An electoral campaign is always about project against project.
Christian Estrosi describes his with this metaphor: “We have renovated the house, now I propose to beautify the garden.”
Benoît Kandel’s is summed up as “He repainted the shutters of the house but the roof continues to leak, he has put the family in debt, I propose to truly strengthen the house and take care of its inhabitants.”
During the second campaign meeting of the CNIP-DVD candidate, Benoît Kandel reminded that he was the only candidate truly representing the voters of Eric Ciotti.*
For the independent candidate “if they decided to turn their backs on Christian Estrosi, it is because he betrayed their political convictions by getting closer to LREM.”
“But that is not the only reason” — he stated, before listing a long series: “The state of the city of Nice certainly has a lot to do with it. Indeed, local policies (security, cleanliness, roads, maintenance of urban real estate and schools, public lighting…) have been sacrificed on the altar of major projects. The debt has become so colossal that Christian Estrosi, in an attempt to contain it, became France’s champion of tax increases in 2018, just two years before the elections after promising everywhere that he would not raise them. This spending madness also forced him, under threat of placing the community under guardianship, to sell parking lots (Massena and Saleya) as well as our shares in the Nice airport. However, these infrastructures are very lucrative for the city!
Benoît Kandel wants to put an end to this irresponsible major projects policy to devote himself to the real needs of the citizens of Nice.
During the meeting, he addressed several themes.
1-Transparency and Ethics: “It is time for practices to change!”
Benoît Kandel has signed the ANTICOR charter (one of the only elected officials to have done so). He wants to quickly establish a transparent and honest city administration […] and make public the number and salary of cabinet members, transparency, and collegiality in the allocation of social housing or nursery spots…
2-Culture and Environment: “Ecology is not about greening the city only to concrete the lands of the Var plain”
It is urgent to address the smoke emissions from the Ariane waste treatment plant, which have a real negative impact on the health of the people of Nice, and to immediately modernize the Haliotis sewage treatment plant that processes the metropolitan wastewater. Other measures, which seem trivial but are remarkably effective, must also be taken (synchronization of traffic lights on the Promenade des Anglais, replacing all public lighting points with low-consumption lamps, organizing deliveries in the city other than with trucks over 3.5 tons with atmospheric engines…).
3-Security: “New technologies are important but ineffective if there are no responsible people behind them.”
It is urgent to reopen all the neighborhood police stations closed in recent years by the mayor. Municipal police officers must be “attached” to a city neighborhood, know its residents and shopkeepers, and above all, feel responsible for them. New technologies are important but ineffective if there are no responsible people behind them. These tools should not be used to increasingly penalize drivers or delivery people, as is currently the case.
Benoît Kandel will also prioritize the fight against communalism and the salafization of minds. He opposes the return of jihadists who left for Iraq and Syria, contrary to Christian Estrosi.
