ROVIGO – Between the participants in the room and those who followed from the adjacent tent, there were around 300 people who took part in the first confrontation, organized by the Catholic scouts of Agesci Rovigo 1 and Rovigo 2, between the mayoral candidates of the capital at the Parish Theater of San Bortolo.
Controversy over the architectural barriers of the place designed for the confrontation by the PD candidate Palmiro Franco Tosini, disabled in one leg.
“For me it would have been unacceptable to witness what happened to the representative of the centre-right mayoral candidate, to whom I send a big hug. Not being able to go on stage independently, she was taken and left there while the other candidates made the walk from the audience to above the place from which they would speak.”
Tosini was replaced by PD leader Diego Crivellari, while candidate Valeria Cittadin was replaced by paralympic athlete Nadja Bala who thanked “the guys who lifted me up to get on stage because the San Bortolo theater also lacks a ramp.
With Cittadin and his team we want to work to make pavements, squares and public halls accessible to the elderly, mothers with strollers and people with disabilities and make Rovigo a city for everyone” he commented.
An absence due to protest on the part of Tosini who declared in a note: “Public initiatives cannot be organized in inaccessible places.
At the center of my administrative program is the elimination of all architectural barriers, i.e. those infrastructures that prevent everyone from having easy access. I won’t compromise on this because I am firmly convinced that the degree of civilization of a city is measured by this commitment. Precisely to demonstrate this commitment of mine, I have chosen not to participate personally in the comparison between mayoral candidates promoted at the San Bortolo theater”.
“I apologize – concludes Tosini – to those who would have liked to listen to my speech, but it was a choice of personal coherence”.
“The very high turnout certainly confirms the interest of the two scout communities in the events of local politics: after all, the choice of political action is an indispensable commitment contained in the Agesci association agreement” comments the candidate and outgoing councilor Elena Biasin in support of the re-election as mayor by Edoardo Gaffeo.
“It should be underlined that, in addition to many other citizens, there were also many young people not belonging to the scout community, demonstrating an interest in listening directly to the candidates in ways that allowed for more precise information on the programs and on important topics for young people such as the environment, the relationship with the European institutions and work experiences outside our city”.
“It seems clear to me – concludes candidate Biasin – that young people and citizens want to be informed, to be able to think about the different proposals of the mayoral candidates precisely on the occasions of comparisons which should neither be underestimated nor avoided because, regardless of the different positions, today anyone who Politics in the city must have the fundamental objective of ensuring that people go to vote.”
Edoardo Gaffeo’s comments on the first of the comparisons between mayoral candidates were positive.
“Particularly positive evening for participation: this signals the interest on the part of the citizens and above all of the young people, of the many from the world that gathers around the scout experience but not only. They want to understand, take on the responsibilities of going into the details of the political proposal, demonstrating a very strong sense of citizenship which gives a sense of hope for the future” comments Edoardo Gaffeo.
“I hope I have managed to convey the goodness of the project in which I strongly believe and the desire to make ourselves available to be able to continue the work begun and try to identify a vision of the future that lives up to the expectations, especially of the younger group”.
“I thank those who organized a particularly interesting moment for the citizens and I hope that there can still be other moments of discussion between mayoral candidates – concludes the mayoral candidate Gaffeo – I’m sorry that two could not be present, I think it was necessary to try to do everything to be present at such a well-attended event and I hope to be able to meet them on future occasions.”
