The challenge for legality hidden among the trees and benches of theGinzburg flowerbed. In Street Morgari, the bloodstains on the asphalt tell the last chapter of a tormented story. In this corner of San Salvariowhere the courageous protest of the director of the Neighborhood house has rekindled the spotlight on the (primarily) social problem dictated bycrack epidemicon Saturday night a young Central African man suspected of being one of the workers at the drug bazaar a stone’s throw from the station had a tough time.
“Cries were heard and then a moan,” say the residents of the neighborhood who gathered yesterday afternoon to take part in a day of anti-degradation celebrations. The foreigner was apparently stabbed during a heated argument over a dose. It is rumored that one of the customers who dragged him along these streets injured him.
«Even if I am aware that degradation leads to more degradation, I am not for walls. There will be a meeting between residents and the Neighborhood House on Thursday. We have also extended the invitation to the people who sleep here. Like the boy, with drug problems, who spends his nights on the sidewalk. Why isn’t the mayor coming too? Stefano Lo Russo? It would be welcome.” Rosalba Durante he knows well this part of the neighborhood forced to live with the reputation of “crack square”. She is sitting at a colorful table placed under the trees. The DJ music in the background, the beer cart, the board game tournament and the beach loungers reveal just how welcoming the Ginzburg flowerbed can be. The credit goes to «Feet together in the flowerbed”, a monthly event that the Neighborhood House wants to replicate throughout the summer, with the aim of leaving no room for drug dealing. Event designed to attract those residents who prefer to go around rather than pass through here.
Derive to which Roberto Arnaudo, director of the cultural center, has been fighting personally for a month. Ever since, tired of witnessing the comings and goings of drug addicts, he decided to put his desk in the streets and challenge the drug dealers with his simple presence. Yesterday, the director of the Neighborhood House was not there. A well-deserved rest, also to unplug, after having suffered four attacks in a few days.
“In the last period, the atmosphere of the garden has changed. Once upon a time homeless people slept on these benches, waiting for the opening of the restaurant dormitory in via Ormea. Then, with Covid, they moved permanently to the sidewalk of the church”, he says Anna Borgna, 82 years old, former teacher and painter. It is one of the souls of «Women for the defense of civil society»the association meets every Wednesday in the Neighborhood House.
To complete the narrative of the decline of Via Morgari is the husband, White Mario, 83 years old, painter and writer. «Those who use crack become very aggressive – he adds -, so only the drug dealers are left on these benches. All the elderly people who gathered here have fled. A shame: this little square is to be considered one of the most beautiful in the city.”
But what could be done to raise our heads again? The answer is obvious: it would be necessary a greater presence of the police. Yesterday the police patrol helped move the pushers. But this cannot be enough. «Why not revive the idea of pedestrianization? This road had been closed to traffic, but then they turned around because they didn’t want to get involved in the reorganization of the San Salvario road system. It could contribute to revitalization,” says the former architect Silvana Ranzato83 years old.
Another proposal comes, however, from Enrico Foglietta. «We would like to transform the collaboration agreement for the management of the flowerbed from “ordinary” to “extraordinary” – explains the cultural coordinator of the 8th district —. Thus, the Neighborhood House will be able to take care not only of maintenance, but also organize events like this more easily. They are the first solution to stop degradation.”
