The residents of the building 42 bis on Trachel Street were protesting against the destruction of the Square Colonel-Jeanpierre garden and their own building located opposite. The city hall plans to destroy the park to build apartments and demolish theirs to create a garden. Intelligence, where have you gone…
“No to the destruction of the park.” That’s the banner visible on building 42 bis, accompanied by a specially created logo for the occasion, “I love 42 bis.” About thirty people were on Trachel Street protesting and distributing informational flyers.
Several signs were placed around the garden or held by the residents. At the very least, it’s clear the residents are not backing down! For the past four months now, they have been fighting to preserve the garden and their own residences. Laurent Rodrigues, president of the Square Protection Association, grows more outraged by the day: “This is a completely absurd project; people live here! Destroying a park to build another and ejecting residents in this way is shameful and stupid!”
The city hall plans to build social housing (five buildings) in place of the current garden. Work is scheduled to begin in 2014. Subsequently, 42 bis is to be demolished, deemed in poor condition by 2016. “They only look at the facade; it’s an old Nice building from the early twentieth century. Inside, the residents are refurbishing everything. It’s in absolutely no danger.” According to the residents, no thorough investigation was conducted before labeling the building as uninhabitable: “If the facade is the issue, I’ll take a pressure washer to it myself!” jokes Laurent.
A counter-proposal.
But it’s not just about protesting. The residents have prepared a counter-proposal for which they hired an architect. The idea is to destroy the current parking lot next to the garden to build two buildings (of the initial five) and construct an underground parking lot. The residents would keep their building and the city hall would get some of its social housing. The problem? The project has yet to find attentive ears.
Patrick Motard, General Councilor of the Alpes-Maritimes (5th district), supports this project and according to him, “the city hall has chosen the worst solution for this square.” The councilor of the 5th district is optimistic. “The city hall is starting to realize its mistake; it wouldn’t be the first time they change their mind.” Since the announcement of the project four months ago, they have consistently spread the information throughout the city. Thus, the residents’ battle may ultimately pay off.
