The cloth burns between the Ferme du Bonheur and the town hall of Nanterre in the Hauts-de-Seine (92). A petition that has collected more than 5,000 signatures is currently circulating to raise awareness about the future of La Ferme du Bonheur. “The town hall of Nanterre wants to kill the farm of happiness, we say no!she protests.
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This place located between the interchanges of the A14 and the A86 has hosted agricultural activities but also cultural and social events since 1993, on a fallow land of 2,500 m², near the University of Nanterre, where sheep graze. . It would house 37% of Nanterre’s biodiversity. The land belongs to the Nanterre town hall and the Paranda Oulam association manages it through a precarious and temporary occupancy agreement. “A precarious and temporary tacit agreement, which has never been signed but which is supposed to be renewed each year. And there, the town hall decided that it would end in 2023“, laments Roger des Prés, founder of this alternative place.
This wasteland is intended to be developed as part of the redevelopment of the ZAC Seine Arche. The municipality of Nanterre will launch a call for projects to develop new activities and invites the association to apply, but the association does not intend to do so. She is convinced that her project would not be accepted. “They would keep us on their shortlist but we wouldn’t win the call for projects», anticipates Roger des Prés. Before getting indignant: “How dare to propose a call for tenders for an urban agriculture project on a site that already offers an agriculture and culture project? We are in despair.»
Security risks
The city retorts on its site that it does not want “kill Happiness Farm» but asks the association to «respect the rules of law that apply to it“. She ensures that requests for prior authorization have not been filed with the town hall for the organization of electro parties. “Until April 2022, municipal services have never been requested. These events welcoming a large audience have been organized without authorisation, without the passage or opinion of a safety commission, with all the resulting risks for the young people who take part in them, as well as for the organizers who engage their responsibilities.», Asserts the city.
To which Roger des Prés responds: “We didn’t know that we had to make a prior authorization deposit but every year I informed the town hall, the police station and the neighbors by email of the holding of these electro parties.. I got other things to do than break the law“. These parties represent 60% of the association’s budget and their disappearance would be a significant loss of earnings for it. “We’re not going to let go, I plan to live here until the end of my dayspromises Roger des Prés. To be continued.