The Stade de France, the glittering centerpiece of the Paris Olympics, is less than 500 meters from Fran Moisin's crumbling mansion, plagued by poverty and crime.
Samia Achoi, a secretary who lives in one of the gray areas where drug trafficking is rampant, does not have a ticket to watch the Olympics.
Instead, she will hear cheers and applause echoing down the canal from her window.
Despite its name, the Paris Olympics are primarily held in the Seine-Saint-Denis, on the other side of the “periphery” ring road that separates France's capital and some of its poorest and most notorious suburbs, known as the banlieues. .
The densely populated working-class district of northern Paris is home to four of the major Olympic venues, the Olympic Village, and other major Olympic venues.
Paris' marketing pitch for the Olympics, to be held from July 26 to August 11, is focused on regenerating a region that has absorbed wave after wave of immigrants and has one of the country's youngest populations. was. One-third of the country's 1.6 million people live below the poverty line.
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France is using the Olympics not only to accelerate the redevelopment underway there, but also to rebuild the city, a collection of crime-infested ghettos created during the suburban riots that began in Seine-Saint-Denis in 2005. He wants to change the enthusiastic image of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Its reputation took a further hit in the global media after the debacle in which soccer fans were attacked and robbed on their way to the Stade de France for the 2022 Champions League final.
Mohamed Gunabari remains optimistic about how the Olympics will help change Seine-Saint-Denis.
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The mayor of Ile Saint-Denis, the narrow island in the Seine where part of the Olympic Village is being built, is “obsessed” with making the Olympics “the people's games.”
His small municipality received 7,000 tickets, or one ticket for almost every resident.
The island, home to many miserable apartment blocks, has been transformed by construction work for the Olympics.
But the mayor's decision comes despite renewed violence in poor suburbs across France and the ransacking of his City Hall after police shot dead a teenager during a traffic stop on the outskirts of Paris last June. He is now determined to get the most out of the Olympics.
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“We've been working on this for three years,” says Gunabari, who is proud that the island is also home to the Olympic “Africa Station,” a fan zone dedicated to African culture and sport. he said.
“We have struggled (with all the work), but this will not only transform our city, but also make us the center of the nuclear reactor,” the mayor stressed. “We will not be left behind in the Olympics.”
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His optimism is not shared by everyone in Seine-Saint-Denis.
“There are two extremes,” said Cecil Gintrak of the local watchdog group Vigilance JO. Due to all the Olympic road closures and restrictions, “some parts of Paris will have huge parties, while other areas will not be able to go to work or travel.”
Moussa Sila, 45, a delivery driver who lives in Fran Moisin's mansion, which is also undergoing major renovations, said he breaks out in a cold sweat thinking about the chaos.
“It's going to be a nightmare to walk around,” he said.
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These days, it's hard to go anywhere in Seine-Saint-Denis without seeing scaffolding and cranes constructing an entirely new neighborhood.
The Olympics are a long-term effort to strengthen the sector, which began with the symbolic decision to build the Stade de France there in the run-up to the 1998 World Cup, won by France's “Rainbow” multi-ethnic team. This is part of the
Paris' high real estate prices and the upcoming major expansion of the Seine-Saint-Denis metro system, Europe's largest infrastructure project, have made the sector attractive to developers.
Companies such as Tesla are moving their French headquarters to former industrial areas where factories have long been closed.
“We need to find a second wind in Seine-Saint-Denis and maintain jobs,” said Isabel Valentin, number two at Solideo, the state agency responsible for implementing the Olympic project.
He added that Seine-Saint-Denis' “extremely dilapidated housing needs to be developed.”
The bulk of the tournament's 4.5 billion euros (about $4.8 billion) construction budget has gone into the drive, with the sector the big winner, receiving around 80% of the 1.7 billion euros in public funding. Private investment is more difficult to quantify, but is probably not far behind.
The Olympic Village is the Games' biggest construction project and is itself a brand new environmental precinct, accommodating 14,250 athletes and their support teams and 6,000 Paralympians.
Built in a former industrial area on the banks of the Seine, it is architecturally diverse, with many buildings overlooking the river. All buildings under eight stories are constructed of wood, and all of the village's energy comes from heat pumps and renewable energy.
Once the Paralympics are over, the village will be transformed into a mix of apartments and offices, with the first of 6,000 new residents expected to move in early next year, followed by a similar number of workers.
However, only a third of the 2,800 apartments will be sold on the open market.
In contrast to previous tournaments such as London, where organizers were accused of “gentrification on an industrial scale” and failing to keep promises to local residents, Solideo's Valentin urged developers to “first He said he insisted on responding to (local) housing needs.
Therefore, depending on the three municipalities the village spans, between 25 and 40 per cent of the apartments will be provided for social housing, with the remainder being rented out at “affordable” rents through semi-public housing associations.
Another big headline in Seine-Saint-Denis is the construction of a much-needed new pool.
The most eye-catching feature is the Olympic Aquatic Center. Opposite the Stade de France, the grand, undulating wooden structure is where medals for diving, water polo and artistic swimming are decided.
A main Olympic pool will also be built, which will be demolished and divided into two after the Olympics, and a new training pool will also be built. The organizers are also helping with the expenses of the other two.
Olympic sites are popping up like confetti across the Seine-Saint-Denis, and the small town of Duny is likely to be transformed by the Olympics.
Its population is expected to increase by a third as housing is built on land taken over from the Olympic media cluster. Duny, which has traditionally had poor access to public transport, is using the Olympics to diversify its housing stock, with 77 per cent of its housing stock being social housing, the highest proportion in France.
A third of the 1,400 new homes will be set aside to help people get onto the property ladder.
Quentin Gesell, the young mayor of Dany, said many of his friends “have had to leave because people who grew up in Dany, like me, can't buy or rent here.” . [their incomes being too high for social housing] When they wanted to be close to family. ”
Another, more subtle change is likely to come through a series of new pedestrian bridges connecting areas long separated by the highways and rail lines that crisscross the province.
Near the Franmoisin mansion, a walking and cycling bridge is being built over the Canal Saint-Denis to the Stade de France, replacing an old and unreliable rotating road bridge and steep staircase crossing.
“It's a nightmare to cross here now,” said Karen, a mother of three. “You have to fold up the stroller and hold the baby in your other arm. So this is really great. It's a real plus for the community.”
The bridge, which had been discussed for years, was made possible by the Games, who paid for two-thirds of the 10.5 million euro cost.
Stéphane Trussel, the socialist chief of the Seine-Saint-Denis city council, told AFP that the Olympics had become a “pivotal point for accelerating the transformation” of the ministry.
“In record time, we have succeeded in delivering vast amounts of infrastructure, housing, roads and bridges,” he said.
However, the province's unemployment rate is 10.4%, nearly one-third higher than the national average, and there are doubts about the employment promised in the province.
“The Games are hiring. Find a job!” proclaimed a flyer for an Olympic job fair near Charles de Gaulle Airport in December.
“I've been there many times and it's always the same,” said Fuad Yousfi, who was moving between stands looking for cleaners and pastry chefs. “It's not the kind of company you'd want to work for, and the pay is often low.”
Stéphane Laurent, 47, wanted to “get a job quickly” but left another trade fair in Saint-Denis, offering to train as a much-needed security guard at the event. Ta.
According to official estimates, around 180,000 people will be involved in the Games, but most will be on short-term contracts, including the 6,000 hired by Sodexo to cater for the Olympic Village.
“To be honest, there's probably a mismatch between what was expected of the Olympics and the level of unemployment and insecurity that we have,” said former CGT trade union leader and Olympic Committee member. said Bernard Thibault, a member of the committee.
Local companies also benefited, winning contracts worth 330 million euros, according to the Seine-Saint-Denis city council.
But some question whether the economic benefits of the Olympics are being filtered through.
“We are one of the winners,” said Mehdi Orejifi of Service Persos, a local nonprofit that won part of the Olympic Village laundry contract. “However, given the windfall that the Games brought, local businesses and return-to-work plans in general are disappointed,” he added.
But beyond the economic and infrastructure benefits, one of the Olympics' greatest legacies may be how the Seine-Saint-Denis is viewed.
Police have already stepped up raids targeting drug dealers, street vendors and other people who “monopoly public space”, and a large-scale security operation is being planned for the Games themselves.
But last week, a police station was attacked after a young man was killed by a police car during a pursuit, and in October the head of a Mongolian delegation stole nearly €600,000 worth of jewelry on his way to a security committee meeting. After it was taken away, the negative effects became greater. Old images prove difficult to shake off.
As it welcomes visitors from around the world this summer, the city of Seine-Saint-Denis wants to write a new history that foregrounds diversity and possibility, rather than crime and sporadic outbreaks of violence.
Back at Fran Moisin's mansion, Karine prays that the “visualization” will be a good thing for everyone.
“I hope it's well organized, because if it's like the football (chaotic scenes before the 2022 Champions League final), Saint-Denis' image will plummet again.”
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