CREMONA – In view of the run-off on Sunday 23 and Monday 24 June, the newspaper La Provincia gives space, day by day, to a comparison between the two challengers on the most burning issues of this electoral campaign. The centre-right candidate Alexander Portesaniand that of the centre-left, Andrew Virgil, are asked to illustrate the points of their program relating to the topic under consideration, clearly expressing proposals and points of view to highlight differences and affinities compared to the competitor. Today we continue with decay and decoration.
ALESSANDRO PORTESANI
«NEGLECT HAS ADVANCED EVERYWHERE. FIRST THING: CLEANING»
For the centre-right candidate, Alessandro Portesanion the topic of urban decoration the watchword is ‘cleanliness’.
«We have heard from thousands of citizens who have asked us this. The city is dirty and cleaning the streets, sidewalks and green areas is our first item on the program. They will accuse us of populism: it doesn’t matter. There is a problem: it must be resolved immediately. At the same time, we envisage an extraordinary plan that will remedy those enormous critical issues that appear in the eyes of all citizens both in the historic center and on the outskirts; an example above all is the issue of potholes and road asphalting. Rather than all those ugliness that the junta Galimberti/Virgil he left as a legacy to the Cremonese. We will then move on to a whole series of light interventions that allow the insertion of commercial activities in central and peripheral public spaces aimed at redeveloping degraded places and attendance. In a third phase we will move on to the recovery and/or redevelopment of dilapidated buildings; the maintenance of street furniture; the strengthening and redesign of the urban lighting system, aimed at increasing the perception of safety both in the historic center and in the suburbs. There will be specific interventions that I want to mention here: Piazza Roma with the recovery of the ‘Montagnole’ sector, caretaker’s house, pagoda, playground with the aim of including recreational, hospitality or commercial recreational activities; Piazza del Comune restoration of the arches of the municipal building and general maintenance of the flooring; Federico II Courtyard, enhancement of lighting; redesign of the central urban market aiming for quality. And again: Viale Po redevelopment to restore authority to the entrance to the city; Campi course; Corso Garibaldi and Piazza S. Agata insertion and maintenance of urban greenery; via Mantova revision of the dangerous sections of the cycle path. Some extraordinary maintenance interventions will require significant resources. We will immediately strengthen the Municipality’s strategic projects office, also through the activation of consultancy for participation in tenders on specific topics. We will also intensify the relationship with the Region and Government, to obtain more resources for our territory. In this I intend to spend myself personally. For urban parks we provide a specific maintenance plan. The outgoing council leaves such a heavy legacy that it will take the entire duration of the administration to remedy it.”
ANDREA VIRGILIO
«REGENERATING EVERYDAY SPACES». IT’S ‘WAR’ ON WASTE
For the centre-left candidate, Andrew Virgilurban decoration does not just mean redevelopment of real estate.
«It also necessarily passes through the maintenance of spaces, the security and protection of the territory, the fight against the desertification of historic centres. Urban decoration also means continuing to eliminate architectural barriers; give citizens, families and new generations new spaces in which to create culture. This has been the work carried out in recent years: asking for and obtaining funds – 50 million euros – from the Pnrr, to finance projects that will change the face of our city. The complex of the old hospital of San Francesco, which will be transformed into a cultural hub available to young people; the recovery of the Frazzi Area; Palazzo Grasselli, which will become home to the Claudio Monteverdi conservatory; Palazzo Affaitati and Palazzo Soldi; Palazzo Cittanova, which will have to return to being a conference venue; Palazzo Duemiglia, which will become a third sector hub; Santa Maria della Pietà and the Church of Saints Marcellino and Pietro; and, finally, the recovery of Piazza Lodi and Piazza Giovanni XXIII and the redevelopment of Piazza Roma, with the caretaker’s house which will become a garrison for the local police, a new children’s play area, new street furniture and the recovery of the area of the mountains. These interventions are partly already financed with the effort or co-financing by the Municipality and partly awaiting funds that will arrive with participation in new tenders. This, inevitably, from a resource perspective, came at the sacrifice of something else. Now, it’s about balancing investments and giving more attention to everyday life. You cannot manage a city – as the Cremonese centre-right says – only by counting the potholes. It is administered by keeping a high gaze and keeping your feet on the ground. For this reason, the priorities will be the improvement of public lighting, the maintenance of green areas and the cleaning of spaces, a decisive fight against the abandonment of waste, which will have to see the activities of the environmental police strengthened. The fight against degradation is done through regeneration – cultural, social, real estate and environmental – which must affect not only the center but also the suburbs. Here the recovery interventions on public housing and schools will have to continue, and we will have to invest more and more in street education and supervision by social services, as well as in a greater presence of the police force”.
