Petion-Ville

Pétion-Ville, is a commune in the Port-au-Prince Arrondissement, Ouest Department of Haiti.

Pétion-Ville is Haiti’s fourth largest city. Founded September 23rd, 1831 under the presidency of Jean-Pierre Boyer, Pétion-ville was chosen at the beginning as a defending city to keep the Haitian Army’s archives from any possible attack from French.

This town is located in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince , on a hill nicknamed “the coal cutter” because it provided much of the charcoal to the city. It was a famous resort.

This town was founded in 1831 by President Jean-Pierre Boyer , and was named after Alexandre Pétion Sabes (1770-1818), recognized as one of the four founding fathers of the country. Pétion-Ville became from the second half of the nineteenth century the residence of many Port-au-Princiens who came to get a little cool.

This commune is mainly residential and tourist. In 2013, the population census shows 283,052 inhabitant, that of 2015 gives 376 834 inhabitants. Pétion-Ville is part of the conurbation formed around the capital Port-au-Prince. Pétion-Ville is also part of the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. It is one of the most affluent areas, where the majority of tourist activity takes place, and one of the richest parts of the country. Many diplomats, foreign businessmen, and a large number of wealthy citizens do business and live in Pétion-Ville. Despite the distance from the capital and the general affluence of Pétion-Ville, the lack of administrative rigor in the management of the city has led to the formation of slums on the outer edges of the region. The less well-off people migrate to the mountains and settle in search of employment opportunities.

During the period when Alexander Pétion was in power, he did not have the vocation or the claim to found a city called today Pétion-Ville. Twenty seven years after the proclamation of the National independence, Jean Pierre Boyer came to power and found it good to start a city in memory of this hero of the War of Independence. He founded a city at La Coupe (the centre of a canton specializing in the manufacture of charcoal) which bore the name of Alexandre Pétion. After Boyer, several presidents brought their touches to the city: Salomon had a drinking water system installed; Borno a paved road, Rue Grégoire; Vincent confided to the architect Franck Jeanton the creation of the Place D’Armes (Place Saint-Pierre Ex-place of the government) and ensured the electrification of the streets; Lescot had the halls of the public market erected; François Duvalier made built the Lycée and his son finished the Market Simone, (Nancy Roc, Audience Magazine, September 1997).

Having become in the 1970s the place of residence of the elites of the country, the municipality faces and challenges major factors, including the population explosion. This phenomenon has had serious repercussions on the municipality. Originally built to accommodate a few hundreds of inhabitants, Pétion-ville has been experiencing accelerated urban growth for some time. The commune, whose population growth is largely due to the rural exodus, is now 342,694 inhabitants.

At the beginning of the century, the area on which Bristout-Bobin today extends was filled with forests. As no exception to the rest of Haiti, the area was deforested little by little, and the wood was burned to make coal. The latter is used as a source of energy for cooking by nearly 88.7% of the population of the country.

The town of Pétionville is located on a hill near the Haitian capital nicknamed “la coupe charbonnière” as it supplied much of the charcoal to the capital. The first inhabitants of the neighborhood settled in the 1940s. They were day laborers coming from the provinces to take advantage of the jobs of the capital. These populations have imported a rural way of life that has resulted in the cultivation of cassava, potatoes, peas and livestock, made possible by a low density.

The commune has five communal sections and one district. It is interior, its dominant terrain is the hill and its climate varies depending on where it is located. Its inhabitants bear the name of Pétion-Villois. In 1998, the population of the commune of Pétion-Ville was estimated at 133,005 inhabitants and in 2015 it is 376,834 inhabitants. For an area of 53 Square miles, (137.97 km2), its density is 7110 per sq mi. (2,730 per km2).

For economic and financial infrastructure, Pétion-Ville has fifteen hotels, 25 restaurants, eight banks, one Caisse populaire, and three marketing co-operative centres.

Twenty-three Markets (Big and small), 23 major stores, 15 food supply centres, 10 building materials shops, ten deposits (soft drinks and other miscellaneous items), eight gas stations, four Private morgues, 15 pharmacies, 5 photocopiers, 4 hairdressing salons, 5 beauty Studios, 4 Photo studios, two dry cleaners, several bookstores, shops and others form the commercial establishments and Economic benefits of the municipality.

Education: The Ministry of the National Education for Youth and Sports is represented by a school inspection office. 41 private kindergarten, 250 schools of which (14 public, 232 private and four of the congregationalist type) were inventoried at the primary level in the municipality. 15 secondary schools, including two public and thirteen private, 7 vocational schools, six Literacy centres and one Higher school have been listed in the commune as well.

Health: The Ministry of Public Health and Population is represented by a communal health office. Forty-nine doctors, six Dentists, twenty nine nurses, 81 auxiliaries, 78 certified Matrons, seven laboratory technicians and 8 Radiologists were counted within the Health institutions of the commune.

Utilities: With respect to water availability, the municipality has a River, seven Springs, five lagoons and public fountains with more than fifteen taps. Virtually the entire city of Pétion-Ville is electrified.

Religion: Nearly 419 temples (chapels included) were counted in the commune. The Pentecostal temples reveal to be the most numerous, 102 in total.

Communication: Pétion-Ville has a telephone office, a post office, and three radio stations.

Leisure: As for leisure, the commune has two libraries and a cinema room. There is not a museum or a theatre.

The sports are football (soccer), basketball, volleyball, tennis, and athletics.

For monuments and sites, it has three which are of natural, historical and colonial type. There is a need to underline the existence of a good number of art galleries in the municipality of Pétion-Ville. From the town of Port-au-Prince to Pétion-Ville via Bourdon, Rue Pan-Américaine, the multiplicity of artisanal creation (carved objects made of iron, wood, straw or other) is quite important.

Fort Jacques and Fort Alexandre, built in the aftermath of independence under the leadership of Alexandre Pétion , are part of a set of about twenty military works arranged in anticipation of a possible return of the French, former masters of the colony of Santo Domingo.

Nightlife: Pétion-Ville is an affluent part of Haiti, where many multiracial Haitians live. Avenues like Laboule and Morne Calvaire are known for their mansions. There is an extreme, almost feudal gap between the rich and the poor in Haiti. The closed and guarded private neighborhoods resemble a Haitian version of Beverly Hills. Most residents of Pétion-Ville are affluent compared to residents of most other areas of the country. Pétion-Ville has more security than the center of Port-au-Prince, and, in general, than the other big cities of Haiti. The community is very stable, with a vibrant nightlife and a business center with the appearance of Western normality.

The suburb is filled with nightclubs, beauty salons, gyms and French restaurants. Hotels and other businesses that welcome tourists are often frequented, and most of these meetings take place at night. Institutions often host large expatriates and foreigners of a similar caliber.

The famous hotel “El Rancho” is in Pétion-Ville. It was built from the private property of Albert Silvera , a collector of sports and luxury cars that was one of the pioneers of Haiti’s hotel industry.

Organizations: Six Political parties have representation in the commune. Five Popular organizations, two non-commercial co-operative centres, four NGOs and one International organization were also inventoried in the municipality.