SAINT-DENIS: Less than 500m separate the Stade de France - the sparkling centrepiece of the Paris Olympics --and the crumbling Francs-Moisins estate plagued by poverty and crime. Samia Achoui, a secretary who lives in one of the grey blocks dogged by drug dealing, does not have a ticket to see the Games.
SAINT-DENIS: Less than 500m separate the Stade de France - the sparkling centrepiece of the Paris Olympics --and the crumbling Francs-Moisins estate plagued by poverty and crime.
France not only hopes to use the Olympics to turbo-charge ongoing redevelopment there, but to recast the fevered image of Seine-Saint-Denis as a crime-ridden collection of ghettos forged during suburban riots which started there in 2005. The island, which has its share of grim apartment blocks, has been turned upside down by construction works for the Olympics.
Delivery driver Moussa Syla, 45, who lives in the Francs-Moisins estate - which is also getting a major facelift - said the thought of the disruption brings him out in a cold sweat.It has been hard to go anywhere in Seine-Saint-Denis in the build-up to the Games without seeing scaffolding or cranes building whole new neighbourhoods.
"We need to find a second wind for Seine-Saint-Denis so jobs stay here," said Isabelle Vallentin, the number two at Solideo, the state body charged with delivering the Olympic projects.A large slice of the 4.5 billion euro building budget for the Games is going into this push, with the department the big winner, taking around 80 per cent of 1.7 billion euros in public money. While private investment is harder to quantify, it likely is not far behind.
Seine-Saint-Denis's other big headline win is a clutch of new swimming pools, of which it is in dire need. Another more subtle transformation is likely to come through a series of new footbridges linking areas long divided by the major road and rail arteries that slice through the department. The Olympics have been the"pivot point that has accelerated the transformation" of the department, Stephane Troussel, the socialist head of Seine-Saint-Denis council, told AFP.
Stephane Laurent, 47, who was looking to"get work quickly", left another fair in Saint-Denis with an offer to train as a security guard - something the Games have a huge need for.
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