Interview with Sylvie Siri, Mayor of Saint-Tropez

You are the first woman elected Mayor of Saint-⁠Tropez. How was your election received by the Tropeziens?

Sylvie Siri: My election appears to have been very favourably received. I sense a strong expectation around me, and that is a great motivation for me and for the municipal team I have the honour of leading. Many challenges await us, and my team and I will defend our exceptional territory and its international standing with passion.

How do you see the coming season?

S. S.: In the hope that we may emerge from this pandemic situation in the spring, I am working every day on the preparation of the summer season, with the aim of being ready to support the economic recovery and to offer our professionals, shopkeepers and business owners the most favourable conditions possible. For this season we shall place the emphasis on three points:

• security, which will mean developing the video-protection network by installing new cameras in the old town, la Bourgade and the outlying hamlets.
• cleanliness, with the improvement of household waste collection across the commune, by creating underground containers in the town centre.
• health, with the project such as the multidisciplinary Maison de santé, which should be operational at the end of the year.

The town will also renew various measures such as, for example, the extension of terraces. I have likewise created a budget line to support initiatives and plans for cultural events, in order to strengthen the appeal of the commune. And above all, I am determined to develop our tourism policy by associating local businesses more closely with it and by setting it new objectives within the framework of a more responsible tourism, more respectful of the environment in the broad sense.

Can we expect to see new events or cultural projects this year?

S. S.: Indeed, some very fine events are in preparation. At the time of writing, while it is difficult to plan ahead where events are concerned, I very much hope we shall be able to host at the end of May the 1st edition of a Food and Wine event bringing together the “Esprit Vin” fair organised by Esprit Village and the planned “Fête des producteurs” led by the businesses of the UMT together with the great Tropezian chefs.

We are also counting on the return of Elektra Future Saint-⁠Tropez, the electric motocross competition that was a world first in the town centre last year, and above all, on 11 and 12 September, the French Grand Prix of the “Formula 1 of the seas”, Sail GP, a highly spectacular sailing event in which “flying” catamarans capable of exceeding 50 knots compete. An international event that will do much to keep Saint-⁠Tropez and its port in the conversation, a fortnight before Les Voiles de Saint-⁠Tropez! In the early autumn we shall also host, at the Pierre-Philippot municipal tennis centre, a professional ATP tour tournament, in partnership with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s academy. This competition, scheduled from 26 August to 5 September, should attract leading French and international players.

Finally, we also await the inauguration of our new Marcel Aubour football stadium, which will be one of the major events of this autumn. As for cultural projects, four exhibitions are planned in our museums, including an unprecedented retrospective of the work of Nadia Léger at the Annonciade, a panorama retracing the history of the Gendarmerie at the Musée de la Gendarmerie et du Cinéma, and the opening of a new room in the autumn at our museum of maritime history. Concerts are also envisaged at the citadel, but we must wait for them to be confirmed.

Do you have any immediate plans concerning infrastructure and the commune’s heritage?

S. S.: We have drawn up a multi-year investment programme which should allow us to spread our renovation and rehabilitation projects over the term of office, which runs for six years. This year, studies will be commissioned to launch the creation of a space dedicated to the shops that have disappeared and to essential trades; the construction, in the short term, of an athletics track at the Salins stadium; the renovation of the Renaissance cinema-theatre, with one auditorium for festivals and theatre and another for cinema; the rehabilitation of the COSEC sports hall; and, finally, the creation of new rental housing in the premises of the hôtel des finances (the tax office), which is to move next year.

In parallel, we are continuing the rehabilitations, already under way, of the jewels of our rich heritage: the chapelle Sainte-Anne, the château de la Moutte-domaine Emile Olivier, the bell tower of our parish church and the citadel, which requires immediate works to make it safe.

With the new Marcel Aubour stadium due to be operational during this first half of the year, you can see that we lack neither activity nor projects. All the more so since, in planning matters, the start of 2021 is intense, with the drawing up of a new PLU (plan local d’urbanisme, the commune’s local planning framework) and the discussion around the SCoT (Schéma territorial de cohésion) within the Communauté de communes. On this last subject, I want to stress that I shall be extremely vigilant in preserving our village and its territory, because this Schéma will have a far from negligible impact on our future, both economically and for our appeal to tourists.