As the dossier for line 2 is currently in the starting blocks and the municipal opposition continues to denounce its excessive cost and underground choice, during the last Metropolitan Council, President Christian Estrosi announced an initiative to obtain the necessary funding to extend the future line 2 to Saint-Isidore in order to serve the Allianz Riviera, Ikea, but also and especially Nice-Méridia, which will be the flagship of the Eco-Vallée.
The reactions did not take long to come in, given the great possibility of slipping on this dossier.
While the FN’s campaign director for the municipal elections, Gaël Nofri, did not miss the opportunity to outright accuse the President of electoral propaganda, socialist municipal and metropolitan councilor, Abderrazak Fetnan, reacted strongly to this announcement which involves a connection with the Ariane district that will never happen, replaced by a more frequent and efficient bus service.
Christian Estrosi, with the support of his deputy, and in passing, deputy councilor for the 15th district of Nice, Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, chose the renovation of the Moulins district, which is part of his constituency.
It’s nothing new: Whoever holds the right side of the knife really has the advantage of cutting butter as he wishes. Replace butter with ballots and…
The announcement of a third tramway line is a non-political event but a purely electoral announcement.
Necessary to complete the future line 2, this new line was planned as early as 2004 to structure an important space with significant stakes like the Plaine du Var.
However, it is likely that it will never see the light of day with the current Mayor of Nice given the severely impaired finances of the city and the Metropolis, also given Christian Estrosi’s missteps concerning the East-West line 2.
Yet, this modern and structuring public transport network is urgent and necessary for a large city like ours, which today projects itself on the scale of a metropolis.
With Christian Estrosi, Nice has taken six years of delay in its development.
It will add six more if the people of Nice do not take care of the empty promises of illusion sellers, makers of disillusionment.
Gaël NOFRI, FN campaign director for the 2014 municipal elections in Nice
The Ariane residents refuse that the Mayor of Nice “buries” them at Ariane
The construction date of the tram to Ariane in 2030 was decided when the Mayor of Nice chose the option for part of line 2 to be underground. The money intended for Ariane would therefore be used to dig the tunnel.
Today, the Mayor has clearly signaled the abandonment of extending line 1 to Ariane. This time, it’s line 3 that caused this definitive abandonment of the tram towards Ariane.
“We do not invest in territories that do not create wealth,” declared the Mayor during the Metropolitan Council today.
By abandoning the tram at Ariane, Christian Estrosi has chosen to enclose the district. Whatever the frequency set for buses or trains, it will never replace the performance of a tramway.
Moreover, if that were the case, why not apply the method elsewhere? Why invest so much money to put tramway lines into service?
Through this abandonment, the Mayor of Nice seems to be telling the Ariane residents that they are not equal to the Nice residents from other parts of the city. Yet what is good for the rest of the Nice residents should also be good for our fellow citizens of Ariane.
I therefore ask our fellow citizens of Ariane not to give up and to continue mobilizing for territorial equality in the city of Nice. Their mobilization for the tramway in Ariane, through the petition, demonstrates the importance of speaking out because, urgently, the Mayor has just proposed this morning to improve bus service.
For all these reasons, I announce to them that the petition signature books for Ariane will not be closed tomorrow. I will relaunch the petition for a tram at Ariane until the last Ariane residents who wish, express their desire to see their district served by the most efficient public transport currently known, the tramway.
Abderrazak Fetnan, Municipal Councilor of Nice and the NCA Metropolis
