Another frontal attack on the tramway but above all on decorum and safety in the cityaccompanied by the first proposals in the social field to counter the supremacy of the opponent, Sara Funaro, on the topic also by virtue of her role as municipal councilor for Welfare.
These are currently the watchwords of the electoral campaign of the centre-right candidate, Eike Schmidt, tonight (6 May) guest of honor at the great FdI gala at the Michelangelo Terraces, where in addition to the former director of the Uffizi running for Palazzo Vecchio, the candidate for the European elections, the regional councilor Francesco Torselli, will also be officially presented. With the blessing of the FdI organization manager, Giovanni Donzelli, of the various Melonian parliamentarians of the regional territory and above all of the mayor of Pistoia, Alessandro Tomasi, candidate in pectore for next year’s Regional elections.
«The degradation is glaring especially for those who have not lived in Florence for a few years. In the last ten years the city has certainly become more degraded, you can see it mini markets and fast food outlets have grown and this contributes to degradation”, Schmidt explains – during an interview with Radio Toscana which will be broadcast tonight – according to which the other side of the coin “is that of delinquency which has grown”: “So-called petty crime is not so pettybecause there are people who beat up kids, women, elderly people to get some change or steal their cell phones or watches.”
Without to forget the age-old issue of potholes and road maintenance. «This must be tackled with great force, we cannot make ends meet by moving maintenance to the following year or the year after and then in the end not enough is done», the former director of the Uffizi stings.
As for instead the tramwayhistorically opposed by the center-right in the city, the aspiring mayor clarifies: «I’m not against the tram, I’m against specificity. The Florence tramway is critical not in its merit, but in its method. We must review it rigorously and it is unacceptable that hundreds and hundreds of trees were cut down to build it, it was not necessary with more modern technologies and in some places the tracks had to go underground so as not to narrow the road too much.”
The center-right candidate also shifts his gaze to welfare issue, also in light of the latest data which outlines a growth in poverty and marginalization in the city. “Must exempt from taxation those who rent to families but also have more nursery schools and at much more affordable prices. You have to have a free after-school service for everyone, to provide an offer of sports, language music, art, visits to museums, for example, in the afternoon until the parents return from work”, proposes Schmidt, thus challenging Funaro on his own ground. «We need to give a big hand to families but there are also the elderly. There is a big economic and loneliness problem and therefore we need to create structures in all 14 districts of Florence where associations can meet and take care of the elderly. We can’t leave them alone.”
The football joke
Finally the joke with a sports metaphor. That the center-right can win the municipal elections in Florence by beating the center-left, just as Bayer Leverkusen did this year, to the detriment of Bayern Munich, in the German championship, «is a possibility. We are on the field, we are not behind. It’s our goal to win this time,” Schmidt said. «Football – added Schmidt – makes us understand that this interruption is possible, alternation is an important principle of democracyI’m here and I’m running.”
