Ten (10) votes. Only ten votes in the city council to approve the General Master Plan, the essential urban planning tool which, in the rosy intentions and expectations of Cassì bis, should have designed and shaped the appearance and substance of Ragusa in the coming decades. Ten votes out of eleven councilors present, just enough to reach the quorum given the plethora of incompatibilities both declared and made official and admitted through gritted teeth but not declared and made official. Ten votes including the two of the democratic councilors Calabrese and Chiavola and that of Laporta di Territorio, while Digrandi, Pasta, Ilardo, Mezzasalma, La Licata, Occhipinti, Iurato were present for the majority; Podimani di Generazione abstained, while Rocco Bitetti of Fratelli d’Italia abandoned the session as his appeal not to hold it while waiting to delve deeper into the matter of the two majority councilors (Antoci and Criscione) went unheeded, citing incompatibility without declaring it.
Bitetti’s statements in the courtroom on the incompatibility issue provoked an inelegant and disorganized reaction from the public works councilor Giuffrida. So much so that councilor Bitetti issued this statement “the fact of not having voted for the PRG, as clarified in the chamber, does not depend on a judgment on the merit of the work carried out together by the various political parties, but on the acknowledgment that the procedure presents of serious defects, linked to the undeclared incompatibility of 2 councilors of the majority, which will most likely lead to its annulment in jurisprudence with consequent waste of time and public resources. With these vile statements towards me, which do him no credit, Councilor Giuffrida has demonstrated on the one hand that he did not understand my reasons clearly explained in the room and, on the other, that for him the end justifies the means and therefore , Machiavellianly, the important thing is to achieve the objective at any cost and by any means”. Returning to the news of the council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, as soon as it was understood that the administration, the presidency of the council and the majority would hold it, the five-star councilor Sergio Firrincieli, himself declared incompatible, issued a press note with very embittered tones “ignoring my request to postpone today’s session, pending clarifications, which in our opinion are essential, from the general secretary.
My request for postponement was echoed by the one voiced in the Council by my colleague Rocco Bitetti who, having obtained the denial of postponement, left the room. Bitetti, referring to what I had already expressed in the request duly registered in recent days, spoke of a potentially illegitimate act considering that, by abstaining and not declaring two city councilors incompatible, they could contribute to determining an advantage even towards themselves. Naturally, we reserve the right to further verification actions.” Meanwhile, with drum beating, councilor Bitetti received the full support of the top-level demands of his party. The regional deputy of Fratelli d’Italia Giorgio Assenza immediately specifies “Councillor Bitetti has always acted in the interests of the city” and explains “the unmotivated rejection of the request for a postponement, even a very short one, for the investigation of a delicate problem, led the Councilor of Fratelli d’Italia, Rocco Bitetti, to leave the Chamber during the final session of the City Council which involved the approval of a fundamental act for the city of Ragusa such as the PRG. Faced with the disjointed reaction of some members of the majority – continues the Iblean deputy – I express my solidarity with Councilor Bitetti who, with his presence, has always responsibly guaranteed the quorum, during the long procedural process of the master plan, and has equally responsibly, in the main interest of the city and the territory, provided its contribution through the presentation of the various amendments, to the drafting of the important urban planning instrument. Everything else falls within the sphere of invective and sterile controversy which also involved the deputy mayor and councilor of the branch, the protagonist of an intervention that was absolutely out of place and marked by a serious fall in style”. And even the Melonian senator Salvo Sallemi urges “the role of councilor Bitetti be respected: out of place invectives from some members of the council”.
“The city council, the City Senate, is a sacred place of debate and democracy. Our representative Rocco Bitetti has always acted – and his story speaks for him – with correctness, courtesy and firmness in the interests of Ragusa and the people of Ragusa. Therefore the invectives – towards a representative of the opposition – from the deputy mayor appear out of character and unpleasant. Unpleasant invectives in the face of the request for transparency and clarity posed by councilor Bitetti regarding one of the most important acts that the council must hesitate: the master plan. In fact, a postponement had been requested to delve into situations worthy of attention and which went in the direction of maximum transparency; a responsible request as well as responsible was the action of councilor Bitetti along the entire path that led to the Plan’s arrival in the chamber. Institutional politeness and the ability to discuss, evidently, do not belong to everyone and this occasion is concrete proof of this.” So far the news. In the next few days it will be appropriate to examine whether the willingness of the city’s Democratic Party to hold a quorum and vote favorably means something more or different. Just as the regional deputy Giorgio Assenza will continue to be a privileged contact of Mayor Cassì in his Palermo missions. (daniele distefano)
