Saint-Germain-en-Laye: why the cave ramp is still closed at night

If, in favor of the warm summer evenings, you hoped to reach the level of the cave ramp at Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) to take advantage of its beautiful panorama over the Seine valley and Paris, turn around.

In fact, the site is firm in the evening every day of the week.

At each of the accesses located below at the level of the French Souvenir Street and of theAvenue du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny au pecq or the Rue Thiers in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, temporary grid walls equipped with doors have been installed to prevent all access and protect all this public space from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Avoiding “disorders of public order”

If the decree displayed at each access speaks of a “temporary ban”, it indicates in the same sentence that it is effective “until further notice”.

This is not the first time that the City of Saint-Germain-en-Laye has had to issue a decree prohibiting access to the cave ramp.

Used for the first time in 2020 in an attempt to suppress “the public disorder which were recorded there, this radical decision is now the only lever operated by the City to prevent the emergence of phenomena that it seems quite incapable of curbing.

A place traditionally frequented each summer by young people, the cave ramp had experienced significant unusual activity in 2020 during phase 2 of the deconfinement launched on June 2, marking the resumption of many activities.

“We have regained our peace”

Many groups, dozens of young people sometimes, then got into the habit of going to the site to party. U

ne resident wishing to remain anonymous remembers the “deafening music, until late at night. »

“It was almost every night. They sang, shouted or strolled in the rue Thiers to go lower to the level of the ramp. And there was the fair. It’s great that it finally came to an end. Thanks to this closure, we have regained our tranquility. »

“It was great to be able to meet there in the summer”

But, the decision of the town hall does not only make people happy, starting with the target audience: young people.

“Closing this whole corner is a very bad idea. It was great to be able to meet there together in the evening. The funniest thing, of course, is summer, it’s hot, it’s holidays… It’s normal that we want to have a little fun. And frankly, in this sector, there are not many neighbors. »

Among the disgruntled are other people who, for their part, do not necessarily hang around the area in the evening like Vincent taking the stairs at the end of the day.

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“Travel and additional time”

“I live in Le Pecq and I usually use the ramp to catch my RER. So in the evening, when I get home it’s good, but in the morning, I can’t go because I leave well before 7 am. So I have to go through the avenue du Maréchal-de-Lattre-de-Tassigny. This adds walking distance and therefore travel time. And I’m not the only one in this case. It’s unbearable. I think he could reopen access much sooner. If it’s to keep people from coming to party, I don’t really think they’d come here at 5 or 6 in the morning. »

On the side of the municipality, we seem well aware of the difficulties caused by this summer closure.

“These gatherings of young people are really disrupting the neighborhood and, today, the only solution is to close the cave ramp. There are no others at this time. »

Neither the cameras that criss-cross the site, nor the large numbers of municipal police available to the City can solve the problem.

” We do not have the choice. »

” It’s not sufficient. The cameras do not deter people and as it happens at night, we cannot always deploy crews there. This is not obvious. And when there is a really large crowd, which sometimes happens, the intervention is tricky. It is a constraint for some people who go to work in the morning but for the moment, we have no choice. »