The eviction of Leoncavallo caught Beppe room by surprise. The mayor “knew nothing about it”, a phrase repeated even in the aftermath of the scandal on urban planning. It seems that in Milan the mayor is always the last to know things
The dawn of Wednesday 22 August reserved a surprise for the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala: the eviction of the notorious Leoncavallo social centeran operation, apparently, carried out with the mayor completely in the dark. The scene is almost cinematographic in its paradoxicality: while the law enforcement officers move to via Watteau to put an end to thirty -one years of illegal occupation of the building, the first citizen of the second Italian metropolis is informed of the incident only through a phone call from the Prefect Claudio Sgaragliaarrived “at the first light of the morning”.
The disbelief of Palazzo Marino Trasuda from official statements. The mayor underlines with a tip of irritation that “for an operation of this delicacy, beyond the committee, There were many ways to warn the administration», Methods that evidently” have not been pursued “.
The chronicle of the incident paints a singular picture, as said by the same room, the day before the eviction the Public Security Committee In the Prefecture, to which the mayor had delegated the deputy commander of the local police. Yet, from that meeting it had not emerged “nod to any executive eviction”, despite the date originally set for the operation was September 9th.
The result is a mayor caught by surprise by an operation that involves one of the most controversial symbols of the city of Milan, forced to chase the events. But it is certainly not the first time for Beppe Sala.
Palazzopoli: “learned from the newspapers, it is unacceptable”
If the clearing of Leoncavallo had shown a mayor surprised by the events, The “Palazzopoli” investigation on Milanese urban planning has revealed a Beppe Sala once again in the dark of the dynamics involving some personalities of his administration, including the councilors Bardelli And Tancredirespectively councilor for home and urban regeneration, both discharged due to the storm generated by Palazzopoli, which among other things sees Giancarlo Tancredi as one of the main suspects.
On July 17, when the newspapers revealed that the mayor of Milan also also appeared among the suspects of the maxi investigation on the urban planning of the Lombard capital, The reaction of Palazzo Marino was of amazement and indignation. “Learned from the newspapers, it is unacceptable“, Sala said, underlining that he was not informed in advance of his involvement in the investigation.
A reaction that sounds familiar: Also in this case, the mayor presents himself as the least informed subject compared to issues that directly concern his administration And, in this specific case, his person. The investigation, which involves over thirty building projects, seemed to have completely escaped the first citizen’s radars.
For prosecutors, however, the mayor was not only aware of the facts of that investigation, but the choice to confirm some officials in key roles would not have been the result of an oversight. A version of the facts that screeches with the declarations of total extraneousness and ignorance of the facts expressed publicly.
The security problem
While for evictions and judicial investigations the mayor Sala declares that he does not know, when it comes to the “security problem” in the city of Milan his position changes. Here the mayor, while recognizing the existence of the problem, has often wanted to deflate the alarm crime, supporting the effectiveness of the security policies put in place by his administration.
However, an optimism that seems to collide with the objective data that photograph the Milanese security situation. The crime index 2024 of Sole 24 hours confirmed Milan to first place national With 7093 complaints every 100 thousand inhabitants, consolidating the negative primacy of the Lombard capital, which maintains the little enviable title of “Italian crime capital”. Here too, therefore, the mayor does not seem to know what it means to live in today’s Milan.
The contrast becomes even more strident if we consider that Milan has recorded an increase of 4.9% compared to the pre-covid period, while in sexual violence the city ranks third in Italy with 607 cases reported, of which 24 have seen as minor victims of 14 years.
Faced with these data, the optimistic statements of the mayor on the security holding in the city take on a different flavor, perhaps suggesting a selective reading of reality or a communicative strategy aimed not to alarm public opinion. In short, the mayor Sala is a candidate for the non -envied prize of “less informed mayor of Italy”.
