Brescia Prefect Meets Valtenesi Mayors on Security and Community Projects
“I came to Puegnago to meet with the mayors of Valtenesi. My presence here should not be interpreted as supporting anyone. The controversies belong to political dialogue, but I am above partisan interests, and my visit should not be read in any other way.” The prefect of Brescia, Anna Maria Cancellieri, immediately wanted to clear up any misunderstandings during her visit yesterday to Puegnago, where she was welcomed by the seven mayors of Valtenesi: a visit that some, particularly Senator Massimo Wilde of Lega Nord, had interpreted as a stance in favor of the municipal administration led by Gianfranco Comincioli, in the “battle” against minorities and the Comitato in defense of Puegnago, which before Christmas had led to the resignation, then the return, of the mayor. This hypothesis was strongly denied by the person directly involved, right at the beginning of her speech, which she addressed to a large group of institutions, law enforcement agencies, and ordinary citizens who, despite the workday, filled the council chamber. No controversy, therefore, and no reference to local disputes, except for a brief passage in Comincioli’s speech, where he also addressed the “scandalous behavior of some individuals seeking to destabilize this administration.”
Other topics dominated the meeting: security, for starters, particularly regarding the project organized by the seven Valtenesi municipalities, which could be ready by early March. “I came to Puegnago mainly to say that this Security Project idea represents a winning path,” said Ms. Cancellieri. “We live in a challenging era for those in governance, because citizens rightly demand concrete answers to increasingly felt problems. The collaboration model adopted by the seven Valtenesi towns represents the best way to provide certain responses to the insecurities brought about by the emergence of new crime.”
That same crime, which is also heavily impacting the southern Garda area, as recalled by Giancarlo Allegri, mayor of Padenghe. “In our town, nearly every day there is a theft or a burglarly, often involving illegal immigrants residing here. This is disrupting the life of our community, primarily agricultural, which for fifty years has lived with doors and windows wide open. Not to mention high-level criminal activity and mafia infiltration, which especially in winter find the lake as a quiet place to settle…”
What are the mayors requesting? Allegri asked for a new role for the municipal police (“The days of parking fines are over; today, the officer must work to thoroughly understand and monitor the territory”), while Isidoro Bertini, mayor of Manerba, called for an increase in the Carabinieri station’s resources, also highlighting the key aspects of the “Security Project,” based on innovative GSM technology and a new connection between public and private sectors, involving municipal police and citizens who install alarms in their homes to help finance this initiative, which “will not cost the municipalities anything at all.”
“I will do what I can to ensure that even coordination among law enforcement helps you implement this project,” promised the prefect, also pledging collaboration on issues like traffic and the increasingly severe gaps on the statale 572 road, another problem that the seven municipalities, now preparing to form a new consortial arrangement, are trying to solve together.