Catanzaro, the open letter from Silipo (CalabriaOltre) to the mayor Fiorita

Joseph Silipo

“Dear Mayor, I am addressing you directly, as the first citizen of my city that I love deeply, as much as you do. I do so in light of the careful reading of the post you published yesterday, which examines the things done in the last week, but which could also be a summary of the first two years of your administration. You begin by drawing inspiration from the great coach of the world-class Inter, Helenio Herrera, the Inter of Mazzola, Suarez, Burgnich and Facchetti, to state that “difficult things take time, but impossible things take more. I would add that in our city, even easy things become difficult and, to achieve them, it takes more time than necessary. I am absolutely aware that administering a city like ours is extremely difficult. Perhaps more difficult than in other contexts. Therefore, this letter of mine will take all of this into account”. He states Giuseppe Silipo, Citizen Coordinator of the CalabriaOltre Association.

“You were voted by the majority of Catanzaro citizens who gave you a consensus much higher than the parties that supported you. And this is already a first aspect to pay attention to. The city has placed in you and in you an unconditional trust. You campaigned, invoking that “change” that the city has been waiting for decades. Even the movement that supported you the most, “Cambiavento”, implied the idea of ​​making things change in our city.

Many of the things you say in your post, I can tell you I agree with. But not all of them. When you run an election campaign and promise to “change” you do so in the knowledge that you are inheriting a situation that is certainly not optimal. We all know the ancestral problems of Catanzaro, purification, water, damaged roads, hydrogeological instability. These are just some of the critical issues that needed to be addressed. What has been done? The issue of the purification plant has certainly been addressed, important interventions have been carried out, but the result is always the same. There was a stench and there is a stench. Don’t be offended if I contradict you since you say that for two years there hasn’t been a bad smell. At most we can say that it has decreased, but not disappeared.

There is no water every day and the next in many areas of the city. It’s the fault of an old water network ok. But people need water every single day. Certainly, no one takes away the credit from you for having intervened on the illegal connections and the reckless abuse of drinking water by some fellow citizens. But the result has not changed.

The streets are what they are. A gruyere.

The seaside neighborhood to which you, objectively, paid particular attention, still has the same problems. And not even a shadow of “REAL” tourists.

We must give her credit for a resumption of cultural activity in our city. There were many initiatives with a very high cultural slant, highly appreciated by the people of Catanzaro. Da Margherita and the Comics Review are just the latest examples in this field.

And since you conclude your post expecting a question about the historic center, I can’t help but ask it: what have you done for the ancient part of the city? Perhaps you too are aware that you have done very little or perhaps nothing compared to what you promised. You see, dear Mayor, I was born in Montecorvino and I spent the most beautiful and carefree years of my life in that basin called Corso Mazzini, when it was full of shops, people and bursting with culture. You can only imagine how painful it is for me, but I think also for you, to see him reduced to his current conditions. It takes us back to the feast of San Vitaliano. But it is not with impromptu initiatives that the problems of the historic center are solved. The anniversary of the Patron Saint will serve to repopulate it for an evening, as happens with the Spicy Night or with other praiseworthy initiatives. But the real challenge is to make it attractive and repopulate it every single day.

You are right, dear Mayor, when you take inspiration from Helenio Herrera. In Catanzaro everything is more difficult. And also the political dynamics (which I have not forgotten) certainly do not help you. And then. You do not have the Mazzolas, the Suarezes, the Burgnichs and the Facchettis in your team.

The esteem for your person and for your respectability remains unchanged, but that for the administrator has diminished considerably. She still has some time left to win her back. Of course, my esteem is not important, but rather the future of our city.”