Find part 1 here.
Today, Givors has councils in 9 different districts and there were 6 citizen hotlines, does participatory democracy characterize Givors according to you?
When I was part of one of the offices and one of the neighborhood committees, we realized that the people who held these committees belonged to the town hall. They were doing pure patronage. That is to say that if we voted for the town hall we were listened to and if we did not agree with them, we were not listened to. The democratic spirit was not really in place. In addition, the idea of having running mates in different quarters was precisely so that we could have ears on the quarters and react quickly. We will obviously have to involve the population because we cannot have infused science, we cannot know everything and we need the inhabitants. My campaign, today, I do it door to door. The program that I created follows door to door, listening to the Givordins: what is wrong with Givors, what are the 10 key points that should be improved. I drew on their comments to create my program.
However, in the municipal elections of 2020, there was 70% abstention. How do you explain that? How do you make people want to take an interest in politics and get involved?
There were two things: the Covid and 63 years of communism in Givors. The people were crushed; we saw it in all the associative demonstrations where a large majority of associations were subsidized by the city. For my association for the protection of nature, we asked for subsidies, if only to offer the scouts a meal at noon because they came to help us, but it was refused by the old majority. There was nothing that changed, the wild rodeos for example. Even though there was a municipal police, they did nothing. We pauperized the city, we engaged in patronage and we clearly did not want to change the image of Givors. It is imperative that Givors return to the hands of all Givordins, that the inhabitants are listened to and participate.
There are therefore nearly 20,100 inhabitants in Givors, what means do you want to implement to build more housing?
Do we have a vocation to become a city of 25-30,000 inhabitants or is it in our interest to stay within the 20,000 inhabitants? It will be the Givordins who will decide. We do not have land that is expandable either, even if we still have a lot of land. My reflection will be on social housing; today in Givors we are at more than 46% of social housing. We were talking about the property tax: only 24% of Givordins pay it. In my opinion, there is a rebalancing to be found. We have a lot of social housing that could be bought by the population so that the inhabitants become owners of their homes and that they can pass on a heritage to their children. Today, the State has put a lot of phenomena in place to help buy: 0-rate loans, first-time buyers. Currently the rates have never been so low and I think for tenants this would be a real opportunity.
What means do you plan to put in place to promote the development of social diversity?
Social diversity, of course, but with everyone. You have to do with all the inhabitants. I know the working-class neighborhoods very well since I lived there and we are lucky to have decent, well-equipped accommodation, with intercoms and wood-fired boilers. We still have neighborhoods that could be attractive if we remove these incivilities, and give them importance, which has not been done today. We have to take care of it.
We were previously talking about transport, particularly with the TER, what are you going to put in place with the region?
In terms of the TER, there should be a better timing of train traffic, because a train every 20 minutes during peak hours is not possible! The TER must become an RER. Otherwise, we don’t have to worry about mobility, we are very well served with many roads. The only downside is the traffic jams at the Givors motorway point in the morning, precisely because we are lowering speeds in the Metropolis, we are reducing access. We also have buses from the Rhône and TCLs.
Unemployment has been increasing since 2008. What do you want to do to develop employment?
The unemployment rate in Givors is quite staggering, we must be at 28%. We are three times the national average. We will really have to support young and old alike. The rehabilitation of wastelands will be a solution. And then, we absolutely have to find partnerships with businesses. I insist on the fact that apprenticeship makes it possible to develop the chances for a young person to integrate into economic life, an idea that I had defended during a municipal council and I was one of the only municipal councilors in speak. To develop it, you have to create relationships with companies, which has never been done until today. We have two Givordine associations which bring together companies, with whom it would be good to work to favor our young and old in companies. It will also go through the public market.
What do you plan to do more broadly in terms of integration?
The insertion already passes through the will; that is to say that today many people are desperate because they have been on the margins of society for a long time. We will have to integrate them into the systems to motivate them to join this program. We have many associations to integrate people, to give them back social links and also several training courses.
You are president of an association for the preservation of nature. What steps do you want to take to improve environmental conditions as mayor?
Cleanliness is the business of humans, but the environment is also about animals and wildlife. We will have to reconcile the two. Today, the problem is that we have a motorway that cuts the two Coteaux de Montrond and Pilat and that the fauna is stuck between these two mountains. I therefore want us to create a biological corridor that will allow wild animals to cross the two mountains, in collaboration with the Region. It will pass either under the highway or over it. We must also fight against the overpopulation of cats. Cats kill for pleasure and we see less and less sparrows and other birds in our city. The solution would be to sterilize them.
In terms of cleanliness, the living environment of the Givordins must be ensured, in particular through video protection, municipal police and road teams. When we see wild waste reception centers, we should set up tolerance 0. I take the example of the banks of the Rhône and the banks of the Giers, the river and the river that cross our city, where we had left, I believe, near 150 tonnes of waste. The situation had been left to rot. At the level of Vernes, it’s the same. There are armchairs, washing machines. I understand that people do not have means of transport, but at that time, they ask the town hall to come and collect their bulky items. On the other hand, the person who does not have this difficulty, because we still have waste reception centers in Givors, and he does not do it, the municipal police will have to do their job.
We also have “Ville fleurie” competition systems. For the last term, there was a real failure of communication with the former mayor and the teams, because many are on sick leave, many have resigned. However, we had great teams in terms of green spaces, good equipment, a nursery. We really have the means to make the city pleasant.
How do we work with associations, especially for young people?
Givors is really endowed with beautiful sports and associative facilities. At the MJC level, you can go diving and painting. We have the sports structures of a worthy city of 40,000 inhabitants; that is, today you can do any sport, sport shooting, soccer, rugby, archery. We also have the Givordines games, with a team which finished 2ᵉ in the last competition in France. These are sports that bring everyone together and create a social bond. We even have a few disabled sports, although more should be developed. We should use these sports structures more and communicate more about sports events to attract young people. Then you really have to involve all the clubs and make a sports calendar. I decided in my program to offer a nautical base in Givors, it will not cost millions because we already have the equipment: the Rhône river, the Giers river and the river stop.
I also launched the patriotic spirit with a patriotic label for our young Givordins. Those who will get involved in associations that love France, who like to live it in the French way will be recognized. We are going to help them get their driving license, we are going to create this label for them that they can put on their CV to show that they have been of service to associations, such as popular relief. We will highlight these young people. Afterwards, each association with a social vocation will of course be helped and included in the budget.
We were talking about MJC, but there is also a theater and a cultural center in Givors. Do you have the feeling that Givors leaves enough room for culture?
In terms of budget, culture is representative in the same way as sports associations. In my running mate, I have a painter who will bring me a lot of ideas on this. I attended many concerts at the Madiba mill, at the MJC. Unfortunately with the Covid-19, most associations have been in stand-by. We will really have to help them get started again, and sit around a table to see their financial need.
There is a nursing home in Givors and a hospital center for 20,100 inhabitants. In your opinion, has everything been done at Givors to provide access to healthcare?
As in many cities in France, health is really in danger. We are sorely lacking in doctors and specialists. Why on the outskirts, in other towns, are we able to recruit doctors and why we can’t do it in Givors? This is really the dilemma. This problem will have to be resolved. I think that the bad image of Givors makes that the doctors do not want to settle in this city. It will really be necessary to reinforce the aid to the installation, to find them premises, to create multidisciplinary houses. There is a health center project that has been initiated, I would support it. In my program, I absolutely want the Bertholon-Mourier site to serve as a home for seniors. It’s a great project, we have more than 12 hectares of land on site.
There was also no mass vaccination center in Givors and the vaccination rate is relatively low compared to the national average. Many people have refused to be vaccinated, either for ideological reasons or due to a lack of communication. I hope to be able to encourage the Givordins to be vaccinated through awareness campaigns, communication, posters, light panels.
