Toulouse. That the avenue des Etats-Unis does not become a disaster area
The Minimes-Barrière de Paris residents’ committee is worried about the future of the avenue des Etats-Unis. metro, in Fondeyre. “The car dealers who have allowed themselves there since the 1960s are about to be replaced by real estate projects, notes Catherine Ortolan, a resident of the district since 1962. This raises questions”. And to detail: “The plot of the ex-Citroën will accommodate 400 homes with 11-storey buildings. On that of Peugeot formerly, are announced 370 homes, a school group and the Fondeyre station. On the plot of formerly Ford , a Carrefour Market has sprung up, preserving, at the request of the Committee, the large umbrella pines.Finally, on the plot of the ex-Renault, the mayor announced in his campaign for 2020, a green space of 20,000 m2. residents are asking for a closed park similar to the Nougaro garden at Les Minimes and want this green lung to be included in the PlUih. The inhabitants know what they want or not”. According to Daniel Heitz of Toulouse Accordéon, “with the new constructions, we are witnessing the end of the identity and heritage of this district”. Pharmacist, Frédérique Faury regrets seeing the avenue turn into a dormitory. “I fear that this avenue will be a second La Vache or Silvio Trentin”. However, optimists do exist. Such Bruno Miquel, eyewear-optician, installed since 2016: “I believe in the future of this avenue. It should follow the improvement of the avenue des Minimes even if a renewal of the population is inevitable”. President of the merchants association, André Schroun has been working on this avenue for 34 years: “It is the lack of land that has harmed businesses, he says. This avenue is favorable to commerce. All you need is good professionals and everything starts again”. This opinion delights Cécile Dufraisse, mayor of the district, who refuses to qualify as “disaster” a place in full urban change with the arrival of the metro and the MIN, the locomotive of the district. The elected official believes “to encourage businesses, you have to urbanize in an intelligent way”.