First Deputy Mayor of Villefranche-sur-Mer and candidate for the top position in this municipality, Jean-Pierre Mangiapan, a former general councilor, shares his thoughts on the recent events in the political life of the Nice metropolitan area.
After unceremoniously dismissing his first deputy, General Councilor Benoit Kandel, the Mayor of Nice, President of the Metropole, has just faced the dramatic resignation of another pillar of Nice’s UMP, General Councilor Olivier Bettati.
Why such a crack in the Nice stronghold that some believed to be impregnable, but whose foundations may be made of sand?
Because during an extraordinary municipal council meeting convened to adopt a single resolution “authorizing the Mayor to take legal action against anyone contesting municipal and metropolitan management,” this system of managing the city of Nice and the Metropole proves to be undemocratic, and increasingly unbearable in the eyes of local elected officials and citizens, as evidenced by Mr. Bettati’s letter and Mr. Kandel’s speech.
What lessons can we learn from this revolt by two major figures of the Nice Municipal Council and the Metropolitan Council?
Firstly: The finances of the Metropole are in tatters, and the level of debt to which we are involuntarily associated is alarming.
Secondly: The governance of the Metropole, which gives the Mayor of the capital the majority, is scandalously undemocratic, as he does not have to account to us for his management!!!
Thirdly: The upcoming roadworks, notably the compliance of the Nice tunnels, will be our shared responsibility, as will probably be the case for upgrading Nice’s public buildings for disability access, since the Mayor of Nice excels in passing Nice’s charges onto metropolitan taxpayers under the guise of a pseudo community interest; for example, the famous green corridor, a beautiful promenade for the people of Nice financed by the metropolis, where is the metropolitan interest???
Fourthly: It’s clearer why the commitments of the metropolis are struggling to be fulfilled in Villefranche (refer to the refurbishment of the toll and the Malariba tunnel!) since according to Mr. Kandel, of the €230 million promised, only €110 million are in the coffers!!!*
So I believe this political explosion is good news for our small towns, and Villefranche in particular because the law of silence is broken and we will finally be able to know the state of the metropolitan mismanagement and draw all the consequences.
