A municipality disinterested in the fight against substandard housing, a deputy mayor with few investments who prefers to shine alongside the marine firefighters rather than with his agents in charge of buildings in danger of ruin, experts who omit the foundations of the buildings in their diagnosis , a trustee suspected of “play time”… Small and large errors, small and large incompetence and even suspicions of greed have accumulated this week before the criminal court of Marseille, which is judging possible responsibilities in the collapse of the buildings on rue d’Aubagne, which left eight died on November 5, 2018.
Discarding a “it’s-the-fault-of-bad-luck” Initially outlined by some, the investigating judges had come to the conclusion that it was a drama born of lost opportunities and warnings thrown into the void. But the trial even goes so far as to outline an inevitable race towards catastrophe, in which everyone is accelerating.
“We have to wait for eight deaths to think about the organization of the city council in the fight against substandard housing”whispers President Pascal Gante as the court examines the operation of the Risk Prevention and Management Service (SPGR), responsible for building security and orders for serious and imminent danger. “The issue of substandard housing was not a municipal priority”laments Arlette Fructus (Radical Party), declared witness.
During Jean-Claude Gaudin’s last two terms, she was deputy mayor in charge of housing. After the Noailles tragedy, he found himself at the forefront of crisis management. “Jean-Claude Gaudin was dealing with the upcoming elections, I was looking for solutions for relocation” hundreds of Marseillais “outside” suddenly from his home after November 5, 2018, he explains. Arlette Fructus resigned in January 2020. Three years earlier, when she brought up the issue of substandard housing, “us” He told him that this did not exist in Marseille.
Workforce in disarray
Julien Ruas (LR) remained faithful to Jean-Claude Gaudin. This director of a nursing home who dedicated between twenty and thirty hours a week to his duties as deputy in charge of maritime firefighters and urban risk prevention, is being tried for homicide and involuntary injuries, having notably given up, according to the judges of instruction. , to use its administrative police powers in matters of substandard housing. His statements paint a portrait of an elected official who is waiting and on the sidelines on this issue, saying he is only concerned about the buildings about which a report was received at City Hall. “Given the feedback, isn’t it your role to implement an action plan, not to wait for reports but to be proactive? “, The court calls him. “I take care of buildings in danger, not buildings in general”answers Julien Ruas.
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