Down town appeal

L'ambition de l'association Vitrines d'Angers "Casser l'image d'un centre ville inaccessible" converge avec celle du maire de dynamiser le commerce.

"It is necessary to break the image of downtown as an inaccessible place". The statement of Christophe Barbieux, the president of Vitrines d'Angers, a community of store keepers and craftsmen of Angers, points out - and reminds - one of the main explanations about the current difficulties for his members in that part of the city. A few years ago, it was said that the contruction of the tramway line had reduced the attractiveness of the centre. But once the works completed, the conditions remained complicated. Later, the retail traders claimed that the policy of the (former) city council, whose project of a pavement tax was a tense episode of its relationship with the store owners, made things difficult for them.

It seems now that, even if those conditions had have some consequencies, new sources of difficulties have been since identified : the settlement of commercial centres in and around Angers where car parks are free while they are charged in town. The new city council has recently made a first move through the first no charged hour for car owners in the municipal car parks (what infuriated the city council minority).

That became urgent. A few days ago, the president of the Angers commercial court made clear that the economic situation was very unfavourable for the Angers storekeepers. Christophe Béchu, the Angers mayor, has recently announced that new measures would be in the pipes in order to make the "centre ville" more attractive. They were mentioned in his platform : to develop the animations and to implement a home delivery service. Those would be a favourable field of involvement for the town councillors and the Vitrines d'Angers members. Downtown could be the frontside of the new city council policy.

Statements considered as problematic heard from an Angers town councillor

Une manifestation en faveur de l'arrêt des bombardements israéliens sur les populations palestiniennes de la bande de Gaza a donné lieu de la part d'un participant, élu municipal, à des déclarations inattendues, diversement appréciées des associations organisatrices et juridiquement répréhensibles. 

After a lot of demonstrations of support to the Palestinian people settled in the Gaza territory took place in France, some of them having led to violent endings, the one of Angers, organized on July 26 in Ralliement square, was pacific but nevertheless gave rise to unexpected statements from an city council member. That one, member of the minority side of the municipal assembly, reacted to the Israël bombardments over Gaza in a way that triggered disapproving comments from various communities sponsoring the demonstration.

"If a person who is against bombardments of children is qualified as anti-Semitic, then yes, I am anti-Semitic and at ease with that", heard the Angers medias from him, otherwise holder of medical responsabilities at the Angers hospital. Some participants at the demonstration criticized him for his statements : "What you are saying doen't favour our cause", told him one of them. Later, that one gave to his statements explainations related to a French political trend which, apparently, have nothing to see with the current Israel conflict in Gaza (where the islamist resistance movement Hamas - until now - didn't respect Onu ceasefires) : "Since 20 years, I watch the settlement [in France] of a war machine shifting the cordon sanitaire from the National Front towards the Muslim population".


A few months ago [Adb, February 22n 2014 : "Municipal campaign : a religion shows its faith", the same person had defined is political identity on religious and ethnic grounds and, criticizing the conditions in which his coreligionists practised to their cult, pleaded for the erection of religious buildings in Angers districts. Recently the French prime minister, Manuel Valls, reminded (after the former France president Jacques Chirac) that "anti-Semitism was not an opinion, but an offense".

Angers tele has its audience but must make change its economic model

Les premières enquêtes d'audience d'Angers télé, la station locale lancée au début de l'année dernière, sont encourageants. Ils ont été en partie obtenus grâce aux élections municipales. La chaîne, dont l'identité parait bien installée chez les foyers angevins, doit cependant faire évoluer son modèle économique qui repose très largement sur des subsides publics. 

The first figures about the audience of Angers télé, the local tv station launched in January 2013 indicate the

channel is settled in the city and surroundings news landscape. About 77% of a panel questioned by Mediamétrie, a company dedicated to the measure of audience, know Angers télé even if that one is only accessible by 57% of the local households. About one third of the Angers Loire Métropole inhabitants has saw, at least one time, Angers télé programmes. If the number of Angers télé viewers are added, the channel has been watched, between September 2013 and June 2014, by 51,000 persons. 

Two events strenghtened the audience of the station : the municipal elections and the Pharrel Williams' clip. About 40,000 viewers per month watched the debates and the record soared until 200,000 viewers. The clip Angers télé promoted "We are happy from Angers" was seen by 1,200,000  internauts.

Nevertheless, according to local observers, the future of the channel, which came after Tv 10, then Angers 7, has yet to be made durable. The annual resources of Angers télé add up to 840,000 euros but 740,000 come from territorial authorities, the balance coming from private companies. The challenge would be, at least to increase that second part because the first, given the financial constraints on the city and the agglomeration, will not allow these to go beyond and indefinitely.

The Angers economy on the verge of collapse

L'activité du tribunal de commerce d'Angers laisse entrevoir que la situation économique locale est catastrophique et même proche de l'effondrement. Cette juridiction pourrait même devoir rester active en août tant les dossiers sont nombreux.

The situation of Maine-et-Loire companies which come to the Angers commercial court is disastrous. Things are "so serious that we can only liquidate them right from the beginning", laments Hervé Tréhard, the president of that jurisdiction. Mr. Tréhard notices an increase by 13% of the liquidations during the first semester of 2014 (236) vs. the first semester of the previous year (209) and ads that in 2013, "it was already catastrophic".

According to the magistrate, "The French economy is collapsing. I never saw [such a number of  receiverships] in July. This is phenomenal", warns the president who plans to open the commercial court in August while, ordinarily, that one is closed. And for a single morning, 53 cases were examined.

Credit Angers Loire Développement

The context is especially difficult in the contruction industry : "We attend a collapsing", saus very seriously Mr. Tréhard. Numerous housing schemes do not spring up or can't be sold. The turnover of that sector would decrease by more than 30% what doesn't predict a favourable future for employment. As a symbol, a local company whose workforce is beyond 200 persons would be close to liquidation. In the retail trade sector, things are not better.  Numerous stores have been liquidated : "There is a general drop of consumption".

Violent charge against the first no charged hour in Angers car parks

La gratuité de la première heure de parking, mais au-delà, la politique de déplacement et la redynamisation du commerce de centre ville ont été cette fois-ci, après les finances le mois dernier, le terrain d'un vif débat au conseil municipal entre élus de la majorité et de l'opposition.

Christophe Béchu

The first no charged hour in Angers car parks, and beyond, the town policy about the retail store business in down town, have been the field of arguments between municipal majority and minority. That measure was a promise of the mayor, during the electoral campaign. Such a characteristic was therefore propicious to a fierce debate insite Angers city council. The initiative would cost 840,000 € per year to town hall which will have to pay the operator of the parking lots instead of the drivers. For years, the retail store owners had complained about their difficulties given the prices of the car parks and the availability of no charged car parks in commercial centres in and around Angers.

Credit pictures : Angers city and Sara

According to Gilles Mahé, ecologist town councillor, "the decision is an aberation in the field of travelling policy, this is demagoguery". A few minutes later, another minority town councillor, Anthony Taillefait, pointed out that "the measure should be enrolled in the city communication budget instead of the commerce and travelling budgets". "You make the Angevins pay for a communication measure for a part of your faithful and unfailing electorate", that one sent out to the mayor, Christophe Béchu.

Gilles Mahé

Mr. Béchu replied that "there is no reason for a nuanced answer if the attacks are exaggerated", reminding that "during the previous term, the travels between the suroundings of the city and the city had increased by 40%. As for the commerce issue, that term was everything but a success". That initiative will be implemented from September first and, according to its sponsors, will strenghten the business in down town. Every first hour in the open air or built car parks (except the Ralliement where it will be charge 1 € in order to avoid uses of the facility disconnected with the commerce) will be free and a balance of the idea will be produced next year. But, before that, other measure will be drafted.

A train towards the hell

Le 20 juillet 1942 fut peut être une belle journée ensoleillée. Mais elle fut aussi, dans l'histoire d'Angers, l'une des plus sombres.

The most saddest day of Angers for centuries took place on July 20th 1942. Contemporaries maybe didn't realize that caracteristic even if that day was a Monday in spite of the previous one which was a Sunday. During that Sunday, and probably the week before, more than 800 people (824 exactly including 430 women) were gathered in Angers for a long, terrible and fatal journey for "the bottom of the night", because they were Jews.

On July 20th at 20 h 35, the train in which they were locked up
went away towards Auschwitz by Paris. At 20 h 35, Angers city was probably rather quiet and the train has maybe gone through a peaceful atmosphere. After three days, the "travellers" arrived in the extermination camp where they were separated according they were men or women, or rather, male of female.

The roundup was precisely prepared, with the help of the French police. Few informations were given to the families. Eighteen men and 3 women came back. Three of them were native from Angers : the Bergoffen, the Borland and the Moscovici. Three persons (one in each family) survived the extermination camp and learnt, back in Angers, that their relatives had died.

The Angers tea time

Boisson culte de la culture anglophone, le thé pourrait peut être dorénavant évoquer l'Anjou et Angers où Lagosta, une jeune entreprise d'assemblage de ces feuilles se réclame de cette double filiation.

Credit Picture : Lagosta

The English national beverage, tea, is now associated with Anjou. Lagosta is an Anjou tea brand which combines the history of Anjou and the symbol of the British way of life. The founder of the brand, Laurent Maupoint, offers several families of tea whose names are directly connected to the culture of the United Kingdom. One of those is rooted in the Plantagenêt dynasty which was the first reigning family in England. Nine famous Plantagenêt characters, William the conquer or Richard the Lionheart, have their names used for teas.

But, the filiation of Lagosta with English symbols, is mostly visible through... the tea family called "Sacrés Français" whose the Lagosta (French) website describes (in English) as "so hype, so cute, so Frenchy"! Another category ("Le grand bazar") includes itself numerous teas sounding English : Catfish Tea Room, Little Monster Tea but also the Anjou Vélo Vintage, the name of the cycling event so popular among English speaking tourists. "Les classiques" part of the Lagosta collection has its unavoidable "English Breakfast".

"Tea tells stories", notices quite rightly Lagosta in a video posted on its website,"A Lagosta tea for two", in which sections extract from famous English speaking movies are displaying the universal beverage. But Lagosta has not completely forgotten its kinks with Anjou and Angers : one of its teas is titled "Orange Cointreau", but that one can be enjoyed without restraint.

The Us Kfc fast food chain soon in Angers

La chaîne américaine Kentucky Fried Chicken va ouvrir son premier restaurant à Angers en novembre. La marque s'installera avenue Montaigne, à proximité du centre commercial Espace Anjou. Kfc était déjà présente dans de nombreuses agglomérations de l'Ouest de la France. 

Credit Picture : Wikipedia

After the McDonald's and Quick, a third fast food chain is about to open a restaurant in Angers. The Us group Kentucky Fried Chickens (Kfc) will settle its first selling point next november near the Anjou commercial centre and is due to recruit about 80 persons. Fifty of these will be permanent contracts and the balance temporary contracts. Kfc plans to organize in August meetings about the content and the context of those jobs and to send their new team-mates to internship in other Western France restaurants.

The eventuality of an opening of Kfc in Angers had been brought up

Credit picture: 3D Angers

in 2011. At that time it was said that the Us chain would settle a selling point near the Gaumont cinemas. But nothing occured. The issue resurfaced after the new city council stated that it would be favourable to the arrival of an additional Us brand in Angers. Kfc and Starbucks were mentioned. Already present in Cholet, Laval, La Roche-sur-Yon, Le Mans, Nantes and Rennes (a new point has just been opened in Orléans), Kfc made official its candidacy for a store in Angers and apparently its project has been favourably considered.

In order to get more recognition, the Angers new city council is eager to host international brands and Kfc is the world second most important fast food chain. Kfc has 166 restaurants in France and plans to reach 300 in 2017.

The Angers twinning policy between legacy and prospects

Angers célèbrera en septembre les cinquante ans de sa politique de jumelage. Cet événement ne sera peut être pas qu'une occasion de se tourner vers le passé. 

The Office de coopération internationale d'Angers (Ocia) will celebrate next september the 50 years of the Angers twinning policy. That one started in 1964 with a double relationship between Angers with Osnabruck (Germany) and Haarlem (Nederlands). Those links were ever older than the creation of the Ocia itself (whose website is only in French)) which took place only ten years later. So the anniversary is a favourable opportunity to analyse what has been done and to think to what could be done because Angers is eager to get more recogition and visibility abroad.

Two exhibitions are already planned. The first one, dedicated to the links of Angers with the German et Dutch cities, will be hosted by the Hôtel des pénitentes (September 4-24). The initiative will display contemporary paintings from the three towns and a retrospective of the exchanges. An outlook of the France-Germany relations will also be displayed through the cartoons of the German designer Fritz Wolf. At the same time, another exhibition will also enlighten the actions Angers implemented toward Bamako, the Malian capital (September 4-24 in the Curnonski Hall).


It is not said if the latest partnership with Austin (Usa) will also be part of the event. This should be the case given the new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, made clear during his electoral campaign that he wanted that the city be more visible for its economic development and include the economic dimension in our international exchanges : " if it is possible to be happy and hidden, it is complicated to grow being hidden than visible".

Mr Béchu plans "to use all the possible leverages", and among them, the "ambassadors of the territory, today sleeping partners which have not been awaken". An association was mentionned in order to federate all these people who live in Paris or abroad and who could be the "representatives of what going on in our territory".

Opened stores on public holiday : no revolution in sight

En dépit d'une météo maussade, les animations du 14 juillet ont séduit le public. En revanche, rien n'était prévu pour attirer les clients.

In spite of an unfavourable weather, the events planned during the three days weekend of July 12th to 14th met their audience. A military parade kept going under rain and storm, but, thereafter, the public was rather scare around the bandshell of the Mail gardens. Later on Sunday night the final of the world soccer cup displayed on a giant screen near the Quai Theatre attracted hundreds of Angevins who were not afraid of the meteorological adversity. Then, the traditional fireworks was seen by numerous families.And finally, the first show of the Tempo rives festival pleased numerous audience members.

Credit picture : Angers city

Those initiatives demonstrate that the public comes forward when opportunities for family relaxation are offered. The scene was rather different in the city the following day, nevertheless much more propicious for walks in town. Every café or restaurant which was opened got consumers all day long, even if the surroundings were rather depressed because of the closing of all stores.

A three day break is an opportunity for people to have a longer end of week. Given that, more and more, French people have to shorten their travels, it should be important for a city like Angers to take advantage of such periods by allowing all the store owners and their employees who would like to work to do so. The French president, François Hollande, reminded during his televised debate that, in that matter of the opening of stores during Sundays and public holidays, the mayors were the decision makers. In order to make Angers more attractive to inhabitants and tourists, those should implement the famous sentence of Danton, a French revolutionary character : "We must dare, and dare again and go on daring".

The return in Angers of a painting may give basis to an international exhibition

Deux cents ans après avoir quitté Angers, L'Amour à l'espagnole, est officiellement revenu sur les terres de celui qui en avait pressenti la valeur, Pierre-Louis Eveillard de Livois, un collectionneur d'art angevin mort peu de temps après la Révolution française. Ce retour , fruit d'une petite révolution, l'union de fonds publics et privés ayant permis son acquisition et sa restauration, donne à la ville l'idée d'organiser en 2017 une exposition de dimension internationale sur la peinture française du 18ème siècle.

More than two hundred years after its departure from Angers, consequence of the Révolution française, a famous painting, L'Amour à l'espagnole, sold at auctions at Sotheby's, came back in the collections of the city fine arts museum. That return is the fruit of an union between Angers town hall and sponsors, companies, foundations and even individuals, pointed out, Christophe Béchu, mayor, who unveiled the new appereance of the painting after it was restored. "The painting was inaccessible for the finances of the city like Angers", reminded Mr. Béchu.


L'Amour à l'espagnole was bought at € 248 000 in december 2012 and among those, € 100 000 were
funded by 200 private initiatives. The painting was own b Pierre-Louis Eveillard, marquis of Livois, an Angers collector whose belongings were seized by the French revolutionnaries. The work, restored by three specialists, will join other pieces of the 18th century paintings collection signed by Watteau, Fragonard, Greuze or Chardin. It was painted by Jean-Baptiste Leprince, a pupil of Boucher. Angers city plans to organize an international exhibition in 2017 in cooperation with other French and foreign museums.

The Angers triathlon jumps in next July 19 and 20th

Angers accueille les 19 et 20 juillet prochains une série d'épreuves comptant pour les championnats de France de triathlon ainsi que plusieurs autres courses destinées aux béotiens et aux jeunes que cette discipline exigeante (nage, vélo et course à pied) veut séduire. La ville ne manque pas d'atouts pour faire plus que de la figuration. 

Year after year, Angers is becoming part of the French cities where national sport events are taking place. And year after year, the Maine, its banks and the surrounding streets and parks are the scene of those events. The next July 19 and 20th Angers triathlon will not break with those characteristics. Even if the trial will be dominated, for the fourth time, by the half-final of the French championship of 3rd division clubs, the organizers have planned a lot of run for pure amateurs.

Credit Picture : Angers city 

"Even more than the high level, we renew our commitment to host the largest number of events on our weekend. We hope that everyone will find his place", state Benjami Poggi and David Berrien for the triathlon section of the Asptt which organized the trials. Those will start at the embankment along the La Rochefoucauld square for the swimming part in the Maine. Back to the departure after that first trial (50 to 750 m depending on the category), the athletes will then ride bike (between 1 and 20 km) from there towards the bottom of the Saint Nicolas lake. From there, they will come back to La Rochefoucault to start the (third and last) running part of the triathlon (450 to 5,000 m). The trials dedicated to the youngest participants will all be monitored by adults.

A new trial has been planned : the Duathlon Duo Terra Botanica which has to be completed hand in hand. But the trial has not only a sport content. Selective sorting and carsharing are some of the reflexes the organizers want to promote among participants and public. A lot of sponsors have granted their support to the event. Every competitor has been ordered to come "with his best smile".

Growing similarities of the Ouest-France and Le Courrier de l'Ouest' websites

Membres du même groupe de presse depuis 2008, les deux titres couvrant l'actualité locale, Le Courrier de l'Ouest d'un côté et Ouest-France de l'autre, disposent chacun d'un site internet. Si les supports papiers sont restés visuellement très distincts l'un de l'autre, il n'en va pas de même des sites internet qui mettent en ligne et dans des termes identiques les mêmes informations.

If there are always two newspapers covering Angers news with different points of view, those are shrinking, especially on their respective websites. Similar articles are published on both of them. On July 8th, www.courrierdelouest.fr and www.angers.maville.com dedicated identical coverages to the problems generated by the Biopole facility, the transfer of the Velocité agency from the Paul Bert street towards the Saint-Laud railway station and the performance of the singer Christophe Miossec in Angers in November.

Le Courrier de l'Ouest was bought in 2008 by his rival, the Sipa Ouest France group, first daily newspaper, to the Dassault, owner of Le Figaro. The two titles were considered for a longtime as political adversaries, Le Courrier being considered conservative while Ouest-France were rather progressive. And the main question was will Le Courrier survive to its absorption?

A few months ago, the editors of Le Courrier questionned their management about "the contribution of their newspaper to the Sipa Ouest-France group and the future that one reserves to Le Courrier". At that time, the Angers editors feared the sharing of the news between the two titles, and the confinement of their title to less interesting news fot the local audience. On the internet field, another strategy would be implemented : the erasing of the differences in the respective contents.

The Ralliement square in summer : scarce face

La place du Ralliement se met au vert tout l'été. Jusqu'au 30 août, des transats attendent les passants au milieu d'arbustes et de fleurs dont la vue est agrémentée par le babillement des fontaines. Mais ces aménagements passagers ne font que souligner le manque de personalité de l'endroit tout le reste de l'année.

The summer settings of the Ralliement square will surely be welcomed by Angers inhabitants. But they also remind that the square renovation, achieved in 2011, is above all a complete failure. The flowers, the bushes, the (false) lawn and the deckchairs will perfectly meet the expectations of the Angevins regarding a location which reflects the nature and the culture of their city.

Angers, which for a long time, claimed, and still claims, its involv-ment towards nature, through its economic sectors, through the quality of its life and above all through the abundance of natural environment within its limits, got, ironically, a central square absolutely at the opposite of its positionning. The Ralliement square has been widely criticized for the absence of vegetable (except a few trees which hardly grow), its coldness because of its mineral aspect and its impersonal character.

Credit pictures : Angers city

The summer settings only put forward the elements which the square misses : the bushes and flowers create a peaceful harmony with the bubble of the fountains, a music atmosphere and lightings invites the night walkers to start there a dicovery of the town with their friends. A Ralliement square is fist of all a place which rallies interests and curiosity. Those objectives should be achieved, at least during the summer.

The French soccer players' wives didn't won the courtesy cup

La défaite de l'équipe de France face à l'Allemagne a laissé des bleus dans l'âme de leurs supporters. Pour deux Angevins qui avaient fait le voyage au Brésil, en même temps que les épouses des joueurs français, la déception n'a pas été que sportive...

Peter and Francis were, as supporters of the France soccer team, disappointed after that one was defeated by Germany in quarter final. But they have been even sadder after the travel they did from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, with the wives of the French players. During the 12 hours trip from Paris to the Brasilian city, they were sat in the plane near the players'wives and these never spoke to them.

The wives of the French players had been invited to Brasil by the Fédération française de football to support their husbands were not eager to talk with other supporters who meanwhile paid their own trip. "Those women remained therebetween and never paid us the slightest attention" remembers Peter who, as many other passengers, wore clothes clearly showing his interest for the success of the French team.

Credit pictures : Fédération française de football

Apparently, the Fff never gave those ladies instructions about their behaviour towards French supporters. It would have been appropriate to do so because apparently those persons were not aware that the fact they were invited also gave them a duty of courtesy regarding other French soccer team fans. Next time politeness will win. 

First test tchat for the Angers mayor

Christophe Béchu a expérimenté son premier tchat avec les Angevins en tant que maire et s'est engagé à poursuivre cet échange tous les deux mois. Visiblement, les habitants sont rôdés. Le premier tchat a permis à ceux-ci d'exprimer plusieurs suggestions, dont le maire a pris note.

Tchats between the Angers mayor and the people, opened by Jean-Claude Antonini, antepenultimate mayor, then continued by the previous mayor, Frédéric Béatse will be resumed by the current mayor, Christophe Béchu. This one experienced the first tchat of his term on July 3rd and stated that those exchanges will take place every two months. His first edition was mainly dedicated to the ideas the Angers citizens may have about the ways to improve their environment, and Mr. Béchu took already note of some of them.

The containers put underground in order to collect the household wastes look to open air rubbish fields, complained an internet user what led Mr. Béchu to indicate that those will be fitted with electronic sensors which will warn town hall when a container will be full.  But the mayor pointed out, as his predecessor, that the cleanliness of Angers depends, first of all, on the Angevins behaviour.Regarding the thefts of city bikes (8 of them would be stolen every day), the mayor disclosed that the issue comes within the competency of the national police.

Others inhabitants are sensitive to symbols. The piece of the Berlin wall, symbol of the cold war, settled in front of the Gaumont multiplexe could be transferred in another place. And the secularism tree, several times vandalized on Lorraine square, could be replaced by a work of art conceived by students of the Fine-Arts college. And the mayor, once again, reminded that the reconquest of the Maine banks, would be implemented according to a budget compatible with the city resources and within the current term. A specialist will be soon chosen in order to design the covering of the speedway between the Molière square and the bottom of the cathedral.

Economic matters were not missing. Mr. Béchu wants to strengthen the vegetable identity of Angers through a weekend open air market. In the same way, the Angers agglomeration will tackle the settlement of the first connected items city in Angers recently announced by the French government. The mayor also disclosed he would meet soon some project carriers regarding the Gaumont cinema closed more than one year ago. The life of down town will use the dynamic created by the world soccer cup. Giant screens will be settled in town for the half-finals and final in which Mr. Bechu predicts France will be part. The commitment is made!

Close match between majority and minority teams in the fied of finances

Le dernier conseil municipal d'Angers consacré à l'audit financier de la ville a donné lieu a une passe d'armes musclée. Mais, sous les diatribes perce néanmoins un consensus à propos de l'opportunité de mesures correctrices d'une trajectoire qui, dans quelques années, pourrait s'avérer dangereuse. 

Like the current soccer world cup, the municipal team led by Christophe Béchu plays the extra time and experiments its first duels with the city council minority. The mayor, who promised during the electoral campaign he would undertake an audit about the finances of the city, unveiled just after the France-Nigeria round of sixteen, the results. Those confirm what was foreseen during the campaign : the finances conditions of Angers are not bad, but they are deteriorating what must lead to appropriate measures.

Those are not half-measures. The city council has voted in favour a 10 millions euros savings in the capital
budget, savings symbolized by the cancellation of the credits planned (by the former city council) to the Rives Nouvelles scheme and the renunciation to a 15 millions euros in borrowings. Because the state allocations and the fiscal revenues are decreasing or staggering, because the operation expenses have increased in 2013 (among the origins there is the new Aquavita swimming pool), there is no other way but to reduce spendings. Part of the savings will be neverthess used to finance the first free hour car park and the street improvement plan, Mr. Béchu promised when he was candidate to Angers mayor office.

Face to those measures, and the analysis which preceded them, the minority side choose to inflame the debate. The Ecologist Gilles Mahé, former deputy mayor, criticized the mayor's policy regarding the car traffic as "exemplary of the 70's", what trigerred a fierce answer from Mr. Béchu regarding the parking lot settled inside the Atoll commercial park by the previous municipal decision-makers whom Mr Mahé was member. The speech of Frédéric Beatse, former Angers mayor, who reminded he had choosen to reduce the capital budget ackowledged some consensus about the interest of corrective measures before it's too late.