The Saint-Martin Institution, still young at fifty

One of the "institutions" of Angers in the field of education celebrated on May 5th its fifty anniversary. The Saint-Martin institution, elementary school, college and lycée, hosted in the lycéeyard located on Foch boulevard its former pupils and their parents, some of them former pupils too. "I am always astonished to see the position some of our fellow students have got after their studies here", says a former corporate manager, now retired. Saint-Martin institution trained many persons having now a leading position in the city and beyond.

A lot of class pictures dating from the sixties were displayed on the walls of the covered playground among press coverages on the different activities of the institution : winter or summer camps in France or in Europe, departures and nominations at the head of Saint-Martin. Serveral barnums were set up in the courtyard where parents, all a little bit older, welcomed others families whose chidren are or were pupils there. That return to school met the return with their own youth.

The pictures on the wall reveal the changes of the Angers society since fifty years and it would have been interesting to point out that. Under a large barnum, tables were set up for a dinner between parents of former or present pupils and former or present teachers. The place under the grey sky which reigns over Angers and its inhabitants' mind since a month didn't fade the lively aspects of the place, still young at fifty years old.

Angers cyclists on central square next May 12th

Angers municipal council will organize on May 12th a day for the promotion of the use of bike in town. Obviously that kind of transportation has became popular among inhabitants but the construction or the laying out of lanes only dedicated to bikers is necessary simply because bikers are more vulnerable than drivers. Some of others developments in the streets are dangerous as the pavements slightly higher than the streets (picture).

Most of the cyclists in Angers complain about the behavior of drivers of cars - or buses - who don't give them the space they need to travel. If some drivers run close to the pavements, others park their vehicule on cyclable lanes even in the opposite direction. They do that because most of the time they never use bike themselves. 

The best way to enhance the position of bicycles in Angers is to make them, in time of travel, more efficient than cars on routes people cover every day for school, office or shopping. The bikers are not themselves always respectful of pedestrians in town. So an effort has to be made first in minds. First of all a bicycle day organized by the city should lead the city to dedicate to the only bikers the use of the Angers streets that day. (Picture Angers city)

Angers inhabitants invited to shape their territory for the years to come

Angers city is, step by step, recovering the postponement of the cancellation, in 2009 by the administrative courts, of a major urban document dedicated to shape the face of its territory for the years to come. In order to prevent any risk of challenging that policy by environmental communities, on a legal or a political basis, the promotors of the urban local plan (Plu in French) will launch, from May 9th, a serie of meetings with Angers inhabitants in order to allow the emergence of the collective wishes. That meeting will take place in the Saint-John Lofts. 

The aim of the Plu is to guarantee the sustainable development of Angers and its suburbs, through the balance of homes and agricultural fields and natural places, the dynamism of the economic zones with an offer of collective transportation systems as well as road network. After a diagnostic of the situation, now comes to time for choices of which the consequences for the different parts of the territory will depend. The most concret step of the process will start from september because in every district of Angers with the inventory of all the expectations of their inhabitants.

Jersey recruits tourists in Angers

Is Jersey Island inspiring Angers inhabitants? The office of tourism of that Channel island has recently launched a campaign in town to attract tourists along the Foch boulevard, the main street of the city. In fact, the tiny UK territory is at about 230 kms from Angers.

Indirectly, Angers and Jersey have an historical connection. The Edit de Nantes, the royal measure decided by king Henry 4th in 1598, was drawn up in Angers; When that law was canceled by Louis XIV, the French protestants, the Huguenots from the Loire Valley decided to leave their kingdom and settled in Jersey.

The problem (for French) is Jersey has not choosen the euro and the change is not favourable to continental. Another English destination is competing with Jersey, the London city itself  from the end of May. So the Angers inhabitants could prefer a visit in the core of England than in a Channel island even if all French influence has vanished since a long time.

An island of green and friendship in Angers city

If, with Saint-Aubin island, Angers has a nice nest of wildlife, the inhabitants may find charming places where nature and charm are saved from noise, pollution and crowd. Near the new Desjardins district, a narrow and sinuous path is hidden behind a wooden gate. Once opened, the door lets discover a countryside track. Fences disappear under flowers and fruit trees. The way benefits of the shadow given by the vegetation what adds intimacy and secret.

After the heavy rains of the late days, the place is full of delicate fragances. The pace of the cars has disappeared. There are only the songs of the birds. Little homes surrounded by tiny gardens are visible and their entrances are opened, like an invitation to the walkers for a short time to take benefit of a parentesis of silence and rest. Other places looks like simple gardens for leisures.

The families living there seem eager to keep the place a natural look : the place is a patchwork of little fields planted with wild flowers or vegetables. Apparently few persons know the existence of that place where persons look  to know each others. One of the home displays little wooden boards with English sentences like "Do one thing everyday that makes you happy". So nature is not the only distinctive aspect of the place, the close relationships between its inhabitants are maybe its most valuable quality.

With chatters and a new mediator the new mayors expects to demonstrate he is in charge

Frédéric Beatse, successor of Jean-Claude Antonini as Angers mayor, resumes the chatter his predecessor took part in till his resignation. The next virtual meeting with Mr Beatse will take place on May 14th. Usually that chatter was planned every two months and the last one was realized at the beginning of November. After the latest nomination of a mediator, the mayor indicates he expects to take over.

The waiting time since the last edition could be purely a chance, but it gives the new mayor the opportunity to distance himself with Mr. Antonini. But the period is important : May 14th is just between the French presidential and legislative elections and could be an opportunity for the mayor to guide the choices of the Angers voters for the next ballot which at least one of his deputy mayor will stand for.

Credit pictures Angers city

The period is also important because of the economic and financial difficulties noticed in Angers. Technicolor, the jewel of the industrialization of the city in the 50's could disappear and if that event occurs, it will surely leave its mark in the inhabitants opinion. That depressed economic climate could also damage the finances of the city when that one is embarking on important urban projects which will need money. These chatters are therefore an important element for Mr Beatse to settle in the opinion as the right person after 2014, municipal election year.

Angers chosen by Red Bull for a night air drop last Tuesday.

Angers was, during the night of April 24th, one of the 14 French drop zones of the world operation Red Bull air drop dedicated "to help the students all over the world to revise their exams". The news was disclosed by students who found a big pallet full of Red Bull cans in a drop zone located in Belle-Beille, one of the universitarian campus, between the Iut Gea and the Sciences university. In every drop zone, pallets of Red Bull may have in fact been drop off on the ground by choppers.

Credit Pictures Red Bull

That big strongbox with hundreds of new recipes of Red Bull Editions were available for students being there by chance from 7 am. The operation was preceded by a serie of emails sent to Angers students eager to get some beverages. In less than three hours, all the cans had vanished. No explainations were given about the choice of Angers as a drop zone.

According to observers, students were happy to get these cans because the operation had not been disclosed in the city. At first, students believed that the pallet was a work of art. Little messages were also brought with the cans precising that the Austrian brand had given "wings to millions os students around the world".

Atoll wants to keep the pace of a good first attending by opening on public holidays in May

Atoll, the new commercial park located near Angers, takes care of its attendance. Recently, the complex disclosed the first figures of visitors. And the managers of the centre opened a website displaying all the informations the customers need. If the first statistics look encouraging, the team running Atoll doesn't want to loose the start of the activity. 

Atoll will be opened on two public holidays in May, the 8th (end of the second world war) and 17th (Ascension). These days are not Sundays but there are already a tear in the recent agreement between Angers public authorities and professionnals. According to their common statement, the stores, and especially the most important, must close on public holidays "dedicated to leisure and family life". The website states that the complex is nevertheless closed on Sundays.

The figures about the attending of Atoll could be satisfactory. About 800 000 persons came throughout the complex since its inauguration, on April 4th. The interest of Angers people was sure and even frenzian because of the carelesness of people parking their car (on pavements, cyclable lanes, lawns...). But they don't reveal the turnover of the centre. These figures will need more time to come.

The politicians in Angers in search of a topic for their campaign

The fate of the factory the Technicolor company owns in Angers alon the Birgé boulevard wil become a perfect symbol of the political "action". Since the shutdown of the factory is more than likely before the end of May, several candidates to the French presidency, or their grey eminences, from all political horizons, spoke about Technicolor and even announced they would come in Angers. 

But is it serious to think that, in less than a few days, a solution will emerge after 40 years of public carelessness which led to the slow, silent but deathly decline of its competitiveness? The pictures published about the visit of the adviser of François Hollande reveals the caracteristic of the political action during an electoral campaign : fastness, superficiality, expedience, wishful thinkings, empty by-words... The worse is the policians are not wrong : there is always editors who believe a candidate is able to save the factory.

The problem of Technicolor is highly representative of the desease of the French, and European industry. Because "the production in France is a topic of the campaign", noticed a trade-union leader of the Angers factory. The problem is production is just a topic. And the May 1st parade will not change the problem.

Coming in Angers : two giant outlets for a shrinking wallet

After the opening of a "commercial park" at the North West of Angers, a "sports and leisures village" will open in the South. Of course, the two complex will work on different fields, the world of home for the first, the body for the second but they will both live thanks to the money of a single wallet. And the wallet of Angers inhabitants is not indefinitely extensible.

What people are not always aware is the leisure time is a marketable time. "Enjoy sports" writes the Angers city website. Near Decathlon, Angers inhabitants will find a Monclub Futbol center, a Family Planet space or a spa. Near the widened Oxylane Village, another commercial complex will be set up dedicated to culture and leisures : the Arena. Cinemas and a giant bookstore will take place as well as a restaurant pole. That perspective will not give confidence to shops in Angers downtown.

Such projects will be fine if the finances of the Angers households were soaring. But it is not the case and even the opposite. Moreover, what will be the stance of Angers if the managers of the stores decide to open all sunday long? Because, of course, sunday is the family day for leisure. Will the rules be different at Atoll and Oxylane?

Angers and Pise "twinned towers" celebrate Europe in May.

Angers will honor Europe between April 27th and May 27th with a focus on Italia and especially Pisa a city Angers is twinned since 30 years. An exhibition will take plan on that town at the Saint-Aubin tower and another one, on the most famous tower of the world, the Pisa tower at the Municipal Institute while Lices Street, also called Corso Italia will be decorated to the Italian colors. And in the evening at the Fine Arts museum gardens, a concert will take place on movies themes.

Credit pictures Wikipedia

But is Italia the sum up of Europe, which will have its day on May 9th? Surely not. The problem is the festivities of the Europe Day do not look very important. It's true that Europe fame has a little bit faded with the economic crisis but nevertheless, many aspects of the Angers life relies on the European dimension and not only financial.

Recently, Angers city was in the headlines of the daily Le Monde because the Agriculture High School hosts since a few weeks a Spanish scientist. This one choose to leave his country because of the economic crisis ther He says he feels great in Angers, a city he doesn't want to leave. So The celebration of the Europe cannot be summed-up to the celebration of twinng.

Technicolor Angers factory relocated in Brasil : an unforeseen effect of the working time share

The news could could recall April 1st because it looks like a joke but it is not. It's even a sad news. The Technicolor site of Angers would be, according to trade unions, relocated in... Brasil! A simple closing would probably have been less painful. But, because of the costs of the manufacture of decoders in Angers which would be now to high, Technicolor has decided to go away. 

With that departure, it's a symbol of the industrial past of the city which is going to disappear. If, in the global economy, goods, machines and of course capital are mobile, employees, above all if they are senior and rooted in their city, are not so. The wind of globalisation take away their factory.

The ideological politicy of sharing of the working time, implemented in France first by the right political side, then by the left, which made it compulsory (with the support of trade unions), has an unpredicted meaning. French employees, who saw the cost of their work to soar as the working time decreased, produce goods which prices are not compatible with the purchasing power of the consumers. 

The sharing of the working time will be in fact a total transfer of that time to poorer people eager to get work. That kind of sharing had probably not been foreseen. The reduction of working time was in fact a total suppression of it. In times of election in France, Angers people should think about that.

The Angers medias editorial line upside down after the first round of the presidential elections

The local medias of Angers could disorient the voters. The two main daily Ouest-France and Le Courrier de l'Ouest were traditionnaly on tow different sides : the first on the left, the second on the right. It seems it's not the case since the first round of the presidential elections. And that is highly visible in the editorials published by these titles on April 23rd. 

Ouest-France wrote cautiously "the second round looks more difficult that foreseen... The situation is not simple for the socialist candidate, in spite of the impulse of the first round". But the (formerly) rightist Courrier "The presidential election is already packed. On May 6, François Hollande will win... The uneasiness of a society out of breath doesn't allow to the candidate president to reverse the situation".

But the figures are different too. For Ouest-France it's 28,6% for Hollande against 26,5% for Sarkozy while Le Courrier write 25,5% for the second. The editorial strategy could be problematic for the Courrier because in Maine et Loire, its main department of circulation, the winner of the first round is... Nicolas Sarkozy.

The results of the first round of the presidential elections made some Angers electors angry

According to some inhabitants after a few hours the Angers polling stations had been opened, the first round of the presidential elections could prepare some surprises. While a large part of the polling institutes and the national medias predicted a low participation, that one was, in Angers, apparently more important than foreseen. 

The second surprise came in the evening when the first Angers websites published the results of the first run : except Angers, the most important town of the department, Nicolas Sarkozy was ahead of François Hollande, its socialist contender. That infuriated Angers people against the national polling institute and above all the medias. 

A good example of the bias of medias came from the local daily newspaper Le Courrier de l'Ouest. While the results was largely incomplete, that Angers daily newspaper (considered as rightist before it was purchased, a few years ago by its competitor, Ouest-France) commented with some aggressivness the results, writing that François Holland was in good position "to oust" his rival... Some of its readers generaly considered as favourable to the right will have the staggers.

Confluence, a bridge between hearts

The passers-by at the Confluence bridge which spans the Maine river may have their eyes attracted by unusual objects along the guardrails : padlocks. These have been bolted on the iron parapets of the guardrails, inongruous protections for something which can't be stolen and in a inconvenient site where nobody would park a personnal property. These padlocks have not a material function but an affective one. They are symbol of love : the love padlocks.

Credit Picture : Anthony Calamayor

Some of them bear the engraved firstname of the lovers and the date the padlock has been bolted. for one of them the symbol doesn't make any doubt : the ant-theft device has the shape of the heart. Maybe the designers of the bridge didn't thought their work, which has already an very aesthetic allure, would engage lovers to declare one's love. But the place is romantic with over the babling river. 

Such a custom could not disappear because in the years to come the place around the Confluence bridge will be entirely redeveloped in order to allow the Angers inhabitants to regain its river and its atmosphere. Its name, at first marked by the presence of the River, takes now a totally different meaning : from the physical geography to the Map of Tendre.

At Angers Saint-Laud square, car drivers have time to watch the trains go...

If Angers visitors may have a favourable impression arriving for the first time in the city, because of the design and the greens of the place, inhabitants who come to that square to pick up travellers and to take them away may have a litte bit different opinion. During periods when arrivals or departures are numerous, the square and the parking areas demonstrate their insufficiency and the inappropriateness of their design. 

At a huge roundabout where three streets are arriving, it's alaready difficult to enter in the perimeter of the Saint-Laud square. Once in the site, the approach to the entrance of the Angers Saint-Laud station is only possible by a single and narrow way where it'is uneasy to drive because of the cars already parked on the right side and because of a hairpin turn with metal bike hoops on the left. And that is the most simple situation because most of the time, travellers stepping down from the cars must take their luggage from the back and need a few seconds to kiss families and friends (with boyfriends more time is needed...). 

Credit Pictures  : William

But the most unhappy users of the square are persons who are not sensitive to the special atmosphere of arrivals and departures of relatives because they are there to work : the buses drivers. On Friday evening, people happy to meet relatives after a working week are generally in a hurry to go back home where wives or mothers have surely cooked nice meals. But, because of the wishes of a single driver of a small car who parked his (her?) vehicle on the roundabout, its impossible to the buses to cross the square and then for the cars. And no hoopers concert is sufficient to make that car goes. 

The most convenient parking aera has been designed for the VeloCité+, set up there by the city. It's normal, these bikes are always there...

The debate on Sunday openings could not be closed

The debate about the opening of superstores on Sunday could re-emerge after an agreement was found a few months ago between the local trade unions, the state and local authorities and the owner of the Leclerc center of Saint-Jean-de-Linières, near Angers. The extension project of the commercial surface (+ 1 000 square meters) submitted by the owner of the superstore, Fabrice Jonchère, was turned down by the authority. 

"I need to extend my store to make it durable", points out Mr Jonchère who, because of the refusal of the widening, doesn't rule out the possibility to re-open on Sunday morning "to strenghten the sales et the 65 jobs". 

"The Carrefour market located in Avrillé [and other places] is always opened on Sundays that doesn't seem to create problem to someone", he remarks. According to the local observers, such an idea could generate tensions with trade unions and the Angers agglomeration authority which want to protect the Sunday rest but the same idea in other Angers superstores and maybe at the new commercial park L'Atoll overcrowded for its special opening during Easter. The Sunday is considered as a day for rest by public Angers authorities but the problem is the consumer look to rest while shopping...

The Angers "Station +" project is on the tracks

With the closure of the Black Bridge, the period of redevelopment of the district around the Saint-Laud railway station is starting.  The Yvonne Poirel boulevard near the station is in works all the week. But the inconvenience for the users of that way, as well as for the neighbours is only starting because all the wasteland along the railway line will be unrecognizable once the work will be completed. The re-design of that area is called "Station +" and aims to create a new district mixing offices, stores and housing on both sides of the railway line.

The Angers city wishes that the project will fuel jobs. This would be not impossible because of the location of the place very close to the high speed train linking Angers to Paris, and from there to (almost) all the capitals of Europe. So the city was right to invest money a few months ago in a connection which will make the travel between Paris and Angers a little bit shorter.

Credit Pictures Angers City

The hope Angers could harbour is the shortage of housing capacities of Paris and its surroundings will hamper the development of the private companies, forced to "delocalize" their offices in Angers. But that could increase the real-estate local prices...

The anglicized brand of the city mays angers but is not in danger

The brand Angers Loire Valley continues to fuel criticism, questions but also a little hope. The daily Ouest-France, in an inquiry about the results ot that initiative of Angers Loire Métropole after it was launched in January 2011, points out in its issue of April 16th that Angers Loire Valley is "An anglicism criticized but efficient". Presently, the city doesn't want to conclude too hastily and annouced it will realize a survey about the impact of the brand on Angers' fame.

 According to the observation expressed to the daily newspaper, the communication of the new brand has not given noticeable results. But the fame of Angers before the arrival of Angers Loire Valley was not better. A little hope came recently from Austin, the Texas capital. But is it surprising given that in US nobody speaks a foreign language (except Spanish)? And yet, in France, as in many countries in the world, things and ideas seem more fashionable once they have been adopted by English speaking countries. Why would it not be the case with Angers Loire Valley?

Another survey from the Angers Loire Métropole Development Council suggests to create an event to federate the inhabitants of all the area. It would be wiser to enhance a humble but continuing English-speaking positioning to give Angers a most important fame. But the most juicy part of the Ouest-France survey is its conclusion : in order to compete in better conditions in the field of communication, Angers town hall is recruiting (written in French by a French editor) a "community manager"! After all "Charity begins at home".

In Angers centre, a revolution may hide another one

Some pictures have sometimes a meaning which is different of the goal of the photographer and make think to an hidden issue. The daily newspaper Ouest-France published on its website on April 14th an article about a demonstration of people gathered to protest against the bloody repression of the regime against the civilian. The picture is taken on Ralliement square and display Syrian flags, banners and people shouting their legitimate grievances.

Credit Picture : Ouest France

But, in the background of the scene, the viewer can see the front side of the Nouvelles-Galeries superstore and a giant poster displaying the famous French soccer player Eric Cantona, who played several years at Manchester United, with is new wife Rachida Brakni. Mrs Brakni, French citizen and actress, was born from Algerian parents. In Arabic countries, where most of the time the state religion is Islam, women are not authorized to marry men having another religion (except if they embraced Islam). 

So the giant poster behind the demontrators recalls that oppressed population must not become oppressors in their turn. It is faire to support the Syrian people. But, one it will be ridden of its dictatorial regime, it will have to do another revolution : the freedom of women, in the background of the picture...