The mayor grew up in a building so decrepit — filthy hallways, no private toilets, no showers — that his friends in nearby concrete towers pitied him.
One-quarter will become public housing after the Games.
“All of a sudden, we have the same feeling of pride as people living in the hypercenter,” said the mayor of St.-Ouen, Karim Bouamrane, 51, using his personal shorthand for the glamorous downtown playgrounds of the elites.
“There was Los Angeles, Barcelona, Beijing, London, Sydney and, now, there is St.-Ouen.”Even before the Olympic Committee choose to invest in this economically depressed northern suburb, St.-Ouen was changing.
But since then, and since Mr. Bouamrane’s election as mayor in 2020, the transformation seems turbocharged.
Persons:
”, Ouen, Karim Bouamrane
Organizations:
Olympic
Locations:
St ., Paris, —, St, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Beijing, London, Sydney