Leaflets distributed at night against the millionaire city hall

Anonymous dissenting posters are popping up. The opposition: disproportionate work

ABOVE FURNACES. “Take to the square for the square”. It is the inscription on the hundreds of leaflets thrown in Forni di Sopra (just over 900 inhabitants) in the night between Monday and Tuesday to promote the alternative to the new 5.8 million town hall received by the Region. An anonymous gesture that casts doubt on the project of the majority.

For a long time the opposition had been proposing to the administration a different use of the sum arrived from Trieste, to avoid a work deemed not essential. The project also includes the construction of 50 underground parking spaces and the pedestrianization of the square that connects the Municipality to the multipurpose hall. A lively exchange of views had already had as protagonists the mayor of Forni di Sopra, Marco Lenna, and the regional councilor of the Democratic Party (and candidate for mayor of Trieste), Francesco Russo, because 5.3 million come from the Region for the new town hall.

“During the night some citizens wanted to have their say and give a hand to our position – explain the opposition councilors Fabio Colombo and Mario Comis -. The vulnerability report by engineer Raffaele Feruglio, carried out on behalf of the Regional Civil Protection – explains Comis – never indicates the need for demolition, given that there are techniques to remedy the structural deficiencies highlighted.

Demolishing and rebuilding an oversized complex which is also expensive to maintain is a unilateral choice of the majority that we have always voted against. The opposition asked whether it was better to invest these funds to intervene on the complex that houses the swimming pool and gym to make it compliant with the law as a hospitalization facility in the event of a disaster.

At this point – insists the councilor – if the final decision were to demolish the town hall, we could think about the construction of a cantilevered square with a view of the Dolomites and we would not even be opposed to the possibility of underground parking. We propose the reconstruction of the former hotel Ancora with modern and innovative environmental criteria, to make it a municipal seat ».

On 15 January 2020 the Municipality of Forni di Sopra had submitted a request for the assignment of a contribution of 253,760 euros for the design of the safety measures and for the energy efficiency of the town hall, identifying in November of the same year the architect Dario Ioan sole responsible of the procedure. At the time, however, there was still no mention of the material costs of the intervention.

Costs that instead emerge at the municipal council meeting on March 31 this year, during the approval of the single planning document 2021-23. Estimated figure of the intervention, therefore, 5.3 million. But the intervention, awarded by tender to the Cooprogetti scrl studio, must necessarily consider the demolition and reconstruction of the public structure? “For many people from Fornesi – adds the opposition – the construction from scratch of the building seems to be a waste that oversizes the needs of a town hall that today welcomes about ten employees.

5 million will not be enough for the town hall – the opposition representatives conclude – and its maintenance has not even been budgeted for. Those funds could be used to create a real economic driving force, in a place that is unique in the world for its landscape characteristics. We therefore invite the administration to reflect on common sense, in the interest of the people of Fornesi and tourists ». At the end of July, the Region allocated 5.3 million for the new municipality of Forni di Sopra. Many compared to other interventions, such as the million, only one, for the Trieste swimming pool. This is necessary, Lenna replies, underlining how the regional council cannot finance only the large centers.

The millionaire town hall brings to mind the “Friulino”, a miniature Friuli stadium, at least to the opposition councilor of Forni di Sotto, Ira Conti.

Forni di Sotto, just over 570 inhabitants, where Lenna was mayor from 2009 to 2019. “The” Friulino “- recalls Conti – cost more than a million and should have hosted the retreats of Udinese Calcio and other great teams . The country team, on the other hand, this year has not even signed up for the Carnico ».