DIJON: During his vows, François Rebsamen advocates “safe growth”
“I am delighted to verify that Dijon and the metropolis radiate, including in Côte-d’Or”, declared the president of the community, this Friday January 6, wishing the continuation of a development “oriented towards the protection of the environment”.
Traditional institutional meeting, the wishes of the mayor of Dijon and president of the Metropolis François Rebsamen (PS, FP), this Friday January 6, 2023, had the particularity of being placed at mid-term. The opportunity to draw up a balance sheet and outline prospects.
According to the community, nearly 2,800 people had settled in the Zenith to follow this ceremony. In the first rows, were present in particular the deputies of the Côte-d’Or Didier Martin (PR, RE) and Fadila Khattabi (RE), Marie-Guite Dufay (PS), president of the regional council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, and Franck Robine, prefect of the Côte-d’Or, surrounded by artists – including the painter Yan Pei-Ming and the director in Dominique Pitoiset -, hospital workers, academics, religious, soldiers, police or representatives of consular chambers and various ministries.
All in front of the speaker, had taken place of young members of the municipal council of children and, behind him, municipal councilors of Dijon as well as metropolitan councilors.
After the health crisis, a thought for caregivers
After two canceled ceremonies, in 2021 and 2022, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, François Rebsamen seriously begins his remarks by testifying to his “consideration” for caregivers and his “compassion” for the victims of the coronavirus.
The first wish of the chairman of the supervisory board of the CHU Dijon Bourgogne therefore concerns the French health system when he observes “a real deterioration in the working conditions of health personnel” and “staff needs that “we will have to treat in depth”.
Incidentally, François Rebsamen supports the approach of the mayor of Nevers Denis Thuriot who is working to establish an air link to facilitate the arrival of doctors from the CHU Dijon Bourgogne at the hospital center of the agglomeration of Nevers (read our article).
“Cherish the Republic”
War in Ukraine, demonstrations in Iran or Afghanistan… François Rebsamen sees “a world leaning towards the dark side” and salutes “courageous women ready to make any sacrifice for freedom”. “Religion cannot justify the horrors committed by these mullahs”.
The speaker therefore considers that it is the “duty” of French citizens to “cherish [la] Republic, to keep the values of fraternity, freedom of opinion, expression and secularism alive without slackening”.
“It is shameful that the fanatics have zeal and that the wise do not have any,” says François Rebsamen, quoting Voltaire, thinking of the younger generations represented by the elected officials of the municipal children’s council.
“Unworthy situation” in terms of university restaurants
Going from school pupils to students, the President of the Metropolis addresses the subject of the capacity of collective catering on the Dijon campus of the University of Burgundy, a subject which falls under the CROUS Bourgogne-Franche-Comté: “40,000 students and only two university restaurants, this situation on the CROUS seems unworthy to me”.
With the University of Burgundy, the new training in odontology, the Burgundy School of Business, the branch of Science Po, the higher school of art, the ESTP, the ESEO, the ESIREM, the Ferrandi school Paris, the higher school of music or even the school of gendarmerie, the metropolis could reach 45,000 students by 2028.
The “dynamics” of the Dijon metropolis
The president of the Métropole de Dijon points out the economic “dynamic” of the regional capital of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté with the flagships of the health industries in particular.
François Rebsamen sees there the explanation of the “demographic growth” of the territory: Dijon passing from 149,000 to 162,000 inhabitants in twenty years, the metropolis reaching 262,000 inhabitants.
“I hope that Dijon can continue its development”
“I would like Dijon to be able to continue its transformation and its development, particularly geared towards protecting the environment,” said the speaker. The number of trees having become a totem between the socialist and his opponents, François Rebsamen reports that Dijon will have “82,000 trees or shrubs” by the end of 2023.
Other markers of development, the cultural and sporting offer, the public transport network, the “particularly low” unemployment rate, trade “with a particularly low commercial vacancy”, “innovative” companies and the “push towards ‘international’ are reviewed.
The Dijon metropolis has 93,700 private employees in the third quarter of 2022, after the creation of 1,430 jobs in one year, i.e. a higher level of jobs than before the health crisis.
“It’s not our fault if cities like Châtillon or Beaune lose inhabitants”, comments François Rebsamen who quotes Senator François Patriat (RE): “it’s not because we are poorer that the others will be more wealth.
Launch of a second phase of the metropolitan campus
The announcements chapter begins with the projects in progress or soon to begin: renovation of the Grand Théâtre, renovation of the metropolitan sports center in Saint-Apollinaire, renovation of the nautical base at Kir lake, work on the Ahuy interchange, inauguration of the vegetable…
In 2023, a new metropolitan campus project will be launched in the vicinity of the current one, around the crossroads of rue de Mirande and boulevard Gabriel, in Dijon. It will house the expansion of the current CESI engineering school.
“We consume less water than ten years ago”
This will also be the year of the launch of studies to consider the extension of the public transport network to the south and east by using either the tram or the bus on its own lane (read our article).
François Rebsamen then defended “[l’]firm and resolute commitment to ecological transition” by referring to the RESPONSE-H2020 project, the urban heating network, the carbon-free hydrogen project, LED relamping and water sanitation.
The speaker even intends to undermine “fake news”: “know today that with 12,000 more inhabitants in the city and as many in the metropolis, we consume less water than ten years ago” .
“We can still believe in our ability to assess, even with growth provided that this growth is safe growth which obviously preserves the ecological future of our territories”, he analyzes.
“Building our future within a strong Europe”
“I am delighted to verify that Dijon and the metropolis attract, that they radiate, including in Côte-d’Or and I have no intention of slowing down ambition”, punctuates François Rebsamen.
More generally, faced with the disorders in the world mentioned above, the speaker invokes “solidarity” and “fraternity” to “build our future within a strong Europe”.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon