The council chamber of Carafa Palace it was packed, as happens on these occasions, standing room only.
Many were present in the City Hall, old and new councilors, the Archbishop of Lecce, long-time and short-time politicians and, of course, many ordinary citizens.
Adriana Poli Bortonethis afternoon, she was proclaimed first citizen of Lecce and the third Council officially starts today headed by the “Iron Lady” of Salento politics.
“I began this new experience of mine with a greeting to the municipal employees, because without them many things cannot be done,” stated the mayor.
The return
“The thrill of wearing it again tricolour sash? To tell the truth, it’s as if I went out yesterday, it seemed almost natural to me, excuse the ambition. There was emotion, but I can’t say that it shook me very much. I found my things, I got a sofa that I am very fond of and I started to organize the desk, because soon I know that I will be overwhelmed by papers and knowing myself I will read them all and not knowing where to put them I asked for some shelves”.
The appeal to citizens
“I asked citizens to tell me everything that is wrong, otherwise how can we know about the problems? There are no neighborhood committeesthe consultations have not worked well, even if, to tell the truth, they have a different function and of course the people of Lecce, now they have to tell me everything they need otherwise how can I do? There are many things to do, but at the moment we have to give priority to some”.
The poverty
“The Bishop called us to draw attention to poverty, I recognize that I responded with a hint of controversy by saying that if he did so he evidently realized that there had been no attention paid to these topics. It is part of our program to give importance to all this, also reviewing the use of funds in the areas and putting ourselves in proactive terms, with respect to the opportunities that can come from other financing channels. There is so much poverty and we can start immediately with those 80 apartments that have remained closed and unused for a long time, with ahome emergency which has become exponential.”
Young people
“I have two nieces, one more discreet, the other more lively and she is the youngest. More than a Youth Department, in the program I hypothesized a youth construction sitewhich means that we will finally give space to that Resolution, approved unanimously a few years ago on the proposal of the Councilor Giorgio Palato create a council composed of university and school students to ensure that this city is also perceived as a university city, because I don’t think there is all this awareness yet. We need to create opportunities for new and old economy, in fact I spoke of ancient professions to be placed alongside new professions. We will need to be able to create a new work chain through all the institutions present in the city and which can work starting from orientation, to arrive at the concrete possibility of telling young people whether they can, for example, work in a metalworking districtwhy always bring workers from outside? We can work in terms of training, especially with the University that has many branches of interest and can definitely help us. We need to know where to start the path and where it can end in terms of work”.
The “Lidl” case
“As far as the caso Lidl, the Mayor presented that problem in the City Council in a way that seemed to me to be able to be resolved, to the point that I voted for that Resolution, I kept it and it seemed quite rational to me. Now I will reread it together with the offices, we will have to discuss and see if that case can be resolved as the mayor said. I have no prejudice towards the activities of those who preceded me, if they can be completed, we will do so with pleasure, on others we need to intervene, as I had to do. In the last hours of his mandate I am sorry that the Mayor, just this morning, made a provision to cancel a service and sincerely he could have avoided doing something like this, on which I will have to intervene”.
