Good News
Friday, 21 February
Failing hopelessly in my determination to find something positive to write about this week, I was once again saved by Le Parisien, the daily newspaper that is my treasure trove of information about what’s happening in the city.
The successful 2024 Paris Olympics seem long gone but one reminder of that summer spectacle is the Arena Adidas, constructed especially for the Games. The article in last week's paper claimed that the stadium really had, as promised, given a quartier of fast food joints and drug dealers a boost.
Porte de la Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement is a direct métro ride on Line 12 from my über-bourgeois 7th arrondissement. So in just 19 minutes (13 stops) I was transported to another world, one initially more reminiscent of East Berlin, I have to say, than of Paris. Like Berlin, the former rail yards here at the northern limit of the city were heavily bombed by the Allies at the end of the second world war and the rubble replaced in the 1960s by similarly inhospitable housing...
Just across a wide boulevard and under a railway bridge from the above, the new Arena butts up against the Périphérique, the Paris ring road. Though the article claimed it was now a sporting hub for the area, the stadium wasn't exactly humming with life the Friday I visited.
Perhaps my timing was off, because it was certainly built with people in mind. There are gymnasiums for the 12 local schools to use and the Arena can be morphed from a sports stadium into a venue for concerts and other entertainments. It is also environmentally friendly. The 7000m2/75,000sq foot roof is végétalisé (ie, planted with greenery). Both solar panels and geothermic energy were installed to heat water and air. And all 8000 seats in the stadium were made from recycled plastic by a start-up called Pavé based in the adjacent suburb of Aubervilliers. After winning the competition for the Olympic project, the company doubled its work force and included people considered 'hard to hire'. It hopes to branch out into other substances and become a European leader in the conversion of recycled waste into durable building material. It aims to transform 7000 tonnes worth of rubbish by 2026.
Just to the south of the stadium the streets were buzzing with life.
The main axe that runs through the quartier is the rue de la Chapelle, originally an old Roman road called l'Estrée leading from Lutetia to places north. Later baptised the Route Nationale 1, the road is still a major artery. The Paris section was repaved and planted in preparation for the Games, and the more congenial aesthetic has undoubtedly helped lift the residents' self-esteem.
As with most areas around the edges of Paris, La Chapelle was once a village. And as with many of those villages, life revolved around the church, in this case a small chapel, where it was said that around the year 500 AD Sainte Geneviève, one of Paris' patron saints (she kept the Huns at bay), stopped to rest on her way to pray at the tomb of the other patron Saint Denis (he sacrificed his head for the sake of Christianity). The church subsequently built on the oratory's ruins was named after the latter (Saint-Denys-de-la-Chapelle). Nine hundred years later, another future saint, Jeanne d'Arc, came to pray here. She had stopped in the village to regroup with her men while she planned the liberation of Paris from the English (a basilique in her honour abuts the church).
Today the area of La Chapelle is tucked between the rail lines that leave from the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est. The farther south you go, the more new and old Paris come together, both in terms of architecture...
...and population...
The heart of the quartier around the Max Dormoy métro station is a bustling melting pot, but it still feels very much like a village.
Even in my short time there, I witnessed acts of respect - a man on a scooter excusing himself when he rode too close to a woman and her child - and kindness - a young man taking the time to greet and listen to the complaints of an old man. People were smiling...
...seemingly very much at home...
...and letting their creative juices flow...
The leitmotif these days that immigrants don't fit in, are ruining the West, appeared very far from the mark. An impression backed up by recent statistics: since the Arena opened in 2024, both unemployment and crime are down, the latter by 40%. Problems of course persist, but visiting La Chapelle gave me just the kind of good news story I was looking for.