2024-03-23 16:12:43
– Strong emotion after the installation of the “bench of shame”
On the steep Chemin du Calvaire, a simple chair replaced a bench that local residents appreciated for chatting. Under pressure, the City will install a second one.
Published today at 5:12 p.m.
Signs were posted by local residents, on and around the chair, to deplore a loss of conviviality.
DR
To initial the painter Magritte, this is not a bench. No. It’s a wooden chair that Lausanne has just installed halfway along the steep Chemin du Calvaire, in the Falaises district. It replaces a bench on which local residents visibly enjoyed sitting and chatting, to the point of mobilizing and naming the chair the “bench of shame” with a sign and social media.
The residents’ demands, relayed on social networks, were heard by the City.
DR
“Who sits? You or me?” could we read on a piece of cardboard a few days ago, before the Highways closed the premises. Other residents had written their dissatisfaction. “Before in this place, there was a bench where people took a break, took time to rest, talked before leaving. Today, it will be done alone. Individually. Without being able to share a moment with anyone.”
Residents gain a second chair
Through the voice of its pedestrian delegate Pierre Corajoud, the City assumes responsibility. “The bench that was placed there had to be replaced because it was no longer up to standard and in poor condition. The choice to place a chair in place of the bench was made to ensure that we had a very flat seat.” According to him, the previous bench did not allow comfortable seating, because it was leaning due to the steep slope at that location. “We would not have been able to ensure a very flat seat by installing another bench. This is why on the streets of Lausanne with slopes of more than 10%, we have favored chairs rather than benches for several years,” explains Pierre Corajoud.
The pedestrian delegate continues: “The chair in this location is designed as a relay seat which allows you to rest before setting off again. It is equipped with armrests allowing you to get up in better conditions, especially for seniors.” Okay, but what about the lost conviviality deplored by local residents? “In line with the requests expressed, we will soon install a second chair right next to the existing one.”
Laurent Antonoff has been a journalist in the Vaud section since 1990. After covering the regions of Northern Vaud and the Riviera, he joined the Lausanne editorial team at the turn of the millennium. A novelist in his spare time, he won the Berner Zeitung Local Journalism Prize in 1998.More information
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