Two buildings collapsed last Sunday in Pasteur, it’s no longer breaking news. The remarks made during the official speeches have already been echoed by other platforms; let’s skip the introduction and get straight to the point!
This renovation ultimately cannot just be reduced to numbers adjusting statistics. Indeed, the phrase “humanizing housing” is one that we will find here and there in various political speeches.
Yes, this extensive operation has costs that force decision-makers to dissect what led them to make such a decision, yet the real fight was one of courage.
This Sunday, the history of this operation was recalled by a man who experienced it from the beginning within the Pasteur neighborhood committee. He took the time to dedicate a few lines to it, and at that moment, the emotion was palpable through the nodding of heads and sidelong glances.
How can one feel emotional about seeing blocks of buildings fall if one has not experienced significant moments of their life inside them?
It happens unexpectedly, at the moment when one realizes that the initial idea came from a neighborhood committee composed of first-class complainers who, nevertheless, are genuine parents.
The members of neighborhood committees are troublemakers for many institutions, but if they hadn’t been there for so many years, we would no longer have the strength to invent them because the spirit of controversy exists today without really being directed towards overall progress.
The Pasteur neighborhood committee dared to dream that their neighborhood would one day belong to them again. Many of them were born at a time when there were olive fields and dirt roads, they had to face modernity and the whims of urban planners, yet they did not give up.
How many skeptics must have scoffed at their ideals? Against all odds, some men heard and understood them. These same men united to build the city on new foundations. They showed courage and respect to dare to act. How could these few words be contested given the constant controversies around the tramway and the rest!!!
Then, thanks to the tireless work of a team of civil servants, everything continued. At their head, Dominique Estrosi who, adorned with humility, lowers her head and smiles without any pretension or pride showing.
Hats off to this lady, whose work alongside these often criticized civil servants will be recorded in time, a new time of returning to the essence of common sense. A place hosting a market, community halls, shops… Simply, life differently.
The price of fame for her will only consist of a few smiles and wordless looks, but these will have the value of sincerity, sometimes more significant than applause.
Having waited for the “Law on Guidance and Planning for the City and Urban Renewal” to set up the first file compliant with its articles and to have defended this concept will still remain a great achievement. This is a wonderful way to love Nice, by bringing together all actors, from the humblest to the most obliged, to move in the same direction.
The residents who have turned the page will have memories like their predecessors from the belle époque. Those who arrive will have everything to build so that ultimately the history of this neighborhood continues to be part of the history of the city. This same city that owes them since 1388 the coin of the signature of a deed of dedication to Savoie placed on the steps of the Abbey of St Pons that watches over the Pastoriens.
A fair return of things? A snub to the history of Nice? Without a doubt, a very important chapter for this neighborhood that was named as an insult just two days ago.
