TURIN. A shopping center instead of the garden of the La Marmora barracks and its centuries-old trees. It is a road for the passage of trucks over the courtyard of the Comala association, a venue for concerts, projections and now a huge open-air study room. Foreseeing this is a project that aims to redevelop the area of the former Westinghouse, and which will instead destroy one of the great green lungs of the city and everything that has been painstakingly built in Comala in the last ten years. Because replacing the courtyard with a road used for the passage of heavy vehicles means depriving the center of its main meeting point, condemning it to closure. And erase ten years of history and over 200 thousand euros of citizen investments in one fell swoop.
In fact, Comala is a public space open to all, owned by the city. A cultural center that has seen shows, screenings and concerts, which over time has been enriched with rehearsal rooms, a small bar and even a radio, in constant dialogue with other associations in the area. And which ultimately gave life to the largest study room in the city, with heated tensile structures capable of accommodating up to 500 students. A virtuous universe, but destined to disappear, hit by a project approved on the sly. “We have not been given any communication, no one has spoken to the neighborhood and the many realities that will be involved in the new buildings – complains Andrea Pino, president of Comala – We have always and only talked about the congress center that will rise in place of the Westinghouse, without ever mentioning the destruction of the park to build an Esselunga and the creation of a new road for the supply trucks to pass ».
New road that will also cancel the dog area of the court and the courtyard of the Cit Turin-San Paolo meeting center, which is right next to that of Comala. “The loss of value for the entire building is enormous – explains Enrico Rubatto, president of the meeting center – Not to mention that instead of the garden we will be given a canopy in the sun, in a downhill courtyard where it is not even It is possible to put up tensile structures, since there are the vents of the underground car parks of the San Paolo ». Then he concludes with a question to the politicians: “Why make a sacrifice of public spaces and greenery of such magnitude, in favor of overbuilding and a private one?”.
Those who live in the spaces of Comala and the meeting center, however, have not given up. A public assembly is scheduled next Wednesday to inform the city and tell the story of these places. And, in parallel, a collection of signatures has begun to ask the City Council not to approve the executive plan of the works, to review the project by rethinking it in the light of the needs of the many realities of the neighborhood. The revolt of the inhabitants of the neighborhood broke out on social media: “There are too many depressing supermarkets, we need spaces where people can meet,” writes Tiziana. «Comala is a home for many young people and a source of culture and ideas. This havoc must be stopped »adds Cristina. –
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