The beauty of electoral campaigns lies in the bouquet of ideas and promises that are the easiest way to charm citizens.
Moreover, they only commit the fortunate elected official, with the losers able to drape themselves in the notion of… if I had been elected, I would have done this, etc., etc.
These municipal elections coinciding with the Carnival period offer an additional advantage to scatter ideas like confetti.
Besides, doesn’t the Latin proverb say, “semel in anno insanire” (once a year, one may be a fool)?
So, candidates, let loose!
A few days after Christian Estrosi’s shock announcement of his plans to redesign the Promenade des Paillons by demolishing the TNN and Acropolis and transforming the Exhibition Palace into a Palais de la Culture et des Sports (with the fate of the two hotels surrounding it remaining unclear), it is now Patrick Allemand and his team’s turn to present their master plan (an alternative project) which is no less innovative and even goes further by reaching into the eastern part of the city up to L’Ariane, besides the hills.
A true intellectual “one-to-one,” even more than an electoral one.
But isn’t it said that one must throw their hat higher than their opponent?
THE GRAND ALTERNATIVE PROJECT
MAKE THE VAR VALLEY, THE VALLEY OF SPORTS
Sporting facilities have developed in the Var Valley, while cultural equipment has grown around and on the Paillon. We must continue in this direction.
Thus, we oppose the idea of converting the Exhibition Palace into a Sports Palace. The Sports Palace should logically find its place in the Var plain, next to the large Meridia, served by tram line 3, in the Allianz Riviera area, near the Camille Muffat Olympic Pool, the Arboras stadium, the equestrian park, and the Charles Ehrmann Sports Park.
MAKE THE PAILLON THE VALLEY OF ARTS AND CULTURE
Regarding the Paillon Valley, we want to make it an area of arts and culture. We oppose the demolition of the Nice National Theater and the Acropolis Palace.
KEEP ACROPOLIS
Acropolis is a convention center, albeit not very aesthetic, similar to many built in the 1980s. Shifting to municipal management has been beneficial, and the tool is still credible and operational, as demonstrated by the 2019 results, which show a 30% increase.
After praising it a few weeks ago, the mayor of Nice demolished our convention center during his speech by calling it outdated. He forgets that, assuming he is elected, it will take at least four or five years to build a new convention center near the airport, and the demolition of Acropolis is not happening soon, considering the number of foreseeable appeals and the mandatory impact study for such a massive demolition site.
In the meantime, I wish the Acropolis municipal management’s sales team a lot of courage as they negotiate conventions and sell Nice as the 2021 destination. They will have to sell conventions with a mayor who says “no one wants to come.” It’s irresponsible and false! This greatly worries hoteliers, restaurateurs, cafe owners, and other downtown businesses working with conventioneers. They are very unhappy with this remark, which undermines the current convention center.
KEEP THE NICE NATIONAL THEATER (TNN)
The TNN-MAMAC complex is considered the major architectural work of Yves Bayard. The TNN is a remarkable building. That some work needs to be done is certain.
We are not opposed to the idea of relocating the theater to the Franciscans’ church if this prospect suits its director. However, we have reservations about the greatly reduced capacity and its accessibility.
We oppose the demolition of the TNN. It could be rearranged into meeting rooms of various capacities, something Nice lacks, and which would save the building by maintaining its volume and facades.
For example, the Michel Simon Hall (318 seats) could be dedicated to contemporary music, and give Volume, waiting for its relocation to Garibaldi, which will never happen, a new development perspective, while meeting a strong demand from young people.
MAKE THE EXHIBITION PALACE A LARGE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM
We want to turn the Exhibition Palace into a large international museum up to the standards of major modern cities, a facility the city currently lacks. The idea is to create a large museum focusing on contemporary art, based on the collections of the MAMAC and museums such as Chéret, Anatole Jakovsky, and Matisse, drawing from the Nice school, the Ferrero donation, and forming an agreement with a major national museum.
A whole section of this grand museum would be dedicated to the Carnival museum promised 12 years ago but never realized, detailing its history, evolution, and contemporary float construction. Thus, the real estate on Rue Richelmi and the Spada hall, where the Carnival museum was once considered, would be freed up. The sale of the land would help finance part of the project.
MAKE MAMAC A NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
The MAMAC would house the exhibits of the natural history museum currently stored in the old Barla museum and its outbuildings. It’s worth noting that the Nice natural history museum’s collections are the most extensive in France after those of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. This natural history museum has been awaited for years. It was promised by the mayor at Phoenix Park, another forgotten idea.
The MAMAC could also host, on behalf of the BMVR, the thousands of books from the Cessole foundation, pending family agreement, which are currently stored at the Villa Masséna. All this would constitute, alongside the Louis Nucéra BMVR, a vast cultural and scientific hub.
MAKE 109 THE CROSSROADS OF CREATIVITY
The resources for 109 will be increased. It will remain a multicultural hub with artist studios, artists in residence, live arts, and digital arts. This exhibition space will be more utilized. The city could notably form an agreement with Villa Arson, finding a new partnership with spaces to exhibit its young talents. Recall that Villa Arson was deprived of the Marine and Ponchettes galleries destroyed by the mayor to create the Jacques Chirac course.
MAKE ARIANE THE STREET ART DISTRICT
Finally, we plan to make Ariane the street art district and a European center for street art. There’s space, talent, and the opportunity for workshops.
The extension of tram line 1 will serve the site. We are ready to take on this challenge and attract tourists, particularly young tourists, to Ariane.
MAKE THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR HILLS AN ALTERNATIVE TO AN ARTIFICIALLY RECONSTITUTED NATURE
The first version of the green corridor was good. It’s a project we voted for because this Paillon promenade and its parking lot were truly an eyesore. But it’s not a natural green space; it’s a reconstructed garden on a river. If there was a challenge, it would be to free this river to protect against future floods, not to change how it’s covered.
Nice au Cœur wants to favor an “original” nature, established for millennia, over an artificially reconstituted nature.
Here in Nice, we have an authentic, cultural, and Mediterranean nature: centuries-old olive trees, pine forests, still a few citrus trees, and diverse vegetation nourished by an exceptional climate.
In Nice, it’s this exceptional ecosystem that we should highlight, from the Promenade des Anglais to the different sites and hills: the Observatory, the Vinaigrier Park, Mont Boron, the Nelson Mandela garden, the Lazaret site and its coastal path, the Château hill, and the botanical garden of Corniche Fleurie represent, if better equipped, natural spaces that would be appreciated by all, akin to the frequentation of Rome’s seven hills. This is also true for the Saint Philippe hill and, further west, for the future Var plain park.
We need to improve accessibility to all these sites. With the cost of the necessary demolitions to implement the announced demagogic project (6 to 8 million euros minimum if we include the hotels I assure of my support), we should be able to develop the peri-urban parks, make them more accessible with frequent public transport, efficient and economical public mobility installations (cable transport to be tested), but also by facilitating access to the hills and renovating the stairs and shortcuts of the hills.
We are a long way from artificial nature. There’s no need to raze public buildings to plant trees, just protect and enhance access to what nature has offered us. If all the surrounding massifs were accessible by regular public transport, all residents would have access to a nature that has been established for centuries. Let’s defend our natural landscapes rather than create the artificial.
With such a layout, the city of Nice would enrich itself with new installations pleasing to frequent during summer evenings, when the lower city has been overheated by human activity.
We must no longer give up an inch of land because, at the end of this logic, it’s potted trees in bus corridors we are heading towards.
CONCLUSION
Today, Christian ESTROSI wants to demolish Acropolis and the TNN to create his ideal corridor, which will be just an “artificial” nature, so well illustrated by the synthetic lawns that are proliferating. Extending it to the Exhibition Palace is a communication project, not a project to combat climate change. This green corridor project is a new form of domestication and servitude of the Paillon, which remains a rebellious coastal river.
I want Nice to align with its Mediterranean and Alpine nature, generous, majestic, but powerful and wild. The Nice au Cœur approach is to encourage the people of Nice to live with nature and organize with it by adapting to it.
