Riva Residents Call for Return to Old Pasina Traffic Rules After Council Meeting
In the end, when about half of the audience had stood up to leave feeling disappointed, the mayor of Riva, Cesare Malossini, finally gave the response that the entire crowd, over a hundred people, had been waiting for from the beginning: “This week I will meet with the council to review the ordinance from my predecessor,” which essentially means exploring the possibility of returning to the previous Pasina traffic regulation before ’95.
Five years ago, to “lighten” the heavy vehicle flow on viale Trento and consequently on viale Rovereto, given the relocation of the entrance to Cartiere del Carda to the north, ex-mayor Claudio Molinari signed an order prohibiting heavy traffic from the junction of Grazie on the 45 bis highway. The result: a “temporary” solution for six months, it was said, which has lasted five years.
This was what those registered residents of Varone (three thousand) asked the council for clarity about on Monday evening at the Pernone center. A debate-meeting organized by the Gruppo Iniziative Varone led by president Gianni Zanolli and supported by resident councilors at Pasina: Vigilie Bonora, Pietro Bertoldi, Giuseppe Ravanelli, and Ivo Gentilini.
On the other side, Mayor Malossini, Deputy Mayor Matteotti, and all the members of the Rivana team. A significant deployment of forces which, however, did not last long in the face of the sharp comments from the exasperated citizens.
The assembly had an intense but respectful tone, at least until an outburst from Andreozzi triggered a curt response from Bonora and applause from the audience. Applause that was also deserved by Munari and Ravanelli, while the interventions of others remained too “political,” to the point that at one point the moderator, Engineer Luigi Zanoni, had to “translate” a response from Mosaner.
The administration tried to explain that Pasina Street is owned by the Province, that to intervene one must comply with bureaucratic procedures, that everything can be achieved with goodwill, that the sidewalk could be built in six months, that the proposed cameras would deter speed, and that police or radar speed traps set at 30 km/h would be helpful.
In short, good intentions are there. But this is not enough for the residents, and they made this very clear: “Remove the heavy traffic from there,” they said, “because you can’t live like that anymore.” The rest is just talk.
This is a complex knot for the council, which nonetheless showed through its presence its willingness to solve the problem, tied certainly to the implementation of the Comai-bis. However, people are fed up with bureaucratic delays, and someone even went to ask the mayor of Arco about the ban: “It only concerns Riva,” Veronesi replied, “we definitely didn’t implement it.”
