Biancaneve Locanetto, a teacher, now retired, engraves glass and enjoys writing books. She has also been a catechist in the parish for some time, in contact with the children of the town. She has decided to dedicate her time to her grandchildren and to civic commitment and has therefore put herself forward as a candidate on the Garlenda Civic Choice List for everyone.
“I chose to run in this team because it is authentically civic, has no more or less hidden prompters and we are all available to dedicate some of our free time to the community – explains Locanetto -. This simplicity of approach and the closeness with the families and children of Garlenda allowed me to make some proposals in the program of the list, in particular for social policies and relations with citizens”.
These years have been characterized by an administration distant from the citizens. In 5 years there has not been a need to bring citizens together. It seems that citizens are only taken into consideration during the month of the election campaign and then everything is forgotten or the excuses multiply for not achieving what was promised for the vote.
From this need, in addition to making access to municipal services easier by changing the opening hours of the offices to the public, I will work to create the citizen’s desk, where citizens will be able to report, share and also provide suggestions or criticisms, we are aware that we need all the citizens of Garlenda in the active administration of the municipality.
I think that social policies have as their priority aim to support citizens – continues the candidate -, in particular the weakest groups, through prevention and management of services promoting a community spirit. To this end, we intend to commit municipal resources in terms of time and financial availability. To date, there are no social funds in the municipal budget and there is no office that deals with social issues. Social support has been left almost entirely on the shoulders of the parish, but this cannot be the case.
Other points we will implement:
Creation of the citizenship and social planning desk, specifically the social needs plan with the function of a listening centre, an adequately trained and experienced social worker will be part of it to support fragile populations of all ages, to find the necessary resources and to find together viable solutions. Furthermore, instructing procedures for incentives and bonuses, taking care of young people, adults and elderly people in difficulty, not only financially. For this reason we intend to revoke the agreement for social services with the Municipality of Alassio. It is not acceptable that people with fragility or, worse, disabilities have to go to Alassio to find help and professional support;
The presence of the mayor as an active part in the decision-making meetings of the Albenganese Social and Health District and in the Social Territorial Area is fundamental;
With the Municipalities of Casanova Lerrone and Villanova d’Albenga we will propose the creation of a medical clinic on the “Alassio Salute” model which is open for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week at least on weekends to offer a service to tourists who they choose Val Lerrone;
We will implement policies aimed at promoting sociability and integration and for social inclusion job grants we will take an active part in informing the population on the new opportunities that will be implemented to involve interested citizens;
Installation of an AED (semi-automatic external defibrillator) in the area near the gym, school, offices;
Collaboration for requests for contributions to the regional fund for the removal of architectural barriers not only in public areas but also on private property;
Collaboration for requests for regional contributions to support rentals;
Activation of universal civil service for young people for social activities;
Introduction of administrative barter which allows citizens in need to pay taxes and debts with the tax authorities in general through their work until the amount due is compensated. The interventions may concern cleaning, maintenance and beautification of green areas, squares, streets, valorisation of limited areas of the territory, etc.;
Availability of the municipality to activate the test. Testing is a form of probation innovative judicial procedure in the adult sector which consists, at the request of the accused and the suspect, in the suspension of criminal proceedings for crimes of minor social concern. The test includes, as a compulsory and free activity, the execution of a work of public utility in favor of the community;
Grandparents and family day;
Elderly project “you are not alone” aggregation, socialization and any activity aimed at combating the loneliness of the elderly;
Policies to support disabilities of all kinds aimed at social inclusion;
Increased sense of community with the establishment of the Time Bank. It is a system in which people mutually exchange activities, services and knowledge. Therefore defining them as: “free associations between people who self-organize and exchange time to help each other especially with small daily needs”. They are “places in which the now lost habits of mutual help typical of good neighborly relations are recovered. Or the usual help that is exchanged between members of the same family or groups of friends is extended to previously unknown people.” Time banks are organized as credit institutions where transactions are based on the circulation of time, rather than money. The biggest difference is that interest is never accrued either passively or negatively! The only obligation you have is to balance the account.
All this also goes in the direction of supporting social associations such as the White Cross – he adds -, which I consider to be a very important service for Garlenda which needs active support, in particular from volunteers. For this reason we wanted to include many measures in the social program to obtain people who, having to give something to the community, will do so to actively collaborate for this service made up of very willing young people.
Finally, an action that is actually above all is the battle for our hospital built with the sacrifice of our grandparents’ bequests. Only we who do not have to answer to professional politicians can talk about a hospital that contains all the medical skills and an effective and accessible first aid point 24 hours a day. It is a battle of the district that certainly cannot make the list of Collaboration and progress given that its leader is a first-rate exponent of a party that supported, perhaps with many silences, the progressive dismantling of the Albenga hospital”, concludes Locanetto.
