In the Palazzo Vidoni headquarters, the Confcommercio board met for a discussion with the mayoral candidates of the centre-left Andrea Virgilio and the centre-right Alessandro Portesani. Here are the press releases with the various proposals put forward by the two candidates.
Virgil: we will invest more in the decorum of the city by rebalancing the resources. We will recover the historic buildings and squares (Piazza Lodi, Giovanni XXIII and Lodi). Constant surveillance in Piazza Roma
Review the Urban Commercial District, building a more horizontal relationship between public institutions and private entities, and allocate a percentage of the urbanization costs deriving from building interventions to shops and artisan workshops. But also rethink together the corona parking system and access to the restricted traffic zone, define a more coherent programming of city events and plan, also open to the proposals of shopkeepers, the recovery of Piazza Roma, so that it can return to being an attractive center of the center Cremonese historian. At the discussion table held on Wednesday at Palazzo Vidoni between the centre-left mayoral candidate Andrew Virgil and the board of Confcommercio Cremona talked above all about relaunch, establishing very clear points of what could be a new consultation between the municipal administration and trade representatives.
President Andrea Badioni – followed closely by deputy Marco Stanga of Federmoda – underlined the desire to play, as a category, a more active role in the development of decisions and projects that will affect the city center and which will have repercussions on the local economy .
The priority is shared by everyone, and by the mayoral candidate himself. “One of the first actions we will do – explained Virgil – it will be to invest more in the decorum of the city, which in recent years we have had to remodel in order to co-finance the urban regeneration interventions financed by the Pnrr. Now, it’s a question of rebalancing resources: the first actions we will take, I undertake, will be to improve the lighting, cleaning and maintenance of public areas: those little things that represent daily life for citizens“.
During the meeting – introduced by the greeting of the director of Confcommercio Stefano Anceschi – Virgilio explained the projects on which the next administration will focus for the development of the centre. “We will recover our historic buildings which will once again be available to citizens. In the old hospital of San Francesco, musical rehearsal rooms, study rooms and offices for associations will be created. In the Radaelli area there will be accommodation for young couples and students and there will be spaces in the internal courtyard for artisan shops and retail trade. Then there are the interventions on Palazzo Cittanova, which will once again become a conference venue, and the redevelopments of Piazza Lodi, Piazza Roma and Piazza Giovanni XXIII. Projects which together, I am convinced, will change the face of our splendid urban centre“.
For Virgil, who made regeneration one of the key points of the electoral programme, there can be no decorum without a control over safety. “The video surveillance system will have to be strengthened, also through electronic remote control gates. We will strengthen the local police force until it reaches 90 units. And, in Piazza Roma, we will guarantee constant supervision by making the “caretaker’s house” available to the agents. The discussion at Palazzo Vidoni then touched on the crucial issues of parking and the restricted traffic zone, with everyone’s willingness to rethink together the opening hours of the access gates. On this point, Virgilio also confirmed the expected news that will affect Saba: “Thanks to Aem’s recovery, we are now able to renegotiate the conditions of that contract. The objective is to have a single parking manager, which will allow the Municipality to maintain control and direction over all parking.”
Portesani at Confcommercio: revision of the Ztl, more access routes to the historic centre, reformulation of the tourist tax for commercial tourism, IMU concessions for fair fees and promotion of the Po river
“With the traders, we have addressed many urgent issues that concern this fundamental sector for the life of the city. Starting from the commercial desertification of the historic centre. We have proposed our measures through which the centre-right wants to solve the problem. We have put the our proposals: IMU concessions for shop owners who decide to apply a fair rent and strengthening of entertainment in the central area.” Alessandro Portesani, candidate of the centre-right in the next local elections, says this after the meeting that took place in Confcommercio.
“During the same meeting, explains Portesani, we also addressed the thorny issue of road access to the centre. Our group intends to review it by increasing the number of access routes available. And as regards the ZTL we are in favor of a review of the rules with a real discussion with trade associations and resident citizens. As regards the ‘parking plan’, which did not exist during the Galimberti/Virgilio Councils, we have the will to terminate the contract with Saba. without constraints and which can be revisited depending on the changing needs of the city’s trade“.
“Still on the subject of mobility, the proposal to identify four large corona car parks connected to each other, two by two, by runs of electric, light, small and very low-cost vehicles was reiterated at Confcommercio. Thisi, Portesani commented, they will allow tourists to access the center with just two stops and arrive in Piazza Roma. They will also be fundamental for people with reduced mobility who will be able to reach the central area without lengthening the route.”
“Chapter: tourism. We proposed to review the representations of the DMO by involving expert people representing the categories. Then with respect to large events. The program envisages setting up two structures. The first covered within the Cremona Fiere spaces with the redevelopment of the pavilion One to transform it into a conference center and an area for winter musical events. The second discovery by redeveloping an area in the city that can host large events. It is our intention, continued the centre-right candidate, to open a tender for all those who intend to organize large events in Cremona. The aim is to make the city increasingly attractive“.
“We have accepted the proposal from Confcommercio and Federalberghi to review the tourist tax which will remain 2 euros for ‘normal’ tourism, but which will be remodulated for commercial tourism: an important volume from an economic point of view.
“I explained to Confcommercio that the centre-right breakfast – concludes Portesani – intends to establish a permanent ‘cabinet’ representing economic activities that can meet the mayor to speak directly with him, alleviating the myriad of thematic tables present today and often inconclusive, making them more operational and engaging. The consultation of neighborhood presidents who will be heard periodically by the council is also being studied“.
