The city council met on second call this morning in an extraordinary session. There are 18 points on the agenda to be discussed in the “Pietro Battaglia” council room of Palazzo San Giorgio. Special guest of the civic assembly was a delegation from the VB and V Sia classes of the Piria Institute. The kids, accompanied by the teachers Luciana Siviglia And Monia Cristarellavisited the classrooms of the historic city administration building and attended the session of the civic assembly.
The council opened with the request for a minute’s silence for the victims of the Cutro shipwreck, proposed by the councilor Giuseppe Giordano «To remember one of the heaviest tragedies that hit our country a year ago with the death of 94 migrants. A wound that bleeds and that has highlighted for the umpteenth time that there is a Calabria that knows how to react and that has faced that drama, rallying around the survivors.”
Following, pursuant to art. 65 of the Council Regulation, the declarations of individual councilors on facts and topics not placed on the agenda were followed up, including: the issue concerning cycle paths and bike lanes in the municipal territory, with critical issues and related structural differences between the two projects; the events that recently occurred in Pisa, on the occasion of a student protest and the subsequent intervention of the President of the Republic; the war in Ukraine and the problematic issue of freedom of thought in Russia after the death of activist Alexey Navalny; the problem of deaths at work following the deaths of five workers on a construction site in Florence; the development prospects of the Strait airport, by virtue of the activation of the new routes by the “Ryanair” company; the increase in the cost of the families’ share of the school canteen service.
The City Council also approved an agenda, with reference to the bill on differentiated autonomy , with which he committed the Mayor and the Municipal Council to promoting a Municipal Council open to active citizens with the aim of: «Advancing alternative proposals, consistent with the constitutional principles and with the guarantee of national unity, starting from the parliamentary debate and with new pronouncements from local elective assemblies; share the initiatives to be adopted, including the calling of a peaceful protest demonstration involving students, free citizens, the social partners, associations and political forces that oppose the wicked reform and for the defense of local autonomy”. The Council also committed the Mayor and the Municipal Council to «urge the immediate definition of the LEP, disconnecting them from the historical spending criteria, and other equalization tools and the elimination of current inequalities, as already provided for by the Constitution and legislation in force, starting from the criteria for the distribution of the national health fund”. Subsequently, after a detailed debate, the City Council approved the point concerning the resolution of the Court of Auditors n. 139/2023, concerning the adoption of corrective measures aimed at making the collection system more efficient. With this resolution, the Councilor for Budget, Domenico Battaglia, highlighted, “the Court of Auditors has ascertained that the deficit applied to the financial rebalancing plan of the Municipality of Reggio Calabria has taken place”.
The other items on the agenda were also approved: approval of previous meeting minutes; counterarguments regarding the observations received with reference to the general variant to the municipal beach plan; 13 points relating to the recognition of off-balance sheet debts deriving from judgments and enforceable judicial titles; school transport service regulation; modification of the regulation governing the single property fee for the occupation of public land and advertising display and the market fee; acquisition of land for the construction of works for the “extension of the Viale Calabria section of S. Giuseppe Gebbione” and for the construction of the “skating facility with multi-purpose fields in Salice”.
During his speech, the mayor finally responded on cycle paths: «Talking about a cycle path and a bike lane means talking about two different things. No one in this meeting said that these are two different projects, with two different RUPs, two different financings. Different projects that have different objectives and are implemented in different ways cannot be confused. The cycle path complies with certain regulations, the bike lanes, introduced unlike what some have said, with the Growth decree, are the provision of a mixed use of the road. It means shared use, i.e. that lane is not exclusive and dedicated, but that inside it is possible to use bicycles with other usual mobility tools (cars and buses). The political plan exists – added Falcomatà – but not only for the mayor and the council. There is a responsibility of the municipal executive, but also of all the municipal councilors who have the duty to supervise, not only with the supervisory commission. No commissions of inquiry are necessary. The duty of supervision is on documents that are public and come before any other commission. There is an error that is being remedied by verifying the responsibilities that exist: accounting, administrative and criminal. Our Civic Lawyer will evaluate, in relation to some social media releases, any responsibility for damage to the city’s image.”