“Among the many good things done by the outgoing mayor and the positive balance of his city government, the historic center and commerce unfortunately cannot be included among these successes and the reasons are different, including a heavy legacy and a management lacking medium-long term vision which must be given a clear discontinuity. An attention that the new administration will have.” This was stated in a note by Michele Sartori, a resident of the historic centre, of the provincial and municipal board of Action.
“The historic centers are the cultural engines of the city and the province, as well as the showcase with which the city itself presents itself: a welcoming, lived-in, well-kept historic center is what every citizen would like for their city. To date, the center of Reggio Emilia suffers more from problems common to other neighboring historic centres, but e-commerce cannot be used as an exclusive reason and it is a problem that Parma and Modena also have, where instead the historic city is more lively and productive – he continues – The future administration of which Azione will be part, will have among the priorities of its work the listening and concrete involvement of citizens and traders in identifying the problems and possible solutions from which to then draw the necessary decisions in a overall future vision framework”.
“The first step will be the verification of each act of the “covered market” and a decisive review of the state of affairs with the adoption of the necessary administrative and legal measures to align the covered market project with the guidelines of the PUG approved by the City Council, within an overall area project. A project that must respond to an economic, social and tourist balance of the public area – Sartori continues – We note that the center of Reggio suffers from an organic lack of parking and services that facilitate access and stay in the center ( including bicycle storage, charging areas for electric vehicles, etc.). In fact, the recent extension of the ZTL is a partial work that can be taken as an example of how the last administration dealt with issues that impact everyday life: a necessary action, managed with the wrong method given that it totally lacks a definition of new spaces and works that promote access at fair costs as required by the relevant regional legislation”
Azione then believes that a priority is “the feasibility study and construction of underground car parks / silo car parks to be located at strategic entry points to the historic centre, or the reuse and strengthening of abandoned areas close to the hexagon to be used for this purpose ., the underground expansion of the former CAAM car park or the redevelopment of abandoned areas which include, for example, underground floors for cars and green and usable spaces on the surface”.
Other important issues are the ’emptying’ of the center as regards companies and public offices, the housing problem linked to a significant number of vacant apartments (“The new administration will have to review the Housing Plan, in the sense that the Municipality will have to encourage dialogue not between tenant and landlord but above all directly involve the owners’ associations and in particular the companies, giving the latter the possibility of making housing solutions available in the center to their employees, through a preferential and incentivized authorization process”), a adequate increase in law enforcement personnel to discourage petty crime, services for residents such as medical and pediatric clinics, services for the elderly considering that a large part of the resident population tends to age, as well as spaces for the activities of sports clubs or associations , equipped children’s areas as in many European cities, which are currently the prerogative of areas outside the city center.
