On Saturday 8 June from 3pm to 11pm and Sunday 9 June from 7am to 11pm people will vote in Cagliari for the election of the mayor and for the renewal of the City Council. We asked the five candidates for the office of mayor 10 questions (the same for all) on the future and prospects of the city.
Here is the interview with candidate Emanuela Corda, at the helm of Alternativa.
Please introduce yourself and tell us why you are running.
I am the national president of ALTERNATIVA, the party that was formed in parliament in 2021 in the aftermath of the NO vote to trust Draghi. I am part of the group of over 40 parliamentarians of the “former M5Stelle” expelled from Conte’s party for not having bowed to the Eurocrat’s technical government and his liberticidal laws such as war, a free hand to attack wind power, mandatory vaccination, the Cartabia law and many other rubbish. Today I am running for mayor of Cagliari to propose a method of doing politics that is antithetical to the bipolar system based on the blackmail of the useful vote on the right or left without the possibility of alternatives. We are the “alternative choice”, the one without debts of gratitude or subjection to the system.
What are the three main points of your program?
Our three strong points at a programmatic level are undoubtedly the “active participation” of the citizen in administrative choices, the guarantee that we will take action and verify the areas of waste and squandering on all tenders and assignments made based on the logic of emergencies and with little respect for public affairs, the restoration of respect for city regulations and respect for people and heritage with a view to a renewed and more aware civic sense.
If you were elected, what is the most important measure you intend to take in the first 100 days of your mandate?
The first measure will certainly concern the reorganization of all the offices which will be brought back into close connection in terms of skills and operations.
Which projects undertaken by the administration do you consider valid and which ones do you think should be modified?
Regarding the past administration, there were some positive initiatives such as automatic ecological islands, but with all the disasters that have occurred I have difficulty identifying positive things. The high number of construction sites opened in a very short period of time without programming or planning of the real effects on traffic and roads was a real disaster.
Urban hygiene. How do you view the policies implemented by previous administrations? If so, what do you intend to do to improve the service?
I believe that the city has never been so dirty as in recent years. When the Zedda council was there, at least the streets were washed, now you don’t see a high-pressure washer even by mistake. The first thing we need to do is clear the streets of the piles of waste piled up everywhere. Especially in the suburbs. Check why waste separation does not take place regularly and everyone does as they please by throwing excess waste outside the designated hammers. I would also include tubs with the card to monitor consumption and produce concrete savings on the TARI which is skyrocketing today.
Housing emergency. Cagliari, like many other cities, is facing a housing emergency both in terms of purchasing and renting properties. What do you intend to do about this?
The housing emergency is a long-standing problem that also has reasons to be found in the wicked national policies of a market that favors online platforms managed by foreign companies with tax favors and little gifts in terms of safe conduct for escapees. This drugged market favors the logic of short-term rentals aimed at hit-and-run tourism. Meanwhile, the municipality could begin to valorise abandoned buildings by activating recovery and safety measures, also carrying out agreements with the Defense both to create new housing for social housing without new land consumption and places designated to host third sector associations in communities that create social value, culture and small economy. Revitalizing the neighborhoods with local commerce, a serious plan for commerce and a system of serious and well-applied rules would also serve to bring inhabitants back to the historic center for renewed vitality, encouraging longer rentals and the return of Cagliaritans to the city .
Safety. Do you think Cagliari is a safe city? What could be improved?
Cagliari today is an unsafe city. This is because some essentially things are not done: application of regulations and ordinances, hiring of personnel among the urban police forces hence the need for the single regional sector for salary adjustment, synergy planned with the prefecture, between law enforcement agencies and local police and establishment of civic groups to protect the territory. Lastly, work on the indices of fragility neighborhood by neighborhood and try to remove the causes of moral and civic degradation.
Transport. Do you consider the current offer of public and light mobility sufficient? What improvements do you think should be made to the city’s transport system?
An integrated mobility plan that reconnects public and private transport is missing. It is necessary to immediately re-establish connections between the peripheral neighborhoods or those located in the upper reaches of the city such as Castello. Strengthening public transport with eco-sustainable means and new proposals for modern and cutting-edge means can begin to alleviate the inconveniences of citizens who face the urban jungle every day, as a first step.
What do you think of your opponents?
I don’t have notes on my opponents on a personal level but rather on the system of which they act as witnesses and representatives. Referring in particular to the gatherings of the right and left, I believe that their proposal is vitiated by the original sin of inconsistency, of circle-busting and of presenting themselves with a grouping of many bushes coming from opposing areas and interests. Putting garlic and onion together to win at all costs is not an appropriate or credible way of doing politics.
Make an appeal to the voters to vote.
I hope that voters understand what is happening. How insidious it is to carry forward a self-referential and anti-democratic system based on the logic of voting useful only for those who demand it. I ask Cagliari’s voters to make a free and courageous choice: I ask them to choose ALTERNATIVE with Emanuela Corda as mayor because we have already demonstrated coherence and respect for the institutions in parliament. Because we have a clear program that we will carry forward without blackmail from other systemic parties and because we present ourselves with the intention of bringing politics back to its original role of “service to the citizen”. I hope that voters will begin to exercise their right to vote again without feeling bound by the usual promises extorted by the usual dinosaurs of old politics.
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