The urban development of the Nice-Cœur de ville* district is now part of the 40 PNRQD projects that the previous government decided to select. The action perimeter of the protocol is bordered to the North by Rue Vernier and Avenue Mirabeau, to the South by Rue Paul Déroulède and Boulevard Dubouchage, to the West by Boulevard Gambetta and Avenue Durante, and to the East by Rue Lépante.
Christian Estrosi thus wanted to present this initiative: “The emblematic operations of urban, landscape, and commercial requalification will be concentrated mainly on two sites: the Bensa courtyard and Notre-Dame. Actions will also be undertaken in the private sector through a Planned Housing Improvement Operation. These operations will complement those planned within the ambitious renovation and urban improvement program initiated between the emblematic Place Masséna, at the heart of the Coulée Verte, and the new living space of Gare du Sud.” The project’s provisional budget amounts to nearly 69.2 million euros.
While this project can only garner general support, issues of methodology and content arise: The destruction of the Bensa block, including the corresponding building on Rue Trachel.
From the outside, the building shows no obvious signs of unsanitariness, with its residents ensuring the proper upkeep of the apartments. What those concerned dispute, and the reason for their opposition, is the lack of information and consultation from the City Hall.
To date, no official information has been communicated to them, and no guarantees have been provided regarding the conditions of their compensation and possible relocation.
A collective has been formed, and a lawyer (Master Marc Concas, also leader of the Socialist Party and departmental councilor) has been tasked with defending the property owners’ interests before all administrative bodies. Naturally, politics has seized the matter, with Patrick Allemand and Patrick Mottard supporting the protesters and pledging to back their approach.
In the confusion of comments, there has been talk of establishing a garden in place of the block (the City Hall mentions a boule court), and a variable geometry plan due to murmurings about the oversight of the interests of “someone well-placed” (information yet to be validated).
In short, the matter is likely to become the subject of an upcoming confrontation between Patrick Allemand and Christian Estrosi at the Metropolitan Council meeting this Friday, September 21st.
This program is also not viewed positively by the local Marine-right, which, according to the critical comments of its local spokesperson Gaël Nofri, finds it insufficient and ill-directed:
“There are surprises that only surprise those who still wish to be surprised. Thus, when the Nice City Hall announced with a lot of communication that it intended to tackle a project as ambitious as the requalification of the City Center, we knew very well that this was stillborn.
Today, two years later, confirmation is given. Faced with insecurity, pauperization, and massive immigration, which the heart of Nice is clearly suffering from, the City Hall seems only capable of responding with a quite useless façade regarding the measures taken, with a dogmatic obstinacy regarding the remedies implemented.
What the heart of Nice needed were real and global solutions, a true understanding of the stakes involved, a serious diagnosis, coherent and bold proposals.
But other politics probably imply other values and perhaps also other people…”
