How are you approaching this first electoral campaign?
It is indeed my first electoral campaign, but I have done so many for others that I am used to it. It is a bit different being the candidate, though.
The campaign is taking place in the summer; is this an advantage or a disadvantage?
It’s a bit of both. The disadvantage is that people are on vacation. Moreover, today we have the issue that at the end of the week there is Ramadan for Muslims. The voters have gone on vacation to Morocco. It will not be easy to take advantage of this.
What is your view of the 6th district?
The district is divided into three parts. The Pasteur area, where we find people in need, who are really in misery. There is another part which is very commercial near Malausséna and Borriglione. And there is also the “bourgeois” neighborhood located on the heights of Cimiez. But in all three cases, there are just as many difficulties in Cimiez as in Pasteur. People think that the residents of Cimiez are wealthy, but they arrived there 30-40 years ago and now live on small salaries. They are just as disadvantaged as the people living in Pasteur or Borriglione. Social work can be done just as well in Cimiez, as in Pasteur and in the city center.
What are your plans for each of these areas?
For Cimiez, we plan to increase security. We will engage in social efforts. Then, in the Malausséna area, we plan to build the new Nice City Hall on the site of the old Gare du Sud and a sports complex. In Pasteur, there is a lot to be done. We have worked a lot on it with former General Councilor Jean-Pierre Mangiapan; we demolished the Maccario neighborhood’s HLMs to build new housing. We made these available to the staff of Pasteur Hospital and the private part for those who want to live in the neighborhood. The tramway implementation has not yet been mandated. We had destroyed the footbridge linking Place d’Armes to Boulevard Risso for work, but it has never been rebuilt, which is troublesome for the elderly who want to go shopping at the supermarket across the street. They have to take a monumental detour. This is one of my priorities. As well as reestablishing the sidewalks and roads that are very dangerous. There is also the Nice prison, which has long been talked about, but to date, we have not found a site to relocate it to a different neighborhood. There is the redevelopment of the gendarmerie whose site will hopefully be able to host a nursery and housing within a year or two. But this is the power of the Mayor, not of the General Council.
What would you say to the residents of the 6th district to convince them of your candidacy?
I was a collaborator of Mr. Mangiapan for eight years, first in sports and these last five years in social work. There we really focused on people on a case-by-case basis in the neighborhoods. People know me, they know what I’m capable of. People who have asked me for services know that I will ensure their cases succeed.
Don’t you think you are at a disadvantage due to your collaboration with Jean-Pierre Mangiapan and the invalidation of his election?
Not really in the sense that the invalidation was due to a financial issue. If there was something else, that could have disadvantaged me, but in this case, not. Jean-Pierre Mangiapan made a mistake by using his blue card, but other than that, he always did considerable work.
What are your political plans for the fall?
I would like to officially join the UMP. That is Mr. Christian Estrosi’s choice. He has known me for 22 years; he knows what I am capable of. I am competent. The only concern I will have in the fall is that, being opposed to the General Council of Alpes-Maritimes, I do not know if I will return to my job after the election. With this candidacy, I am going a bit against the party while still being on the right. What I will do after that, I do not know. I will stay in politics for sure and will join the UMP despite everything. As I have already said in the press, I have no animosity against Christian Estrosi or Eric Ciotti.
