The mayor of Sète defends a “voluntary” policy in favor of housing for his municipal return

The rental permit, launched in April 2024,  on a perimeter of 74 arteries of the city center (southern block, the Quatre Ponts, the historic center up to Rue Révolution) 113 applications were examined. About ten were not granted for non-decent housing.
 

2. For "calmed" traffic, creation of a bicycle house

In the 2024 report, the municipality includes the extension of free bus travel (reimbursement of subscriptions) for non-taxable Sète residents (young people, seniors in particular). Seventy people have benefited from this measure since it came into force in June 2024. The City wants to encourage cycling and “calmed traffic” in the city center. “The practice is growing, the figures are impressive”, according to François Commeinhes. The latter delivered the results of a count: 8,000 cyclists pass each month on the Lido between Sète and Marseillan, 3,000 per month on the Maréchal-Leclerc promenade, a number which increases to 9,000 monthly passages in the summer period. To “encourage”more residents to soft mobility, the community wants to create a house of cycling and active mobility (MVMA) rue Euzet. It will be “to support the people of Sète in their efforts, they will also be able to have their two-wheelers repaired”. By 2025, an educational platform to teach good cycling practices from a young age is planned on a 1,600 m2 site between the Corniche stadium and the Biascamano swimming pool, for a budget of 130,000 euros. Finally, the bypass for car traffic from the Pont des Arts is expected for early 2025. The Quai des Moulins will then be completely cycle-friendly and will complete the 41 km of urban paths.

3. “At least one balanced meal per day”

“We did not want to pass on the increase in school meal costs”. Mayor François Commeinhes assures that he is working to improve the purchasing power of the people of Sète, by making the 42% increase, i.e. an annual additional cost of €300,000 (and this since 2021), be borne by the community alone and not by families. “This is an important political will that we had because we wanted to prevent families from taking their children out of the canteen. This year we have a very clear increase in the number of children registered with 1,350. They can benefit from at least one balanced meal per day”, he justifies.

Employment, early childhood, Aristide-Briand project, other issues addressed

Shared gardensA fourth shared garden will be created on the Place des Métairies. Once this one is created, a fifth will be set up in the green space located behind the Corniche church. Today the city has 85 plots of this type.

Childhood The rehabilitation of the Jean-Macé school will be undertaken in two phases. A school restaurant will also be created there. This site will also host the transfer of the Pergolines. The now former Suzanne Lacore school will be demolished. The Quartier-Haut crèche will be moved to rue Lacan in a building where 60 cots are planned.

Aristide-Briand The car park construction site, which has suffered the delays we know about – "legal proceedings have cost the municipality " the mayor specified – will be delivered “by the end of 2025”. Currently, workers are working on installing a pump in the lowest levels to evacuate an estimated volume of water of “50 m3 per hour“.

EmploymentFrançois Commeinhes reported that «the unemployment rate for 2024 in Sète was 10%. It even reached 9.7% during the year. This is lower than the departmental average and slightly higher than Montpellier (9.6%) and Nîmes (9.9%). Our small town is not doing too badly. I think it is because we host training courses, in the maritime or TV series sectors, which correspond to the demands of local entrepreneurs. They find their employees locally», he estimated, hoping that this unemployment rate "will drop to 9% in 2026". Another satisfaction: that of the vacancy rate of businesses “which is 4%, while elsewhere it is nearly 11%. This shows the attractiveness of the city of Sète and its dynamism thanks to the city center managers that we have. And we must be dynamic to fight against   e-commerce".

Tourism After a mixed start to the season "because of the weather, the elections and the Olympic Games, the month of August has largely made up for the difficulties that professionals have been able to encounter. And the September attendance is particularly high, just look at the restaurant terraces and the traffic difficulties" explained the chief magistrate who has given an appointment in a few weeks for a quantified assessment by the tourist office.

I subscribe to read the rest