With the Angers Gare +, the city jumps in the train of economic competition with others "major cities"

In the competition between towns to attract companies and jobs, Angers is going to set up "a business district which will match up those of others major cities" : the Gare + project. This district will take place near the Angers Saint-Laud railway station. At the South of the railways, the construction of a first building of 5 300 m2 has already begun. It will host offices and stores at the ground floor. On the North side (formerly filled by Sernam), the laying out is on the verge of starting.

The field will de divided in four parts : a three stars hotel with a services residence on the first, the three others being dedicated to office buildings of 15 000 m2. At the southernmost of the site a car park will be erected. Things could go fast : the two first elements should be delivered at the end of next year. It is higly desirable that Angers will stay connected to Paris and, throuhg that town, to major European cities with an high speed railway, an element that had been neglected twenty years ago when a project of a new railway line between Angers and Le Mans was on the table.

These programs, in addition to the fact they give work the the construction sector and to sub - contractors (some of them Angers companies), are part of the recent plan the Angers Loire Métropole Authority has recently voted for the years 2013-2017. These are good things but Angers city as well as Angers Loire Métropole must consider that everything useful to lower the cost of labor is key for the sucess of such policies : limited fiscal pressure for companies and households can't be ignored.

The slow speeds extends at full speed in Angers

Credit Picture : Angers city

The decrease of car traffic in Angers city is under way. The city council, which had in 2011 thought about the details of that policy, has now started to implement it in the Saint-Serge-Ney-Chalouère district. Since the end of summer holidays, the maximum speed in that one has been reduced to 30 km/h. Another one, Justices-Madeleine-Saint-Léonard will follow in the months to come.

The consultation of inhabitants has already begun in others districts. All transportation in Angers downtown will not be operated above 30 km/h maybe next year. And all Angers city will be concerned by the new regulations before the end of 2014. The policy offers several advantages. First the decrease of pollution, danger and consumption of gas. That way of decreasing the traffic would not be costly : no specific equipments are necessary.

But the city would be inspired to reconsider the regulations of parking cars. Many inhabitants complain it's difficult in down town to park theirs own cars. These should be the only persons authorized to park their cars in the streets where they are living. On another side, the limit of speed to 30 km/h will not eliminate all the risks of accidents. Many bikers go now well above 30 km/h...

Angers and surroundings economy : no jobs for employees without employers

The decision of Angers Loire Métropole to launch a plan aiming at 10 000 jobs creations within the five next years coincides with an alarming increase of unemployment within the limits of that territorial authority. There are 22 000 unemployed persons in Alm and, according to local medias, the rate of job seekers continuously increases since the middle of 2011. The level of unemployment is close to the France average.

So there was not better opporunitty for Alm to react. All the repre-sentatives of the territorial authority voted on Thursday a budget of 150 millions € declined in 40 policies which should lead to 1 800 new jobs per year between 2013 and 2017 within Alm limits. The efforts will concentrate in four directions : to strenghen the attractiveness of the territory and its economic identity, to bet on new leverages of growth, to favour the development of companies generators of jobs, and to sustain the acquisition and development of skills among inhabitants. 

For that reason, the title of the policiy (offensive for job) is maybe inadequate. If jobs creation is highly desirable, the way to achieve that goal goes through companies creations. And its may that such a spirit is insufficiently promoted in the region.

In Angers, one fiscal household out of two does not pay income tax

While Angers households have received or/and will receive soon the tax rolls about their incomes and their homes, the French ministry of finances has published a survey regarding the Angers place in a national ranking in terms of income tax as well as property tax. Regarding the income tax, the ministry took census of 80 953 households for tax purposes. On this total, 41 197 are liable to tax, i.e. 51%. One Angers households out of two does not pay income tax. And the others 49% pay an average of 2 000 € per year.

That amount follows moreover a regular decreasing trend. In 2006, the average amount paid was 2 437 €, five years later, that sum has decreased by 17%, what indicates a impoverishment of Angers population on medium-term. If, at the other end of the scale, the most wealthiest persons (they were 1 282 in 2010 ) paid in two years ago 4 361 €, i.e. 2% more than in 2009, the rank of Angers in the national scale decrease what demonstrates too an impoverishment of Angers city.

For real-estate taxes, the rate of the property tax (paid by owners of a house or a flat) ranks Angers at the 566th town according to fiscal pressure. Regarding the council tax (only paid by tenants), the fiscal pressure is much more lower : Angers is ranked on the  1 758th place. The rate of the property tax (31%) is the double of the council tax (17%). That should trigger a policy to increase to number of riches and decrease the number of poors.

An "education city" which looks more to an "education center" opened in a new district of Angers

It looks like a jail. It has the name of a man whose world fame came from the number of years he was imprisoned. The Angers new "education city" Nelson Mandela, located in the new Saint-Aubin district has the appearance of an education center for persons facing a jail sentence. 

The height of the walls, the little size of the windows do not precisely give to the facility the face of something which inspires or stimulates mind openess to culture and neighbours. The surroundings burnt by the heat of August without trees and lawns give the pedestrians walking along the nearby road more fear than confidence.

It's not sure Nelson Mandela, the first post-apartheid South-African president, would have liked this unvoluntary tribute and it is not written teachers and pupils gathered in that school will not be able to contradict that first glimpse. The Nelson Mandela education city did its first "return to school" that month.About 15 classes till primary degree and a library, a school restaurant plus a "maternal leisures center" (?) and a day-nursery will be there. The building cost about 13 millions €.

Swept away by the mayor, the pavement tax makes way for a new "motto"

After he swept away the project of pavement tax which infuriated the Angers down town store owners since June, the mayor, Frédéric Beatse, announced on Thursday he had just met these. That change of "motto" will be accompanied with a study about "the necessary conditions" allowing Angers down town to develop as a place for life and for trade.

That new way will deal, from october, with the trends of the customers' behavior in down town and all the aspects regarding the access, the parking and the material conditions for shopping in that place. "We must have a global and consistent vision about down town", said Jacques Motteau, deputy mayor in charge of trade. But "Nothing practical stands out from that meeting", said one of the persons having taken part in it.

Obviously, the Angers city council want to calm down the debate. But the store owners can't stay on an unique critical approach. The mayor is looking for results and possible tests at the end of the year. "A new plan for the down town future must emerge from that work", Mr Beatse said.

The remains of the last Plantagenêt king of England could have been discovered

A skeleton with apparents battle wounds and curvature of the spine has been discovered on Wedenesday in the buried ruins of the Greyfriars church in Leicester city. The archeologists team of the university of that town announced there is strong circumstancial evidence that these human remains could be Richard III, the last Plantagenêt king of England. Experts will compare samples taken on the remains with a DNA sample from the king’s 17th-generation nephew. The remains (a fully articulated skeleton), which have been carefully exhumeed and are now in a secret location, appears to be of an adult male. The skeleton was found in what is believed to be the choir of the church, the area reported in the historical record as the burial place of King Richard III.

 That discovery takes place two days after Angers city ended a cultural event, Les Accroche-coeurs, dedicated to claim to England a compensation (the return to Angers of the jewels crown) for the execution of Edward Plantagenêt, the last pretender to England's throne after the death of his uncle Richard III, in 1485 during the Bosworth battle. That discovery was reported today by about 500 medias all over the world demonstrating that 500 hundred years after its end, the Plantagenêt dynasty attractivenes was still alive. In Angers, the city the Plantagenêt came from, no news was published on the issue.

The Angers pavement tax project on the way out by mayor's decision

The Angers mayor has decided on Wednesday to withdraw the project of pavement tax enforceable to storekeepers as soon as their customers were occupying the public domain, even for a while, for their purchases. That project, which was made public last june, infuriated Angers down town shop owners, already worried by the rise of car parks fares. Their anger lead them to riot in the middle of the tramway line in Ralliement square that morning.

"That issue deserves a more compre-hensive debate with the store keepers. I shall suggest to withdraw that deliberation during the next municipal council meeting", said the mayor, Frédéric Beatse. On shop retailers side, they complained that morning that "the Angers customers had to run away from down town because the costs to park were to high" and about the "illegality of the pavement tax on which [justice] has already came to a decision".

 
The case is clearly a bad point for Jacques Motteau, deputy mayor in charge of commerce openly criticized by the traders. It's the same for his project, that Mr Beatse officialy postponed and, possibly, cancelled. The storekeepers wish now to get the right to open their shops on the three last Sundays of each year. (Credit picture : Wikipedia)

An Leicester team of archeolgists 'tantalisingly close" of the remains of the last Plantagenêt king of England

The Plantagenêt saga has vanished in Angevins' minds with the end of the Accroche-coeurs 2012 edition. But it is on the verge to revive in Leicester (Uk) where archeologists announced they were "tantalisingly close" to find out last England Plantagenêt king's grave. Searches took place on August 22 in a car park of that town where historians had located the buried ruins of a church. It was said that Richard III had been buried there after he lost live at the Bosworth battle in 1485. Over time the whereabouts of the church were lost.
 
The remaining basis of the walls of the churd have been discovered as well as its immediate surroundings : a cloister walk, a chapter house and a garden. These give a better picture of where the tomb could be. "We are tantalisingly close and will investigate the choir where Richard is presumed to be buried", said the head of the University of Leicester team of archeologists.

The diggings will be extended one week more after htey have been opened to public last weekend which showed "a huge level of interest", with 1 500 visitors. Even if it is not sure the royal grave will be discovered, the excavations have been filmed and will be aired on Uk tv this year.

Schedules of some Angers public facilities should enlarge

If the period of return to school or work is propicious to new resolutions or changes in use, it seems that it is not the case for schedules of some Angers facilities dedicated designed for public use. In Angers, two examples illustrate that changes would be welcomed. In swimming-pools, where adults would like to go in order to continue the pratice of swimmig, there are classes. But, these are already full till the end of the year and these classes start at 5.30 pm. How can adults follow such classes if they are still at work?

Angers is proud to host thousand of students who fuel money and life (sometime too much) in down town. Thse need to eat all week long. But how? All university restaurants of the city are closed on Saturdays and Sundays (except one on Saturday morning). Will the students fast?

The private sector looks a little timorous. While some of them complain about the decline of activity because of the opening of giant trade centers outside the city, because the increase of car park fares or the shrinking purchasing power of Angers consumers, few initiatives appears in order to stimulate activity.

A open day for project initiators in Angers on September 21st

While Angers statistics of unemployment do not give sign of improvement, the Maison de la création et de la transmission d'entreprise - Angers organizes on September 21st an open day in the Pierre-Cointreau centre. That initiative aims at dispatching every project initiator to get in touch with valuable local contacts. In four spaces, the potential manager will be sent towards specialists in speed coaching, legal aspects to consider before to involve oneself in such a project and financial issues.

Three conferences about specific issues are also planned : the first is about the main booming sectors, the second about how to live from his profession, another one about how to use internet to get in touch with its first customers and the last one dedicated to the status of self manager. 

Eight thematic workshops will deal with miscellaneous issues like "how to live thanks to one's own job?", "how to find one's first clients?" or "e-business keys"... The intiators of such (good) idea should nevertheless choice catchword ("Je crée ma boîte" while there is not equivalent in English) less disagreeable for all person taking risks to create his own job before, perhaps, to give jobs to others. Asked to comment the present crisis of the real estate economy in Angers, a professional said that the real problem was the insufficient number of companies in the city. (September 21st, 132 de Lattre de Tassigny avenue)

Angers parody of justice for the last Plantagenêt pretender to the English throne

The Plantagenêt component of the Accroche-coeurs ended on Sunday with a real travesty of justice regarding the terrible fate Edward Plantagenet faced in 1499 and for which Angers city claims compensation. The setting of the trial whose name evokes the finiteness of human destiny (the "Bout de monde walkway") along the Angers castle and the crowd gathered in that place around the figure of the last Plantagenêt pretender to the throne of England deserved maybe a little better. The English press agency Reuters had sent editors on the site.

After a long and a little bit confused conference by Franck Ferrand, history commentator on Europe 1, more on the Plantagenêt dynasty than the figure of Edward Plantagenêt himself, more on the political background than the circumstances of his death, the Angers lawyers took over... In absence of British counterparts (who could have been an English teacher giving classes in Angers), the local lawyers have demonstrated they could be actors...

It was impossible of course to believe in the seriousness of the claim and the chances of its success but was an explanation about the political consequences of that murder (because it was a murder) something unconceivable? Angers people interested by the Plantagenêt glory and fall will find consolation in a series of conferences at the Angers municipal institute about medieval Britain between September and November.

"An iced cup of tea" under the foliages of Angers Quai Ligny walkway

It was surely not the most dramatic event of Les Accroche-Coeurs, but it was maybe the most opened to simple and individual participation of Angers inhabitants : the tea party planned at five o'clock sharp on Quai Ligny walkway at the bottom of the castle. Hundreds of people were gathered under the foliages of the limetrees, sharing tea, sat on blankets covering the lawn. Many members, above all women , of the "Plantagenêt people" (as Calixte de Nigremont, the ceremony master, called them) had complied with the dress code of that symbolic English use. 

Another caracteristic of the tea party was it gathered young people. Women and girls wore hats and dresses and many participants had paper crowns on their head. The atmosphere was lively, partly because of the "royal" tune (the Haendel's Water Music) which invaded the place. The initiative stirred the interest of medias came to shot pictures and to interview. The only false note was maybe the competition between Angevins look-alikes with members of England royal family and the gossips (in French) regarding thee private life of these.

The tea party gave a glimpse about what could be the Maine banks once they will be designed as planned by the New Banks project. The weather was ideal (82° F) for a nice cup of tea. That "tea party" looked apolitical even if de Nigremont urged participants to join the 3 500 supporters of the Plantagenêt petition.

Accroche-Coeurs : Leicester close than Angers to a Plantagenêt

As Angers, Leicester revives, on its own way, the Plantagenêt myth. But the success of the English approach looks close to a tangible result. 

Leicester university archeologists team says on September 7th they have made a new advance in their quest of Richard III, the last Plantagenêt king of England. A few days ago, they located, under the Greyfriars Leicester car park, the ruins of an old chapel destroyed by king Henry VIII, son of Henry VII, first English sovereign native from the Tudor dynasty who killed Richard III in the battle of Bosthworth in 1485. On Friday, they uncovered the marks of an old garden erected there after the Greyfriars church has been torn down.

Historic documents tell that in that garden was a pillar on which was written "Here lies the body of Richard III sometime King of England". An old map of the XVIIIth century displays the existence of a formal garden with a series of paths leading to a central point. It has also been considered that the remains of the Plantagenêt defeated king laid in the choir of the Greyfriars church.

The news stirs wide interest in England. An open day will take place on the site all September 8th for the public and the famous Channel 4 has already planned, what be the end of the diggings, to brodacast a documentary on the issue later this year. If Angers is not close to get the England crown jewels back, England is near to find again a Plantagenêt king. (Credit pictures : University of Leicester ; top : remains of the Greyfriars garden; bottom : stone frieze from Greyfriars church)

While they support Technicolor employees Angers authorities laud the increase of labor cost at the expenses of companies

The Angers Technicolor factory, which was threatened by a possible closure decided by a judgment of the Nanterre Tribunal of commerce on September 7 has finally got a one month respite. The local authorities, which had sided against the headquarter of Technicolor through ads in the main French daily newspapers (Le Monde, Le Figaro and Les Echos) must heave a sight of relief. But themselves should take that time to consider closely one handicap of Technicolor they didn't mentionned - the labor costs - in which they take part.

A recent advertising displayed on the website or Irigo, the transportation company of Angers region which runs the sector on behalf Angers city, and on numerous buses warns travellers about "[their] right" to benefit of a payment borned by private companies for their employees. That transport subsidy represents 50% of the transportation costs! Angers Loire Métropole gave the same information on its website.

For a company like Technicolor, if all the employees ask this advantage, it will cost to the company 17,13 € per month and per person. With 350 persons and on 11 months, that represents about 66 000 € (34,25 € x 2 x 350 persons x 11 months). This money increases the labor cost. Do the Angers companies, which already paid the tramway construction, will have the resources to finance that "right"?

The electronic billboards set up in Angers criticized by ecologists

The about fifteen electronic billboards set up throughout Angers city do not please all of its inhabitants. On Wednesday afternoon, militants of Europe Ecologie Les Verts (Eelv) demonstrated in favor of their disassembly. According to the political movement, these devices are a true "visual harassment" for people. More generally, they thinks these billboards contradict the involvement of the town council in favor of sustainable development while these panel consume energy.

The aesthetic argument is, up to now, the most recognized. Some of the ads displayed on the billboards use flashy colors which contrast with the pale or dark shades of freestone and slate, symbols of the urban architecture. Curiously, while Angers inhabitants have to comply with strict regulations about the choice of colors for a new building or the restoration of an old one, none of the companies interested by the electronic billboards (including Angers city) has such constraint...

According to Eelv, one of the explanations of the arrival of these new medias would be financial. "We understand that a public authority looks for new resources in time of crisis", says Eelv. A contract having been signed between town hall and the JCDecaux company, the city can only suggest that the colors of the ads be less loud.

The Angers representatives plead for Technicolor, and the region, through ads in French national medias

The Angers repre-sentatives have choosen to launch a solemn appeal to Technicolor management through an ad published on September 4th in Le Monde and Les Echos, two days before the judgment of the Nanterre Tribunal of commerce regarding the continuation or the closure of the local factory. The signatories of the appeal "insult" (the word is used as it is on the website of Angers Loire Métropole) the Technicolor management because the disappearance of Technicolor in Angers would be a serious negative signal for all the electronic sector of the city.

The authors of the ad list all the assets Technicolor may find in the region : "400 companies, 25 000 employees, research et development centers, university campus, a qualified workforce, a culture and an excellence never denied". Apparently, the signatories do not mention the main handicap of the production in France : the labour cost, higher in France than in many countries Angers must compete with.

Two takeover offers, one from Eolane, a local group, have been received. But in order to be implemented, they need that the Technicolor factory still runs during six months. And Technicolor can't fulfill that condition... In case of a judgment deciding the closure, a leaf in the Angers economic history would be turned over. A

The Angers Accorche-Coeurs, maybe at the mercy of a curious discovery

It would be a curious chance, but also a sensational publicity stunt if, just before the Accroche-Coeurs event, the remains of Richard III, the last England king coming from the Plantagenêt dynasty native of Angers, had been discovered between the ruins of a former chapel buried under a car park in Leicester. The Plantagenêt history, and with it the historical links between Angers and England, re-discovered thanks to the Accroche-Coeurs by means of a petition claiming the return to that city of the England crown jewels, still arouses interest, and ever passion in England, for a king dead 527 years ago...

According to the Leicester Mercury : "Archaeologists believe they have made a breakthrough in their search for the 500-year-old remains of Richard III. They think they have found a section of wall of the church where the defeated king was buried". After the church was demolished by Henry VIII, "the site was taken over by the Herrick family who used the remaining buildings for the basis of their home and knew precisely where Richard was buried". The search finishes on September 7th, the same day the Accroche-Coeurs start!

That issue will probably be brought up by the editor and historian Franck Ferrand (radio channel Europe 1) on September 9th at 11.00 am. From Le Bout du Monde walkway, he will tell the history of the Plantagenêt dynasty whose Richard III, then Edward, were the last links in the chain of Angers Plantagenêt kings who ruled England from 1154 to 1485, i.e. 331 years.

Angers Nautique Aviron has kept alive, during 150 years, the old (and future?) face of Maine

The open day Angers Nautique Aviron had offered on September 2nd to inhabitants interested by rowing was also, and maybe, above all an open view on the Maine river and its banks. Viewed at the level of the water these give to the walker a striking contrast. 

On the left of the river, the quayside road gives off permanent smokes and rumbles. Viewed from the right bank, the quay looks like a ugly and hostile wall which . On the opposite, the right bank where Angers Nautique Aviron set up - 150 years ago - has kept, maybe thanks to the presence of the oldest sports club of the city its face of yesteryear.

A path unrolled along the river, under the bridges, winds between trees and flowers. The side gives a nice and sweet transition between land and water whose babbling is audible. The atmosphere gets even a supplementary appeal thanks to the music coming from the open air restaurant located near the rowing club. 

If that open day of Angers Nautique Aviron has convinced some young Angers "to go aboard", the iniative was, unconsciously (?), a call to discover the pleasures of the Maine and the interest to protect it. Angers Nautique Aviron help the Maine to survive and, possibly, to revive.

The Angers down town store keepers launch a petition against the rise of car parks and parcmeters fares

Applicable on August 1st but real in september when the summer holidays of Angers inhabitants and stores owners are over, the increase of parking fares could not be swallowed easily. Some shops in down town display a petition against the decision of Angers town hall to increase these fees because they increase the cost of the purchases for consumers. Whatever be the success of the petition, its existence demonstrates the angry of storeskeepers of Angers. 

Credit Pictures : Sara

The increase is far from symbolic in some car parks. In the Saint-Laud and Marengo parking lots, the drivers will pay 2 € for one hour (1 € before August 1st). For three hours, the cost is 5,50 € (2,50 € before the increase). In Maine, Bressigny and Leclerc, the rise is lower : 1,5 € for one hour (1,20 previously), 3 € for two hours (2,50 € before), 4 € for three hours (3 €). In Ralliement, the doubling of the prices arrives with the third hour but that car park was already the most expensive of the town.

The users of these facilities appear, according to poll realized by Angers newspapers, almost all against the move. They will not be difficult to be convinced by the petition and store keepers (some of them believe another increase would be in the pipeline) will be convincing...