Operation Zanklon is ready to return to the city council, this time for a final decision. The orientation of the political majority – that of the South calls the North – was confirmed yesterday, at the end of a long session of the sixth council commission: saying yes to only one of the three projects presented by Natale Giostra’s Zanklon, the one called “Policlinico” and which aims to create 504 beds in Minissale, and rejecting the other two, “Centro” (in via Catania, 255 beds) and “Archimede” (as many as 1,080 beds, in three twelve-storey buildings). The 9 surviving councilors at the end of the session in fact voted as follows: unanimous abstention – the classic “technical abstention” which is often resorted to in the commission – for the “Policlinico” project, 5 no (South calls North) and 4 abstentions (3 Pd, 1 Ora Sicilia) for the other two. The impression, however, is that a political game is now being triggered, as indeed emerged from the words of Cateno De Luca on Tuesday: “No games, everyone must take their own responsibilities.” Translated: no one thinks of leaving the match in the hands of the South alone, calling the North.
A concept which, covered with a more institutional veneer, was also reiterated by the president of the city council, Nello Pergolizzi, who, before calling the session in which everything will be decided (at the beginning of next week?), sent a letter to all the councilors yesterday afternoon, with the eloquent subject: “Call for participation”. In the letter, Pergolizzi highlights that «these are acts with a strong urban, economic and social impact, which require in-depth analysis and a conscious choice by the entire municipal council. The vote that everyone will be asked to express – for or against – represents an act of responsibility towards the city, which awaits a signal of institutional cohesion, transparency and full participation from this Chamber.” In the same note, the president recalls some of the critical issues that emerged during the debate (from the cost of rentals to the population density in the areas involved, from the distance from the main university centers to the mobility and traffic hubs, up to the overall volume). An unusual letter, which seems to want to avoid a general “rue” in the face of one of the most delicate passages for the Council in this mandate.
On the other hand, just yesterday the group leader of the Fratelli d’Italia, Libero Gioveni, asked for a more decisive intervention on the part of mayor Basile: «I think it is quite reductive that the mayor limits himself only to issuing some timid statements to the press and instead does not report his official position to the city council. Is Mayor Basile for or against? Or is yours, as seems to have happened on several occasions with the Ponte issue, simply a “no”?”.
Returning to the debate in the commission, there are few truly new elements. The usual theme of public interest (does having more beds or urban planning prevail?), in addition to the aspects to be explored in more detail of the possible agreement with Ersu, raised by Alessandro Russo of the Democratic Party, which would oblige the institution to pay, empty for full, 75% of the accommodation fees intended for deserving students. «Currently Ersu provides a maximum annual contribution of 170 euros per student, for 2 thousand students. If it were to cover 75% for those places, the fee for which is 650 euros, the figure would be much higher, and the number of students would decrease drastically.” One of the paradoxes of this story.
