A café, a PMU, a youth center… these are the types of establishments that are lacking in the district of La Châtaigneraie, classified as a priority for city policy. With the urban planning project carried out between 2012 and 2017, the population has increased sharply without the following support structures recognizing the town hall. Unlike Saige, the other priority district of the city, between the different buildings the inhabitants, young and old, have no places to meet in all conviviality and safety. And if the latter seem to adapt to it, the former often end up ending up at the bottom of the infamous “tower 42”. This tower and its surroundings are often the scene of violent scenes like this Monday, April 25, when police and young residents of the neighborhood exchanged fire from flash-balls and mortars.
A situation that exhausts some residents like Murielle, a childminder who has lived in La Châtaigneraie for 17 years, but also saddens many. “I understand these young people, they are always there, they always see the same things, they are terribly bored, they lack accompaniment and support” says Patricia, also a childminder. Biggie one of “these young ones” confides that with his friends they would like to have “a place for them, where to play the game and watch football when there is”. But that’s not the case then, he admits spending a lot of time outside “in the entries”.
A situation that the town hall of Pessac takes very seriously, especially during the New Year period. For New Year’s Eve 2021, the city had deployed a whole prevention system, in particular by dispatching a large group of mediators for the evening. Sporting and cultural activities had also been planned with the social centers of the district. The young people had notably participated in the preparation of a solidarity meal and the rehearsal of a play related at the time by our colleagues from France 3 Aquitaine. Today Pascale Pavone, the first deputy mayor, recognizes that there may have been a “relaxation” on the part of the municipality, but that they are going to look again at the problems of the district with the various local actors, such as educators, animators of the social center, the inhabitants, the police… The town hall of Pessac also planned to inaugurate a local police station on Monday, May 9, it will be the first in the Metropolis.
This post should make it possible to renew the dialogue between the forces of order and the inhabitants, it is in any case what hopes Pascale Pavone the first assistant to the town hall: “the police officers must not only be seen in the repression but also in the accompaniment. A good idea in theory, according to an educator from the association Action Jeunesse Pessac, who has been present in the neighborhood every day for a year, because in the past the local police had good relations with the inhabitants, but today he is not sure that it works as well: “there are so many liabilities, for many young people the uniform represents the enemy”.
Among the other infrastructures that should see the light of day: a fixed mediator post and a youth center by 2023. These upcoming openings should allow some changes in the daily life of the inhabitants.