Toulouse: difficult cohabitation between store customers and local residents
In the Papus district in Toulouse, the customers of the Eden bakery and supermarket irritate some of the inhabitants. Dozens of vehicles park on the road.
Concerts of horns, insults that fuse or even fights. Hubert*, one of the owners of an apartment in the La Bigorre residence, compiles some of these nuisances in a file on his computer. Below his home, rue de la Touraine, the carousel is repeated daily. Dozens of Eden bakery and supermarket customers park here and there. And especially on the roadway, disrupting traffic. “It’s absolute hell, plague Hubert. I have been sporadically filming the tensions downstairs due to the awkward parking lots for a month.
Every day at any time, there is a notion of risk, on foot or by car. There is only one circular lane left. Cars are coming full speed…”. On some videos of the local resident, we observe a security guard doing traffic. “I don’t know if we realize that. The roadway is privatized by customers. Sometimes there are traffic jams of several hundred meters,” he continues.
Hubert must regularly go around his neighborhood to get out of it, the streets being congested. He tried many times to alert on the situation by calling Hello Toulouse. “But before the police come, it’s a very long time…”, he says, exasperated. Several residents of the neighborhood share his sentiment.
“I tried to solve the problem”
The store manager, who wished to remain anonymous, is not unaware of the problem. “I am well aware that this causes discomfort…”, he admits. According to him, the crowd would be more important in this month of Ramadan. “There are several hundred customers who flock here every day,” explains Eden’s manager.
An argument that is hard to convince. Hubert assures that the situation occurred “well before the beginning of this blessed month for Muslims”. The store manager, however, indicates that he has already asked the town hall of Toulouse to extend his parking lot. “I’m not going to complain about having too many customers. On the other hand, I complain about not having enough places to accommodate them. I never had a response from the town hall, ”he denounces.
In this district without too many shops, Eden is a must. Hubert and other residents wishing that “the town hall takes its responsibilities”.