One stroke here, one stroke there, Christian Estrosi continues his work of changing the city. And when it’s not a construction site that changes the appearance of an area or place, it is still an important maintenance intervention.
After restoring Garibaldi Square, freeing Saint Paul Street from vehicles, and while awaiting the completion of the renovation of Saint-François Square, it is now Saleya Course’s turn to be addressed in the mayor of Nice’s agenda: the objective is to restore order in a situation where narrow-mindedness has prevailed over general good operating rules, beautify the area to increase its attractiveness to visitors, and better secure it.
The municipal team, playing “collective” has become the hallmark of this second half of Christian Estrosi’s term, presented its “proposals that are not decisions” – as the mayor of Nice clearly stated – to a plethora of stakeholders (merchants, market gardeners, restaurateurs, florists, producers, and concerned neighborhood committees) with the key points being:
the removal of the entrance to the underground parking (which will be accessible through the Ponchettes Gallery exit)
the arrangement of activity areas for restaurants and market gardeners to eliminate overlap in the same space
a partial pedestrianization of Bosio Street to prevent its use as a passageway to the Quai des États-Unis
Workshops will allow stakeholders to express themselves before making choices between different options and defining work directions.
In terms of timing, the decision-making, administrative, and operational processes should conclude by mid-2019 with the completion of the work… municipal elections in 2020 oblige!
Awaiting the conclusions of this act of participatory democracy (we’ll see the final product, but the initiative is interesting and deserves to be highlighted and encouraged) which will allow a fuller and deeper assessment, one clear thing stands out: the lack of ambition of this document: is it so impossible to free the Old Nice area of cars* that are so polluting and cumbersome, and ban circulation and parking except for accessing the many parking lots?
Come on, a little courage: we have to see it through to the end!
This course must rediscover its festive and friendly spirit: away from the commercial excesses giving it the characteristic of an open-air souk, the often predatory attitude of restaurateurs, and the incivility of motorists.
