Several women from the Air-Bel city went up to the podium, this Saturday, at the foot of the buildings, in front of a hundred inhabitants. They are members of various associations in this district of the 11th arrondissement of Marseille and organized a public meeting to inform the population about the urban renewal project (PRU). A plan at 180 million euros to rehabilitate this 21-hectare complex where 6,000 people live. It provides for the destruction of several buildings. Some 300 families must therefore be rehoused.
This city has sometimes made the headlines for cases of drug trafficking and settling of scores, but also for legionnaire’s disease problems in the outdated pipes of its buildings.
How to relocate us? Where ?
The concern can be read on the faces of the people concerned. Many questions in the crowd: “Why are we demolishing the building? How can we be relocated? Where?”
A city that is home to several generations
The idea of leaving Air-Bel makes Josiane’s husband sick. The retired couple live in the city for 48 years. “My husband no longer sleeps at night, he got an ulcer”, testifies the Marseillaise. “He saw the neighbor move, he saw the trunks and the furniture downstairs, he came back up and he told me he had a stomach ache and he couldn’t take it anymore.”
– Clementine Sabrie
If Josiane and her husband are dejected at the idea of leaving the city inaugurated in 1972, Hélène has decided to fight: “It’s clear, I refuse to leave, they will bring down the building with me in it!” The retiree raised her children and grandchildren here, she explains thatshe feels good about it even though she hasn’t been able to use her bathtub for several weeks.
A charter for the respect of tenants
On the small stage at the foot of the towers, Rania Aougaci of the Association of tenants tries to dispel fears by detailing the possible remedies and the steps to follow to avoid having to be relocated. The associations have drafted a charter that they want donors to sign and to the other players in this dossier, such as the Aix-Marseille Metropolis and the Marseille town hall. “It is neither more nor less than a list of guarantees that we ask for to maintain the rights and interests of the inhabitants”, explains Rania Aougaci.
At the top of the demands: “all the inhabitants who wish to be relocated to Air-Bel will be able to do so”. And there are many of them, as evidenced by the clamor when a woman at the podium launches: “Don’t forget that we love our neighborhood.”