“We are truly speechless in front of one of the latest “gems” of the Mascaro administration which, as if it were any other practice, in fact “evicts” two important associations in our city which perform a very important service for many people with disabilities”. To pronounce these words is Rosario Piccioni, municipal councilor of Lamezia Bene Comune. “The territorial sections of two prestigious national associations, the ENS (National Association of the Deaf and Mute) and the UICI (Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired) will have to vacate, within a month, the confiscated premises where they have carried out their activities for several years, on Corso Giovanni Nicotera, to allow the redevelopment works of the confiscated properties, as part of ministerial funding. It is certainly positive that, through ministerial funding, a work of redevelopment and safety of the confiscated properties is being launched and, through a subsequent tender, the possibility is given to the many third sector entities of the city to be able to participate in the allocation of spaces and local. The bureaucratic and administrative part must take its course, but what about politics??? We wonder where the politics is in this grotesque affair…” says the councilor.
“When dealing with such delicate issues and when it comes to realities that every day are committed to protecting the rights of people with disabilities, a municipal administration should have a minimum of sensitivity and above all a sense of reality: how can you ask two associations who carry out fundamental services for people to move within a few weeks, with all that entails in terms of expenses, means, difficulties of all kinds? Are both associations being put in the position of having to suspend a service aimed at people with disability and, in the face of all this, the municipal administration cannot reduce everything to a bureaucratic procedure, in compliance with times and deadlines. But above all when work is undertaken in buildings where such important associations have their headquarters, it is necessary to be concerned with well in advance of finding a new headquarters for the associations themselves who absolutely cannot afford to interrupt their services to their members who, as we have said, are people who need support every day. To make matters worse, the fact that, from what we understand, a discussion had also been initiated with the political party by one of the two associations with which it was requested to have certain times on the works and tenders and, above all, the possibility of using a temporary headquarters to continue the provision of servicesthe. No response from the municipal administration until today’s cold communication which risks putting two prestigious associations in serious difficulty and, above all, upsetting the daily lives of people with disabilities and families for whom these realities represent fundamental safeguards for a good quality of life. The Mascaro administration cannot be deaf to the real needs of real people who are worth much more than quibbles and bureaucracy. I will ask immediately – announces the councilor – the convocation of the competent council commission certainly by all the municipal councilors, as has been the case on other occasions, there will be maximum convergence and total sensitivity towards such a delicate issue that touches the lives of many people and families. Sensitivity that, words aside, this municipal administration has once again demonstrated that it does not have.”