” and far from everyday life. The second wants to be discreet, broken in the political game. In their campaign project, the city, cradle of the leaders of chemistry, must become the showcase of political ecology.
To embody it, the Greens have undertaken important actions from the start of their mandate. Greater place given to cycling, renovation of public buildings, greening… “A budget of 140 million euros is devoted to this subject. We want to go quickly, be efficient”, assures Grégory Doucet. Seated at a cafe in the northeast of the city, the mayor plays with the straps of his bicycle helmet, and continues his presentation by evoking the pedestrianization of the surroundings of schools and certain neighborhoods. As far as quoting some unexpected decisions: “We want to make Lyon the city of children. In some schools, children have asked us for tigers. Failing that, we have added their footprints on the ground!”, He says. with a smile. In the list of measures he lists, the mayor has a compass: that of climate change. “And the urgency to act, he adds. It is for this reason that we declared a state of climate emergency in the municipal council. With its heat peaks, Lyon will experience the consequences of global warming intensely. . We have to adapt quickly”.
Serial controversies
This desire for action has taken the form of very controversial statements. “That these errors take place at the start of the mandate, why not, but there it is every month its controversy”, assures Pierre Oliver, mayor Les Républicains of the 2nd arrondissement. The chosen one rummages in the files of his laptop. “There are so many that we decided to keep a record,” he jokes.
Shortly after his arrival at the town hall, in the summer of 2020, the EELV majority, for example, stood out for its refusal to allow the patrol of France to fly over the city for the July 14 parade. By its adoption of inclusive writing on the town hall website, too. A few months later, in the fall, Grégory Doucet criticized the Tour de France in theProgress, accusing him of not being “eco-responsible” and of “conveying a macho image of sport”. In December, the town hall imposed a single menu without meat in the canteens until the Easter holidays. The following year, she abandoned foie gras in official ceremonies, provoking the ire of local restaurateurs. Latest controversy to date: the remarkable exit of the mayor of Lyon about the “brutal budget cuts announced by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region”, chaired by Laurent Wauquiez, in the cultural sector. “Attacking culture is what all fascist regimes start with,” said Grégory Doucet. A comparison that he still assumes today: “I defend the actors of culture. It is my duty.”
“postures”
These strong declarations, the elected officials of the opposition taste them little. “The problem is that these are only postures, regrets David Kimelfeld, former president of the metropolis, from the PS and today a member of the Progressive and Republican group on the city council. At the beginning, we could explain these errors saying to himself that this young mayor took time to adapt to the function. But it’s been two years. I believe he is sincere in his fights, but the costume is too wide. He is still too militant, and not mayor enough. ” Sitting on the terrace of a café next to the Opera, the chosen one casts a glance in the direction of the pedestrians of the Place de la Comédie, and designates them with a gesture. “The Greens want to give less and less space to the car in the city. Getting around by bike or on foot is pleasant, that’s for sure. But not everyone can afford it.”
He alludes to a measure taken by the EELV metropolis and supported by the town hall: the creation of a “low emission zone” (ZFE) from January 1, 2023. This process, provided for by law, aims to gradually exclude polluting vehicles in the heart of agglomerations. “This implementation is much too fast. They call themselves left-wing, but they ban people from the city who want to come and work there”, plague Louis Pelaez, president of the opposition group Inventing the metropolis of tomorrow, whose the elected officials are close to the former mayor Gérard Collomb. Accused of ideological intransigence, the Greens prefer to recall the major development plan for public transport launched since the start of their mandate. In anticipation, four new tram lines, two bus lines, and a metro line extension. The cable car project linking Lyon to Francheville was abandoned after provoking a lively controversy. “This is proof that we are not dogmatic, and that we listen to the population”, smiles Bruno Bernard.
To the accusations of anti-social measures, the majority responds by highlighting its policy of building social housing, the objective of which is 5,000 per year by the end of the mandate. “But it is very difficult to work with them, blows a promoter of the construction industry, wishing to remain anonymous. We try to adapt to the requirements of ecological transition, but even when we do, we have little or no answers. It went better with the Collomb majority.” Faced with this lack of communication, this professional confides “seeking to do business elsewhere”. In recent days, the publication of EY barometer of France’s attractiveness for foreign investment thrilled economic circles. In the ranking of French cities, Lyon lost three places compared to the previous year.