“Surviving without governing. The parties in the Italian Parliament”. It is the title of a 1978 book written by the Politologist Giuseppe Di Palma. A title that is well suited to Political-administrative events of the Municipality of Vibo Valentia.
Almost a year after the municipal elections that rewarded the electoral offer put in place by the center -left and by the candidate for mayor Enzo Romeo, you can start doing not so much and not only a first balance of what has been done so far by the first citizen and the city council, but a first reasoning compared to this time span still too little limited, but already wide to be able to start making an analysis.
And then, the reader will forgive us for the extreme simplification: but, as they say, if the good morning is seen in the morning, dear administration of Vibo we just don’t.
The honeymoon is over
In the first weeks and in the first months the post-election the “mantra” of this new center-left administration led by the expert Enzo Romeo (first president of the province of Vibo in 1995) was to say at every foot (“eh but always remember that we have come from 15 years of government of the city-led city, you have to take it with those who have governed by accumulating disasters so far”. An “justification” also plausible in several contexts, but which certainly with the passage of time fades more and more. The perception that this new junta is giving the city and citizens is that it is still being lived in a sort of “honeymoon”. But time flows inexorable and the problems to be addressed are manifold and the impression is that the mayor, despite having a leader head of the rainbin as his right arm, is too alone. And we are not even one year after the elections … some things have been thought and made with criteria (see the initiatives of last Christmas and the enhancement of the rites of Holy Week), but in the long run they risk representing the classic needle in the straw.
A couple of political-administrative situations managed in a very negative way
Let’s face it: the Romeo administration from the “cases” mennites and Talarico has come out and it comes out badly. In this first time span of the Administration Romeo, the most relevant things were those relating to the competition for a super expert, then finished badly as everyone knows with an ad hoc call that triggered infinite controversy and which in the end had to “force” the mayor to a direct appointment (legitimate, but questionable in terms of merit) of a head of the cabinet that will have to support him during the legislature: a sort of plenipotentiary actual will be judged over time, but which for now is producing its “small social reviews” from its personal profiles on the institutional Facebook page of the Municipality here and there. And then there is the other case relating to the councilor for staff Marco Talarico raised by the opposition councilor Maria Rosaria Nesci: an alleged case of incompatibility due to a debt (moreover very substantial) of the same member of the executive with the Municipality. Now, beyond legal technicalities, the irrefutable fact remains that this new “grain” has produced a first and important fracture within the majority with the first distinctions and with the birth of a new council group formed by three councilors escape from the “Vibo Project” movement (Mellea, Satriani and Grimaldi), by the former Pd Staropoli and by the “new strategist” of Palazzo Luigi Razza, the councilor Nico With the civic list “Oltre”, with a past in Forza Italia and in the UDC) eager to try and undoes as if nothing was passing from the minority to the majority in the blink of an eye under the direction of local notables and the regional councilor Alecci, already on the launch pad in view of the next regional elections.
The birth of the “Democrats and reformists” group
And it is precisely the birth of the new council group that has already cheered the majority led by Romeo to worry. And that all this has already occurred less than a year from the election and proclamation in the Council, unequivocally represents a sign of weakness for the first citizen. A mayor who, if on the one hand has repeatedly stated that he does not want to make himself pull from the jacket, he must deal with a political operation that is not a little account born and facilitated, as previously highlighted by the Talaric case. A new council group made up of five councilors who will certainly represent a thorn in the side for the first citizen who is now on the one hand with a weakened majority compared to less than a year ago and with an opposition (never united from the beginning) in which the Pytaro area takes hold with the board group “Vibonese heart” capable of saying his with 4 councilors: the two originally elected in the Pyturian list, Cutrullà and Tucci. and the two “new”: the taking place in the Russian council and the former Forza Italia, Calabria.
A obstacle race
Public works: this is the first problem to be unraveled for the mayor. The councilor for the branch, Salvatore Monteleone, has a hot potato to manage with a myriad of construction sites (almost all inherited from the old limardo administration). A frankly very complex situation, but over time it is necessary to try to find the right imputs to try to solve some problems of no small importance. Beyond how the redevelopment of the two most important squares of the city has been completed, better known as Piazza Municipio and Piazza Santa Maria, different and numerous fronts remain open on which the Romeo administration will have to show important resolutive skills that are not always in these first months seem to be revealed. 1. The huge construction site in Viale overlooking the roundabout (still not completed) and with a series of works again to be done (works started last September). 2 3. The construction site in Piazza Salvemini near the hospital. 4 5
Culture, sport, productive activities: three heavy delegations for a single councilor
The other obstacle race is the one in front of the commissioner Stefano Soriano who is in his hand a heavy series of proxies: from productive activities, to sport, up to culture. Frankly too much for a generous and passionate person like Soriano. The themes on the carpet are infinite: a commercially devastated city, and thank goodness that small (sometimes young) enlightened entrepreneurs still insist who especially in the field of food are giving sap and creativity to the city. A city where they still do not understand each other well what are the outlines of the much praised archaeological park: does another summer await us with the treasures of the city characterized by closed gates and/or at the best of the hypotheses of themed days that remain an end to themselves? And the culture? Here too in the long run it will be necessary to really understand Vibo what it will be able to do taking into account that over the years the city has managed to put together a truly relevant assets and knowledge with very important initiatives thanks to the now (almost) deceased librarian system, to the Festival Read & Writing and the initiatives related to Vibo capital of the book. And the sport? Waiting to understand the times relating to the redevelopment of the municipal swimming pool, the municipal administration focuses again on the realization of the much coveted athletic track in Maiata.
The parks and the green: what will be of the urban park?
Another quite thorny theme for the Romeo junta. The overall management of public green and the case of the urban park. The large green lung south of the city, net of the initiatives put in place by the Moderate Durant association, lives in a state of abandonment. By now 3 and a half years have passed since the then manager of the park decided to abandon everything by putting an end early to the agreement with the Municipality. Since then only degradation and neglect: the time has come to really understand what you want to do with the urban park from here to the next few years.
PS. The list of things to do does not end. There is the theme relating to water, purification, school construction, the relaunch of the port of Vibo Marina, the relaunch of the peripheral neighborhoods and the hamlets. Whoever has more and more puts it. The impression is that in these first months of life the Romeo administration is in some way, we do not want to say to it, but threatening the day without a wide -ranging design. We would be happy to be denied from here shortly, we will see what it will be compared to the many issues listed.