In terms of voluntarism, one can hardly do better!
For once, left-wing organizations (parties, movements, associations) have found unity for a common cause: the extension of tram line 1 towards Ariane and La Trinité.
If we want to give a sociological meaning to this action, we can easily refer to the theoretical works of the American academic Daniel Bell (“The End of Ideology-1960) who advocated a social and political reorganization that shifted from ideologies to what he defined as “one single group,” that is, cross-sectional adherence around a common goal.
Faced with the denial and vague motivations of Christian Estrosi (who never wanted to pay attention to an area that interests him little or not at all from an electoral point of view), the collective shows perseverance.
Will they have the ear of the President of the Metropolis? There’s no reason to be optimistic. If Christian Estrosi’s slogan is “I say what I do, and I do what I say,” …it lacks a third part, “it’s me who says what should be done.”
Since this is not the case this time…
There remains hope that the local “dominus” will read the Borloo report on suburbs which advocates for the implementation of infrastructure to open up disadvantaged neighborhoods, which is exactly the case for Ariane and the Vallée du Paillon (there’s nothing to invent, it’s just what is being done in Moulins).
So, to move their project forward, the collective will have to move from poetry to prose because proving that their “arguments are fallacious” serves no purpose since Christian Estrosi knows this very well without needing to be told.
However, given that the 2020 municipal elections are approaching, reminding him that the citizens of this area are also voters could prove more effective!
Since the early 2000s, Ariane and La Trinité have been waiting for the tram. Jacques Peyrat had committed to it with the State, which had subsidized line 1. Several debates had even been organized to choose the tramway route, approved by the neighborhood council in 2004. Since then, nothing!
During the last session of the metropolitan council on April 5, 2018, Christian Estrosi confirmed the definitive abandonment of the tramway line 1 extension project, based on an analysis focused solely on profitability at the expense of the quality of life of the residents. The arguments put forward by the Nice city hall are fallacious. This decision is a major political fault because it removes all hope of opening up for the residents of Ariane and La Trinité.
1 – The mayor of Nice’s fallacious arguments
A TER is not a TRAM! The first argument of the mayor of Nice is that the tramway is not essential for Ariane because the TER already serves it. However, the services provided are not comparable.
The frequency of stops? One TER every 20 minutes compared to one tram every 4 minutes!
The distance between stops? Every 1.5 kilometers with the TER compared to a stop every 400 meters with the tramway!
And the TER runs on the left bank of the Paillon while Ariane is on the right bank, where the tramway could run.
The second argument of the mayor of Nice is the population ratio. 12,000 residents per kilometer would need to be served to make a tramway extension profitable. He only counts 5,000. We denounce this accounting logic, focused on the profitability of urban development. If we followed Christian Estrosi’s logic, no bus or train lines would go to the hinterland, and rural France would be a desert.
But even if we follow his logic, we realize that his calculation is wrong: the extension of line 1 between Pasteur and La Trinité is 3.9 kilometers. This line would directly serve:
– The specialized hospital center of Sainte-Marie, which represents 1,139 jobs.
– The Ariane sector: 12,000 residents.
– La Trinité: 10,200 residents.
– But also indirectly through multimodal transport (tramway + car or bus) the communes of the Paillon valleys, at a minimum: Berre-les-Alpes (1,300 residents), Blausasc (1,500 residents), Cantaron (1,300 residents), Châteauneuf (900 residents), Contes (7,400 residents), Drap (4,400 residents), L’Escarène (2,500 residents), Peillon (1,500 residents), Saint-André-de-la-Roche (5,400 residents), and Tourrette-Levens (4,900 residents).
That’s an additional 30,100 residents to add, leading to a minimum ratio of 13,360 residents per kilometer of line.
The arguments put forward by Christian Estrosi do not hold!
2 – A major political fault
Telling the residents of Ariane that the tramway will not reach them is excluding them even more. It’s telling them: “Everything beautiful and new in the city, everything that’s modern and improves quality of life, is not for you.”
Fighting traffic jams and road congestion? Yes, but not in Ariane! Allowing young people and those not so young to be mobile and find a job more easily? Yes, but not in Ariane!
Allowing the elderly to get around the city for their medical visits, shopping, to see their families? Yes, but not in Ariane!
The Mayor of Nice must be the mayor of all residents, not just those in the affluent neighborhoods.
It’s precisely in neighborhoods where unemployment rates are highest, where access to health and higher education is most difficult, that the tramway should be the highest priority.
Christian Estrosi constantly talks about security. We assert that opening up an isolated neighborhood through the tramway is a more effective lever than all the security strategies the mayor of Nice could invent (Reporty, facial recognition, video surveillance cameras).
We assert that nothing compares to an open, beautified neighborhood, where round trips to and from the city center are facilitated. A neighborhood where efficient public transport will foster local economic development, urban renewal, and new investments.
Telling the residents of La Trinité that the tramway will not reach them is stripping them of all hope of ending the road network nightmare that has become an ordeal every morning.
The lack of tramway service to Ariane and La Trinité is nothing less than a deliberate urban segregation policy. We refuse for Ariane to be cut off from the rest of the city. Ariane is Nice, and the tramway must reach Ariane and La Trinité!
Association Les Arianencs, EELV 06, Ensemble! Nice, the LDH Nice, the MRAP, the MRC 06, Nice Au Cœur, the PCF Nice, the PS 06, Tous citoyens
