During its week of vacation, the Nice Premium team is happy to offer you a compilation of its best articles. For this first day, you will find the 5 most visited articles since the beginning of the year.
First published on March 13, 2008, under the title “Patrick Allemand, Christian Estrosi and Jacques Peyrat debate in Nice”
After an initial exchange between the two candidates with Jacques Peyrat calling Christian Estrosi’s opening statements “theatrics” and stating that his only strategy was for Nice, Patrick Allemand started his speaking time by addressing the people of Nice about this petty bickering that harms their city. The tone was set, and the debate could begin.
“Nice is sick,” certifies Christian Estrosi, “Nice is doing very well,” retorts Jacques Peyrat, “Today Estrosi is Peyrat’s opponent but the only opponent here is me and has been for a long time.” The statements flew, but they weren’t the most lethal.
The next topics were addressed by Yan Gonon of France 3 and Michel Bernouin of Métro. On housing, Patrick Allemand wants “1000 social housing units, which will be twice as many as those constructed by Jacques Peyrat, and to not see envelopes intended for housing construction go unused again.” Jacques Peyrat, on his part, declares “having done what I could by rehabilitating 10,000 housing units in 10 years and after avoiding SRU fines, it is now time to do better.” Christian Estrosi announces he has brought in “€180 million from the General Council and wants to rehabilitate all the Nice neighborhoods starting with the glass building currently housing the Nice public housing office. I will provide a €20,000 assistance for home ownership.”.
The Var Plain will be a passionate and interesting subject with Jacques Peyrat pointing out that “the Var Plain is a property of 14 communes and should be a concerted area. We need to rethink the Min, build the multimodal station, and keep a place for the Court of Appeal if we are ever granted it,” while Christian Estrosi talks about “sustainable development and competitiveness. We are going to create the Eco-Valley, host laboratories working on solar and biomass, and build a large exhibition center.” Patrick Allemand suggests “building a city of renewable energies in place of the Grand Stadium because the Var Plain is the lung of the city of Nice. Housing needs to be built with proximity facilities and economic zones with companies should be implemented there.”
A thorny issue indeed, the Mosque of Nice. On this subject, consensus was present on set with all candidates unanimously declaring that the mosque would be built in the west of the city. Christian Estrosi will state that he had filed a complaint against X regarding phone calls concerning the mosque issue, following a figure provided by Jacques Peyrat who had declared “refusing a project of 14 mosques in the city and a large mosque outside.”
A point of contention between right-wing and left-wing candidates this time, the grand stadium. The Nice sports venue, which has already generated much ink before any construction began, divides the two major political currents. The right wants its Grand Stadium in the Var Plain while the left-wing candidate wants to keep the sports venue on the Ray hill. Jacques Peyrat announces that “the envelopes of candidates for the realization of the Grand Stadium have been opened,” Christian Estrosi promises a stadium within 2 years and hosting the European Football Championship, while Patrick Allemand assures that “the soul of OGC Nice is at Ray, and there is nothing worse for a team than playing in an empty stadium like in Monaco.”
Each candidate will then have a minute to convince tele-voters to vote for them. Patrick Allemand will address a message to seniors and the families who care for them, Jacques Peyrat declares that he has done what was asked of him by replenishing the city’s coffers and building facilities, and Christian Estrosi promises to give his best to everyone in order to leave no one behind.
The debate ends with speaking time counted at 9 minutes per candidate, among whom was the future Mayor of tomorrow’s Nice. Oh no, pardon, the day after tomorrow’s Nice!
