Dec. 7, 2016
“If you think you know what must be done, then run in the elections, get elected Mayor, then you can do as you wish.” – Giorgia Pea, Atty. and Commission President
Prof. Fabio Carrera’s presentation to the City on the management of tourism and security, as reported just yesterday, was seemingly met with a measure of hostility amongst the gathered commissioners.
The president of the four commissions gathered for the hearing (culture and tourism, infrastructure, finance and commerce), attorney Giorgia Pea, repeatedly interrupted the speaker as he made suggestions of solutions for dealing with the problem of overcrowding. “There is no need for you to give advice,” she exclaimed at a certain point, and then continued: “If you think you know what must be done, then run in the elections, get elected Mayor, then you can do as you wish.”
When Prof. Carrera suggested placing a toll booth, similar to those on the highways, at the beginning of Ponte de Liberta, one of the commissioners laughed, asking what would happen when Russians or Rumanians or others who cannot read Italian arrived at the booth. When Prof. Carrera suggested that a moratorium be placed on adding new hotel beds in the city, council member Paolo Pellegrini objected with the novel argument that this would in effect create a monopoly amongst the existing hotels, removing any incentive for keeping up quality and resulting ultimately in dirty, poorly run hotels infested with roaches. And all this was while Culture Minister Paola Mar continually disputed Carrera’s carefully researched numbers.
It’s too bad that Prof. Carrera had to come all the way from Boston to give testimony only to be told that there is ‘no need for his advice.” As for running for Mayor, his Boston residency clearly presents an obstacle to that piece of ‘consiglio’. However one fervently hopes that someone will run, and win, and begin listening to the experts instead of holding hearings for show and laughing at them.
–Source; Italia Nostra
Campaign For A Living Venice 