2001: Cement Odyssey

Per la versione in italiano di questo post: http://www.beppegrillo.it/2008/03/2001_odissea_ne.html

Year 2000: Towns can spend money from building licenses ONLY for investmentsYear 2001, October: Towns are authorised to spend money from building licenses to do what they like, thanks to the Unified Text on Building.The building boom arrives. Year 2000: 159,000 homes constructed.Year 2007: 298,000 homes constructed and 38,000 homes extended.Licenses double in 7 years. Italian territory is cementified with small blocks of flats, nano sky scrapers, hangars, second, third and fourth villas, car parks, garages. The towns double the cash coming into their coffers without any obligation according to how the money is to be used. They have a licence to kill the territory.The “territorio comunale” {territory of the town), as the word itself says, is the “communal” inheritance of the citizens who live there. It belongs to them. The wood, the meadow, the panoramic view, a place to go for a walk or to let one’s children play, the park, the gardens, or even, a simple empty space for looking at the horizon. Let it be clear that the territory belongs to the citizens and not to the mayor decorated for the feast and his cabinet members who are ONLY town employees. Let’s ask ourselves a few questions.What’s happened to the money from the building licenses that have been handed out with no longer any obligation to make investments? New services, nurseries, cycle tracks, public transport have not been seen. I’d do a survey. Town by town.How much more can the Italian countryside be cementified? It’s only possible to go back, to de-cementify. Tourism is dying from cement.Which are the main building companies that have obtained licenses? The constructors now are more in charge than mayor Moratti and mayor Topo Gigio. They have to get out of the town councils. They are there, even though they have not been elected.The infernal process put in motion by the 2001 Unified Text has to be stopped. We need to turn the clock back to the year 2000. Less cement, less money for the parties, the true bosses in the towns. The citizens must present themselves in the Town Councils to ask for the reasons for the building disaster and they should document the meeting with a video. The Bel Paese {Beautiful Country} is ours. Let’s claim it back.