“Frankly, this decree doesn’t solve much. It’s nothing more than a realignment that doesn’t acknowledge itself as such,” commented Patrick Allemand, president of the municipal group An Alternative Future for Nice.
The opponent of Christian Estrosi expresses a severe critique of the Mayor of Nice’s decision to regulate the presence of street artists in the city’s public spaces.
For him, “the authorized sites already warrant a comment. Unsurprisingly, Nice’s squares are the primary beneficiaries. There are six spots at Masséna, three at Magenta, three at Grimaldi (rarely do street artists perform there), the Rossetti, Charles Félix, and Pierre Gautier squares each have four spots (one wonders where exactly four street artist spaces could be put in Rossetti square considering that the tables of ice cream and lemonade sellers occupy almost the entire space). Some will never be used simply because few people pass through, such as in the case of the place de l’armée du Rhin.
Conversely, it is quite unbelievable that the Quai des États-Unis and the Promenade des Anglais are not open to street artists, especially since this is where tourist traffic is concentrated, particularly in the evenings. Furthermore, what is the use of offering eight spots on place Garibaldi if there is a ban on street artists using amplified or electrified sound?
Lastly, the limit set at 10 PM in the summer is impossible to keep for a tourist city like Nice.”
