by Claudio Cordova – During the years of the Municipal Administration governed by Giuseppe Falcomatà in Reggio Calabria we witnessed representations of jubilation for the repair of a hole, a fountain and even for the installation of rubbish bins. In short, the triumphalistic tones with which, in the last few hours, the mayor himself and his increasingly embarrassing majority have welcomed the approval of the 2024-2026 budget forecast should not be scandalous.
Because things have gotten worse over the years.
Falcomatà praises the result (?) claiming the choice not to request the bankruptcy. Yes, because, in recent years, we have gone from the controversy – when we were still talking about politics – over the excessive spending of the “Reggio Model” years to the almost total inability to spend on the part of an Administration and an Institution that are falsely portrayed as without money.
When, in reality, they are almost always just empty of ideas.
If, in fact, at one time, too much was spent in an attempt (not without deviations) to make the city “outperform”, today the latest controversy on the tariffs for the cost of parking in the center is yet another demonstration, as well as a very low level of citizen debate, also of a transition to an unfortunate management, by tax collectors, of the municipal coffers which, instead, should be used for planning, to create development, to have an idea of the city.
Of the city, or rather, of the Metropolitan City. Not a small town where even just asphalting the streets becomes an event.
And, instead, with the summer season looming in a disturbing way (just think of the last, melancholy and squalid summers in Reggio) the sanitary conditions of the city are worrying to say the least, with crushed rat corpses dotting the roadways. All this is the result of waste collection (especially in the suburbs) that is lacking to say the least, after yet another bad page written on the assignment of the urban hygiene service.
Long gone are the days of Reggio as a tourist city, with Rtl on the seafront. Of course, a lot of money spent. Too many, even in light of the judicial emergencies. But in those years – and this is an undeniable fact – the city was alive. The last summers on the shores of the Strait, however, have been among the darkest. In every sense, if we remember the choice to close sections of Corso Matteotti, leaving them in darkness and uselessness.
The arrival of summer in Reggio Calabria is worrying. When, however, it should be the season capable of driving the city’s economy for the remaining months, especially today, in light of the new national and international flights proposed by the Region with the arrival of Ryanair. God forbid that tourists coming from Marseille, Manchester or Barcelona should encounter the usual ridiculous summer posters, with prominent exponents of the tarantella (when it is banned for unworthiness it will always be too late) compared to neighboring places such as Sicily or Roccella Jonica , which offer the presence of artists of national and international level.
Sometimes, indeed, Falcomatà seems to be obstinate towards his city. Because, among many things, for example, it is difficult to understand the mental mechanisms that could lead to not planning a rebirth of the Lido Comunale, the management of which was (rightly!) taken away from those who had no right to it. But it cannot remain like this, like a ruin – at the entrance to the city – which seems to have emerged from one of the many dramatic theaters of war that the world experiences. And continuing a few meters, you enter the splendid seafront, which lacks any type of vision, both as regards the installation of beaches or kiosks. When in every tourist city by the sea and with such a favorable climate as that of Reggio, the season is practically already in its infancy.
And what about the paradox of the moving walkway, the work that should decongest traffic, that should connect the center and the seafront, the nightlife area, with the upper part of the city and that closes its doors at 8pm. Really, it seems that Falcomatà has never left the city limits for not knowing that everywhere similar works, even more architecturally ugly, remain essentially active 24 hours a day. One city above all: Perugia. The treadmill of Reggio Calabria no. He also takes a lunch break. The longest lunch break in Europe, including the islands: from 1pm to 4pm or so. Precisely in the time slot when schools leave and, therefore, with the greatest influx in terms of traffic. And, but they will say, “do you know how much it costs to keep the treadmill active?”. It’s expensive, like everything nowadays. But everything can be cushioned, with a little ingenuity, for example, with a banal advertising campaign.
I can provide the contact of those who deal with it for Il Dispaccio, people with very high ideas and skills.
And let’s go back to the initial point: the absence of ideas and skills, rather than money. The management of public affairs, in recent years, has been literally ridiculous and improvised, as evidenced, most recently, by the incident regarding the closure of the offices of the Attorney General’s Office.
But unfortunately, when amateurism takes over the decision-making centers there is very little to laugh about and the citizens pay for the effects. And, in fact, there are entire areas of the city, even in the center, which are totally abandoned and which, “under the cover of darkness” (cit.) also become a receptacle for decay. Think of the Villa Comunale. How intelligent it would be to relaunch its use, perhaps reserving it specifically for younger people.
Ideas, more than money. This is what is needed.
Because in a context in which there are so many colluding entrepreneurs, even more charlatans who say they care about the city, when in fact they only look after their own backyard (or their own marina), it must be a Municipal Administration with ideas that tries to revive an economic fabric that is, to say the least, depressed. And just take a walk along Corso Garibaldi, where once upon a time there were quality shops and not franchises, often of poor quality.
Poor quality, like the years that Falcomatà is living, with an unsuspected sadism. Because we have gone from the cheerful management of municipal coffers to the sad one. Which saddens all citizens and the entire territory.
Tags: cheerful management sad management money Municipality Reggio Calabria
