In the Raisin district, the speech of the mayor of Toulouse put to the test
Fixed homelessness considered invasive, dead branches not pruned in the neighborhood park, lack of surveillance cameras, lack of maintenance of the canal banks, speeding on the boulevard or recurring traffic jams due to double parking in front of the station road … The list of sorrows is long.
But what concerns more than all these inhabitants, it is the prostitution along the boulevard des Minimes. “The prostitutes work along the canal and under the footbridges. They come to do their business with their customers behind the garden of Abadie. There are used handkerchiefs on the banks and condoms on the path. The residents cannot take it any longer, exasperates Claude Authié, president of the Minimes-Raisin neighborhood committee. The municipal police told us to alert them via “Allô Toulouse”, but when we call, we are sent to graze. “
Asked about this, the town hall denies. “It is important to remember that Allô Toulouse agents do not have this kind of attitude,” she says. The platform has received 38 calls concerning prostitution and solicitation on Boulevard des Minimes since the start of 2021. These calls were all directed to the municipal police with the exception of one call concerning a case of prostitution in a private residence, oriented towards the national police. Several crews are convinced in recent months. “
A presence which should be identified, according to the town hall, thanks to the recruitment of 100 additional municipal police officers on the mandate and by the doubling of municipal police patrols in the neighborhoods. “Zero municipal patrol multiplied by two, that is always zero”, laughs Gérard Dournel, treasurer of the neighborhood committee. And Claude Authié to add, with mockery: “The municipal, one sees them pass only when they come to fill up at the workshop of Toulouse Métropole, avenue François Collignon”.
Exasperated by the situation, this retiree from the national police recently transferred on Sunday to the mayor’s office of Toulouse the photograph of a pass, taken by him, one morning at 8:30 am. “Can you tell me if it is free street theater or an indecent assault or simply a crime of sexual exposure?” He asks ironically. This scene occurs daily at different places in the neighborhood at different places of the public (adults and children) in the morning, afternoon and night. Despite the information and requests received on several occasions by the neighborhood committee and also despite the existence of a municipal decree prohibiting prostitution on the boulevard. Nothing is done by the authorities and all the inhabitants of the district unanimously believe that our elected officials and the competent authorities do not care. “
Le Raisin, an abandoned district? Not quite. The town has nevertheless started a series of works along the Canal du Midi for a total amount of 516,000 euros since last year. In addition, the surroundings of the Raisin footbridge must be redeveloped next summer.
Not enough to satisfy Claude Authié and his neighbors who regret the lack of listening to the town hall. “We are not invited to site monitoring meetings. During the first term, we had monthly meetings with the neighborhood mayor, Maxime Boyer. We haven’t had one for a long time with her replacement, Cécile Dufraisse. She is an overwhelmed and incompetent elected representative, ”judges the president of the Minimes-Raisin neighborhood committee.
Here again, the Toulouse town hall has a completely different vision: Numerous calls as well as numerous emails bear witness to this continuous communication. The press service of the municipality also ensures that the district mayor has met the committee seven times since the start of the mandate, including recently on October 11 “to discuss the transformations of the district”. “These were meetings with other neighborhood committees on the boiler room project to supply the large Matabiau and on the 3rd metro line. We were not able to discuss the issues of the grape, ”chokes Claude Authié.
Reassembled, the resident would almost blame himself for having campaigned for the outgoing mayor during the second round. “He promised us everything, but we’re still waiting,” he sighs. If he had had Nadia Pellefigue in front of him and not the other madman of Antoine Maurice, Jean-Luc Moudenc would have lost. He should remember that … “