The persistent stench of sewer begins to attack the nostrils as soon as you come from the north at the height of the fishermen’s circle. Here we had the daring to build a catwalk overlooking where the whirlpool of putrid water meets the sea. Below the circle there are a series of boxes dedicated to the hospitalization of fishermen’s boats, but most have been occupied by homeless people who live in it between dirt, garbage, excrements. The South Linear Park is a beautiful corner that overlooks the narrow and almost unknown for those who are not from Reggio Calabria. The residents, after the great investment of the municipal administration that has changed their face, await that the problems reported for years have finally been addressed and resolved: from the sewers that download to the sea to the control of abandoned public properties; From the double direction of travel to bypass the level crossing that holds the residents hostage for many hours a day, up to the supervision of the bathing ban. “We ask the Municipality – declares Gabriella Caridi, president of one of the two neighborhood committees that have been fighting from 2016 to give decoration and development in the area – which creates a table where all the parts involved can dialogue and find definitive solutions for the linear park”.
The Fogne in the Strait
“The large sewage unloading at the height of the fishermen’s club – explains the activist – comes from the historic center. It is connected to a system that should have solved the problem already in 2016 and for which over 2 and a half million euros were spent: lifting and tub pumps were built. The system, however, would seem to be undersized and has never worked in full speed. When they attempted to make it work there were asphalt depressions, one on the Aldo Moro avenue and the other in the crossbar parallel to the rescue. We take note of the municipal administration that in Piazza della Pace of the works have been done and that thanks to these works one of the exhausts in front of the “Barrettino Baffo”, has been diverted elsewhere, but there are still sewer residues that we presume are abusive ». Going on there are other critical points where they discharge sewage reaches the sea. “The Municipality – Caridi continues – told us that we are aware of it, but in fact they never entered the condominiums to check where this sewer comes from. We also denounced everything to the prosecutor ». In the Capannina area, in the last week, the activists have noticed there would be “of the buildings of the avenue and its traverse that unloaded their waste to the sea. In the last year, the Municipality has done many jobs. There are lifting pumps at the end of some crossings. It would seem that they have been activated, we do not know if they were tested, but we asked that the sewer pond that was created on the Capannina beach be channeled to the sea ».
A hostage neighborhood
The South linear park lives another big problem: the level crossing at the height of the Capannina. “It closes about 60 times a day, for over 6 hours a day – explains Caridi Disconsolate – we asked that the double sense of circulation that was foreseen in the initial design, so that when the Calopinace bridge can go north -south and avoid this block. Meanwhile, we asked the municipality that the twin bracella of via Barlaam, used as a construction site for heavy vehicles, can also be made usable to cars. It has been said that they will make a cycle and pedestrian track with the money of the PNRR, but we are useless. The territory has changed and therefore its needs also change. We cannot think of seizing people in this way ».
Property and state property
The two structures along the coast, the fishing club and the one near the Capannina are in fact abandoned, vandalized and became admission of skids. «These structures, the deputy mayor Paolo Brunetti told us – underlines Caridi – were built on state -owned land. The state property asks 750,000 euros from the Municipality. A request that the Municipality at this moment cannot satisfy and thus the management of those two properties cannot be assigned, while the fishermen’s boxes are occupied illegally and the structures are defaced and vandalized ».
Ban on bathing?
Along the linear park, bathing signs have been posted, while swimmers unwary and swim in the sea in the stretches of beach between one drain and the other. «On non -bathing – explains Caridi – there are some problems. We interned in this regard with Arpacal and they told us that in this area at least a few years ago they did not make withdrawals because there is a ban on permanent bathing. The area is recorded at the Ministry as a peripheral and industrial area, even if we have never seen it here of industries and the neighborhood has not been a periphery for years. So the Municipality should change the destination to make it bathing. Only then would the withdrawals be regular and the Municipality could no longer be hidden behind the ban signs and should end it with the exhausts. And in the meantime that the analysis of the Arpacal attest to the bathing the Municipality, the Municipality would have the obligation to supervise that that bathing ban is respected “.
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