On 3 March at Palazzo Badoer a meeting was held called “Efficient management of the UNESCO world heritage sites” organized by IUAV with the participation of the Italian Government, the City and UNESCO.
This was the statement by Flavia Antonin, in the name of Gruppo25Aprile:
“Good day, I am here in the name of the civic platform “April 25”. I am doing this to DENOUNCE the abyss of distance between the Mayor’s reassuring statements that were sent to Paris and the daily reality seen by Venetian citizens; I will explain myself now with some examples:
- Since the election of the current Mayor our sestieri have lost another 1540 residents, notwithstanding the exhortations of UNESCO to urgently find a point of equilibrium between tourism and residence.
- Of the measures recommended by UNESCO we have until now not seen even a principle for action concerning motor waves, management of the flow of tourists, housing or cruise ships.
- Of the 70 pages that the current Mayor claims to have presented to UNESCO on 24 January, the citizens have been kept completely in the dark, along with the mass media and the City Council, such that City Councilor Monica Sambo was constrained to filing a request for access to the documents; does this seem normal to you?
- At this meeting with the residential associations, postponed several times to guarantee that all could attend, the current Mayor is not to be seen and neither will we see him here today in the hall, because he has gone skiing. His sense of priorities can be seen even in these little things.
This morning some of us are wearing Panda masks, and our peaceful protest will continue until the current Administration will demonstrate with facts that it has understood the seriousness of the situation rather than hide behind delays and smokescreens. Our appeal to UNESCO is: do not be fooled, because in you we place our trust and the hope for a better future.
