The Administrative Court has rejected the administrative appeal filed by a heterogeneous group consisting of several current and former elected officials from various municipal opposition political factions and a citizens’ association against the East-West underground tramway project. Theoretically, the Collective could appeal (which would not be suspensive) to the Council of State, but no communication in this regard has been made official.
For Christian Estrosi, Deputy Mayor of Nice: “This decision by the Administrative Court once again demonstrates, if it were needed, the seriousness and credibility of our project.
Some political opponents, in a purely political strategy, had decided to play on fears and obstruct our project, even though their gracious appeals had been rejected by the Prefect both past and present and validated by eight state administrations.”
So, will the construction start as planned before the end of 2013?
The final word in this saga doesn’t seem to have been spoken yet!
Indeed, the Changer d’Ère group, which had not participated in this “cordial agreement” among opponents that led to the administrative appeal, is stepping in, buoyed by the success (according to them!) of the citizen consultation on May 25, which, among 8,483 voters, recorded 7,737 votes against the underground project.
Patrick Allemand, leader of the local PS, is forthright: “There is still hope to thwart Christian Estrosi’s project and the time is absolutely not for resignation after this Administrative Court decision. We are going to launch a citizen’s petition to say ‘NO to the underground tram’.
It is therefore a rally call to all residents of Nice opposed to this project, and this major mobilization aims to gather as many signatures as possible by Sunday, September 8.
This action will begin on June 29 and conclude with two weekends of mobilization after the summer holidays: August 31 and September 1, and September 7 and 8.
Assuming the result of 15,000 signatures is achieved, will it be enough to change the mind of the Mayor of Nice a few months before the 2014 municipal elections, knowing this issue will be one of the key points of the campaign?
Patrick Allemand remains optimistic…
To be continued!
