L’extension du stationnement payant sur les boulevards est-elle illégale ?
It is a hot topic, which is regularly the subject of fiery passes of arms in city council. The question of paid parking in Bordeaux has again been stirring up debate for a week.
It was the opposition group Renouveau Bordeaux, led by the candidate for the legislative elections, invested by the presidential majority in the 1st constituency of the Gironde, Thomas Cazenave, who fired the prime minister. “We contest the legality of the extension of paid parking in Bordeaux, on the boulevards between the Pessac barrier and the Judaic barrier, effective since April 1, because the municipal decree concerning this extension has not been published” indicated he, on May 3rd. And to request the reimbursement of residents who have taken out a subscription since April 1, and motorists who have been fined.
The next day, during the city council, the ex-mayor of Bordeaux Nicolas Florian went further, and announced that he was going to seize the administrative court on the subject, and also request the reimbursement of subscriptions since April 1.
“We remove the decrees as we go along”
The majority had effectively announced on February 7, that after “a consultation of the inhabitants”, the sectors of the Boulevards, Chartrons, Bastide and the Bordeaux Park had “mostly pronounced themselves favorably for the transition to regulated parking”. In a timetable provided at the same time, the municipality indicated that the switch to paid parking would be paid for from April 1 for the first phase of the boulevards, from the Judaïque barrier to the Pessac barrier, and from June 1 for the second phase, from the Pessac barrier to the Toulouse barrier.
What about posting the order, which constitutes an obligation to inform citizens? Could the majority have been guilty of such a rookie mistake, in such a sensitive subject? Contacted by 20 minutes, the municipal councilor in charge of roads, mobility and accessibility Patrick Papadato, confirms that the General Code of Territorial Communities does indeed require municipal by-laws to be displayed at the town hall. He recognizes that this decree was no longer there last week, but sees nothing abnormal in it. “There are so many decrees that are taken that it moves: on the posters, and on removing them as and when, there is a need to rotate. »
“We did not move” warns the municipality
But the elected official certifies that this order was posted on time. “The decree was signed by Mayor Pierre Hurmic on March 15 and posted immediately after, as confirmed by the person in charge of the posting. On the other hand, he was not on the Internet. “A bug in Bordeaux Métropole’s open data on March 22 prevented the decree from being put online for the general public,” continues the municipal councilor. But there is no legal obligation for it to be on the website. »
For Patrick Papadato, there is therefore no reason to reconsider this order. “The opposition says that it will seize the administrative court, but it brings no proof that the decree has not been posted. On our side, we did not move, unless the administrative court were to find us wrong… But I see no comment, and provided that the opposition goes to the end of its approach. »
The opposition denounces the “opacity” of the majority
Behind this controversy, the opposition denounces as a whole the “opacity” of the municipality around its measures concerning paid parking. “We deplore that the revision of the parking policy in Bordeaux was so badly managed from start to finish and again requested that all transparency be made on this file”, continues the Renouveau Bordeaux group, which also disputes the consultation carried out by the town hall “in the context of a highly disputed and questionable questionnaire. Ditto on the side of Nicolas Florian who regrets “the lack of explanations” in this file.
“Everything has been done to ensure that local residents are made aware of this decree, retorts Patrick Papadato, there have been meetings, debates, I do not understand these accusations of opacity. For him, the debate is to know “if we are for or against resident parking in these sectors”, and according to him “a large part of the population is waiting for this measure”.
“We took our decision on the consultation carried out, that’s why the Boulevards passed by paying, as well as the Parc Bordelais, and that on the other sectors where the inhabitants were mainly against, we decided not to apply it. »