Toulouse. The opposition calls for “making part of the Garonne accessible for swimming”
By Guillaume Laurent
Published on
“We are facing a mayor who, for eight years, has been in climate inaction”. Co-presidents of the Alternative municipaliste citoyenne (AMC) group in Toulouse, Agatha Roby and Maxime LeTexier castigated Tuesday, September 13, 2022 the policy of a “town hall that does nothing or almost nothing” in the matter. And this, while the planet is burning: “We are experiencing a historic drought, we still had record temperatures yesterday… And we have not yet measured the number of deaths that there may have been this summer because of the heat wave and drought”. Faced with heat phenomena induced to repeat themselves in recent years, the opposition invokes “strong measures”, and puts some ideas on the table.
A mayor who “does not take the measure” of the emergency?
Convinced that “Cities and Metropolises are a good scale to fight against climate change”, Agathe Roby and Maxime Le Texier are, to say the least, skeptical about the remarks of the tenant of the Capitol in an interview granted to Toulouse News Monday. “Surprised by Jean-Luc Moudenc’s response” to the climate emergency, the pair believes that the aedile “does not take action what there is to do”, and regrets that he “spends his time self-congratulate”.
“At Jean-Luc Moudenc, there is no vision, he goes with the wind,” laughs Maxime Le Texier. “What has been done? Not much “. And they regret that at the end of this scorching summer, “there is no no click. We are behind on everything or almost everything, ”unleashes the elected official, amazed that Toulouse Métropole has not “no structuring plan” for its future: “There is no urban transport plan, no PLUIH (local inter-municipal urban plan) and an insufficient PCAET (territorial climate-air-energy plan). The only project they credit to Jean-Luc Moudenc: “This 3e metro line which is waved like a totem”, but which “is in the process of sinking the finances of the Metropolis”.
” In ten years we are going to cook in Toulouse, and it will be unlivable”, thunders his sidekick Agathe Roby. “In 2050, we will live with the climate of Marrakech”, re-emphasizes Maxime Le Texier. “We must rethink the city”.
“We don’t have enough swimming pools”, defends Agathe Roby
While many people in Toulouse were deprived of swimming in the open air this summer – Lac de la Ramée having been plagued by cyanobacteria and several public swimming pools like Nakache and Chapou having technical problems -, Agathe Roby retorted: “Access to water is insufficient in Toulouse”.
If Jean-Luc Moudenc believes that “among the big cities of France, Toulouse is one of those with the most public swimming pools”, Agathe Roby rebukes the “swimming pool plan” of the majority, “insufficient” in her eyes, to as much as in Toulouse, she says, “we don’t have enough pools.
“Strasbourg puts three times as much money as us into its swimming pool plan! In Toulouse, there is no planning. However, when it’s 40°C outside, it’s crucial to have access to water Instead, the Nakache Pool is collapsing…”
A swimming pool policy “intended only for athletes”
“We have a swimming pool plan which very poorly prioritizes what needs to be done, with a policy intended for athletes only and not to the general public, ”continues the municipal councilor, member of La France Insoumise. “The city only has Nordic pools, made for swimmers, i.e. 5% of Toulouse residents. But on a need for learning pools and playful spaces.
“What new swimming pool have we integrated in Toulouse? asks Agathe Roby again. “We must develop the offer” and build new pools intended for leisure. The opposition, which confirmed “that at La Ramée, we knew that there were going to be problems with bacteria”, deplores on this subject as on others that the majority did not “no forward-looking vision”.
How about swimming… in the Garonne?
While the heat waves are set to repeat themselves in recent years, to allow as many Toulouse residents as possible to cool off, Agathe Roby puts a proposal on the table: make the Garonne open to swimming in the future.
“We could make part of the Garonne accessible to swimming, at the level of the Prairie des Filtres”.
“It is possible, but it requires a long-term policy”, continues the elected official, who develops: “Swimming could be authorized on the Garonne during the summer season which tends to lengthen, that is from spring to the beginning of autumn “. This could be offered to all Toulouse residents of cool off without doing tens of kilometres, while many rush, for example, to Lake Saint-Ferréol, and other picturesque spots: “We currently have too few bathing areas in the immediate vicinity of Toulouse, and you often have to go relatively far to find it”, especially if La Ramée is closed almost all summer!
“We must green the city everywhere”
Another subject of concern for the elected officials of AMC: the municipality is, according to them, quicker to “concret” and “pull up the trees”, than to plant them, or to sketch any “vegetation plan”. “Jean-Luc Moudenc’s remarks on this subject are lunar”, sweeps Maxime Le Texier, depicting a first magistrate who “has never seen IPCC scientists”, but who is eager “for scoops, powder in the eyes, and communication actions”.
As for the famous “100,000 tree plan” supported by the Moudenc majority by 2030, it does not convince the opposition: “They are all planted outside heat islands, mostly in Pech David, but it takes 50 years for them to grow…” Even though in some new neighborhoods, we already have to review the copy:
“On Place Hersant, as in Montaudran, we are going to replant trees… after integrating the squares!”
On the urban planning project Grand Matabiauconsidering that “for the time being, the town hall is not very ambitious”, the group calls for “studying the establishment of cool islands” while there is still time.
Rather than resolving to a “discard speech”, or to pour into “guilt” of Toulouse residents – Jean-Luc Moudenc called on them on Monday to green the facades of their buildings -, the mayor could better work twice as hard: “We must green the city everywhere, and in a balanced way. To prevent “the promoters from razing the trees”, they call on the community to “legislate on private plots” and to “declare the tree as a common good”.
A toll-free number to put on a hat this winter?
While the dreaded outbreak of energy price risks leading to “a crisis of the power to live, opposition politicians fear: “Energy poverty will explode”.
“This town hall prefers to destroy and rebuild rather than renovate,” says Agathe Roby, who deplores that the community has put in place “a plan [de rénovation énergétique, ndlr] incomprehensible to the locals. Unlike others, there is no demanding city charter vis-à-vis construction professionals, ”engages Maxime Le Texier. “Developers do what they want on the quality of the building and still build thermal liabilities.
“What is going to be done to allow the inhabitants to get through the winter? asks Maxime Le Texier. “Are we going to have a toll-free number to suggest that Toulouse residents put on a hat and drink hot tea? »
The duo calls on the Moudenc team to take strong measures to “protect” Toulouse residents, with for example “the implementation of shared energy contracts”, or “the establishment of rent control”, a idea that the mayor had already evacuated. He also invites him to change gear on the front of renewable energies and in particular photovoltaics, because “after the success achieved on the Oncopole, the solar potential is under-exploited in Toulouse”.
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