The project to renovate the Ray stadium, including the construction of 250 housing units (instead of the initially planned 80) in addition to the vast green spaces and sports facilities, has the merit of offering a solution to a situation that risked becoming entrenched. However, it faces opposition from the socialist group, which will vote against the approval resolution at the Municipal Council meeting to be held next June.
“We are aware of the power dynamics and that the resolution will be adopted,” explains Patrick Allemand, flanked by the two municipal councilors from the “Another Future for Nice” group, Christine Dorejo and Paul Cuturello. “However, we are opposed to supporting a project that does not meet the populationโs expectations: 250 housing units instead of the 80 envisioned, shops, and also fewer green spaces.”
Indeed, this project is far from the lively family-friendly area expressed in the wishes of the residents. However, the municipality’s empty coffers have led it towards more lucrative solutions: at some point, you must choose between poetry and prose!
When asked how to finance the project, the socialist representative is firm: “It is the Mayor of Nice who must provide the answer. A less costly stadium, a less expensive tram line, and a less disastrous management of Semiacs could have kept us from being handcuffed by real estate developers. It is up to him to take responsibility!”
However, on this day, in front of the Rotonde of Populaire Sud, the focus was on memorial values. Patrick Allemand and his group want the Ray, “part of the intangible heritage of the people of Nice,” to remain a place of sport.
For this, they are requesting: the maintenance of the large playground on-site, useful for clubs and well-served by tram line 1, contrary to the chosen option that moves it above the A8. They also request the preservation of the Rotonde, as an emblematic witness of what the Ray once was, and finally, the creation of a commemorative work dedicated to the great moments of the Gym.
In such cases, as they used to say in Rome “caput mundi”: if asking is always permissible, answering is merely courteous.*
Ultimately, they will only have a piece of artwork.
