L’AQUILA – “Biondi no longer surprises us; by now, we have understood that he is a professional of political propaganda. Every day, its team of communicators lavishly paid by the people of L’Aquila tells of the city’s magnificent and progressive fortunes, portraying a reality that is very different from the everyday life that townspeople and citizens experience. Sometimes, however, the truth pierces the veil of propaganda and, then, the mayor responds in a violent, coarse manner, speaking to the belly of the electorate: anyone who criticizes is an owl, he doesn’t love the city, he enjoys the difficulties of the territory”.
This is the incipit of the note Nello Avellanisecretary of the L’Aquila Democratic Party, who replies to the mayor of L’Aquila Pierluigi Biondi, of Fdi, on the issue of the less than exciting data in the Sole 24 Ore ranking on the quality of life.
THE COMPLETE NOTE
It has happened, again, in these hours: as the Democratic Party, we have highlighted the data – disheartening – that come from the Sole 24 Ore ranking on the quality of life, on some strategic issues that should worry the municipal administration (and we mention just a few): the inefficiency of the healthcare system, with citizens forced to seek treatment elsewhere or turn to private individuals; the dramatic state of the drinking water distribution networks, which the people of L’Aquila encounter every day with continuous interruptions in service; the low employment rate, particularly among young people, given the negligible number of new businesses registered; the disheartening data on separate waste collection, urban fragility, motorization rate, a clear sign of the absence of policies on public transport, and an index of sportsmanship although it continues to be described as the ‘capital city of sport’.
Faced with the reality of the findings of the Sole 24 Ore, the same ones that just 12 months ago had led the administration to ‘celebrate’ for some insignificant improvements, Biondi found no other response than to accuse our party of “enjoying the moments of difficulty that involve the community”, even referring to an alleged internal chat of the Democratic Party where there was celebration for the failure to be awarded the recognition of Italian Capital of Culture in January 2021.
Having said that, finally, the mayor of L’Aquila has also realized that there are difficulties, critical issues to be addressed, and it would be useful for him to return to carrying out the function assigned to him by the citizens considering his continuous absences in the councils and councils municipal officials, busy as he is trying to climb the national hierarchies of his party for a place in the sun in Parliament, until now vainly pursued, this ‘Melonian’ style of defamatory attack on political opponents does not intimidating at all.
We do not accept lessons from those who, speaking of moments of difficulty, had no scruples about campaigning even in cemeteries, allowing themselves to be filmed in front of the coffins of the deceased. We do not accept lessons from those who, in order to get an extra vote in the now distant 2017, cynically promised families safe and functional schools for girls and boys in a few months: 8 years have passed, nothing of what was promised has been done.
We do not accept lessons from those who, in order to cancel the enormous reconstruction effort of the centre-left municipal administration which, indeed, had to face moments of extraordinary difficulty in the aftermath of the earthquake, threw away all the inherited projects rather than recognizing the merits of who preceded him.
We do not accept lessons from a right that has even been able to shield itself from citizens, inviting them not to pay the utilities of Case and Map homes in order to obtain some preference to the detriment of the municipality’s coffers. We could go on.
Our community has fought since day one to guarantee the material and immaterial reconstruction of the territory: we are the ones who brought the wheelbarrows to Parliament to defend the rights of the people of L’Aquila, who took the beatings fighting against the absurd request for refund of taxes in the aftermath of the earthquake; we are the ones who occupied the motorway, who returned the mayor’s tricolor sash to the President of the Republic, who were never afraid to harshly challenge even friendly governments for the good of the territory. We are the ones who fought to prevent the city from being stripped of all its essential functions.
We are the ones who obtained the funds for the reconstruction that Biondi is still using today, who invented the mechanism of the 4% of the resources intended for socio-economic development that Biondi is squandering.
We are the ones who bet on the GSSI, who brought the MAXXI to L’Aquila, who imagined the National School of Public Administration.
We are those who prevented the people of L’Aquila from having to return the taxes not paid in the emergency, who fought for the PNRR funds, with which Biondi is fueling his consensus machine, those who snatched a complementary fund for the 2009 craters and 2016, the only vertical measure, designed for a specific territory, within the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
This is the Democratic Party, other than “enjoying moments of difficulty”: Biondi should be ashamed, and should show greater respect for those who, in the truly difficult years, were able to guarantee resources and extraordinary measures that allow him, today, to be able to administer.
Rather, tell us what the current difficulties are due to, how is it possible that, with the amount of resources available like never before between reconstruction funds, Restart funds partly to be spent and, for over 100 million, still to be programmed, Pnrr, Complementary Fund and European funds, there are such serious critical issues.
Tell us what happened to the public works already planned and financed by the past centre-left administration, what concrete results have returned the millions and millions of euros invested by your administration in recent years (almost 40 million for culture alone…). Tell us why you decided to distort the face of the historic center, without any confrontation with the towns and citizens: know that we will be the ones who will erase its ugliness.
Far from imaginative internal chats of the Democratic Party: Biondi gives answers to the citizens. And maybe, stop being the leader of Fratelli d’Italia and start, as mayor of the capital, to press his government which, to date, has not lifted a finger for the city of L’Aquila.
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