On June 6, in our columns, we reported on a petition launched by Marie Graziani, at the origin of a protest movement against the closure of the Emile-Roux center. What did she criticize? The lack of information from Le Cannet town hall and the relocation of activities in the leisure area to various locations in the city. “Nobody warned us, we are faced with a fait accompli,” she lamented then.
If, at that time, the town hall indicated an objective of “revitalize the historic district of Le Cannet and avoid impoverishment” without giving further details, the latter has since informed us of what would become of the Emile-Roux centre. “The building will become a school, says Daniel Segatori, general director of services for the City of Le Cannet. Unfortunately, we couldn’t talk about it before because it’s a project that concerns two entities: the town hall and National Education.”
Five new classes
While the neighborhood school, La Bastière, which currently has 13 classes, is located in a high-growth area, forcing it to open a 14th – or even a 15th in the years to come – it was then obliged to undergo rehabilitation. This prompted the town hall to consider creating a small school, of which it is not yet known whether or not it will be independent of the current Bastière. “Initially, we will create five classes by renovating the Emile-Roux building, reprends Daniel Segatori. Then, we will rehabilitate, in stages, the other nine classes of La Bastière. This means that it will never be closed, we will move the classes as the work progresses.” Although the work on the Emile-Roux centre will last around 2 years, the start of the school year in September will not be affected, as the La Bastière school will continue to welcome all classes.
For this operation, it will be necessary to count on a budget between 6 and 7 million euros (2 million euros concerning the rehabilitation of the Emile-Roux center, between 4 and 5 million euros for the La Bastière school). The town of Le Cannet hopes to obtain 40% subsidy (20% from the department, 20% from the State).
The other subject of contention concerns the relocation of the 40 activities to several locations in the city and their access.
Three then four covered public car parks
While the majority of activities will take place in place of the former Serge-Lemaire printing works, on rue Saint-Sauveur, the others will take place in three different locations: the Patrick-Tambay gymnasium (for busy activities), the Bel’Aube hall (for language classes) and the Mimosas leisure area (as part of a pooling of activities). “Four covered public car parks will be available to members. These car parks benefit from one hour of free parking and then a rate of 30 cents per quarter of an hour: the Saint-Sauveur car park, the Moulières car park, the Val d’Azur car park and a fourth one in the pipeline, which will accommodate 120 spaces and which will be located under the Place Jean-Jaurès.”
This rehabilitation and school creation project is one of the most important in the city of Le Cannet in recent years… after the creation of the car park under Place Jean-Jaurès, the cost of which is estimated at 5 million euros.
