In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
I suggest too Luciam reading Il Centro, Abruzzo's newspaper - [url=http://ilcentro.repubblica.it/]il Centro | Homepage[/url]
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
if you wish for my opinion and many people don't on here i think that the problems of abruzzo are many fold...in a political criminal sense
geographically it is a region that sits right between the two halves of Italy ... and much as lazio has the same sort of problems this region does too... in a vast generalization of how things are there is a line ... in my imagination that runs from rome to pescara and this is basically where the country divides...
this is not to say problems do not exist north of that line... but what can be said to be true is that investment that is due for developments the further south you get of that line end up more in the pockets of politicians and their friends than actually within the planned developments...
however to balance that statement a bit ... montesilvano which is a very rich over developed area has had problems with their local politicos plus friends for quite some time... major fraud... the regional president del turco... most of the frauds took place in and around pescara and now the mayor...
one of the major reasons is the fact that the area of pescara and its surrounds has had the major amount of development hence money in this region for an awful long time now... you will note they also have the mediterranean games coming up... another event that is already under investigation for the salaries received by those organising the event and their supposed expenses... apart from that its most probably the richest square miles of the region...and the most overdeveloped with scant care for the environment...
another case where investment leads to criminal investigation is the Rocarasso mayor... a place that had lots of money for the winter olympics and millions thrown at it for ski facility development... many of the buildings erected total nightmares of eyesores ... cement towers and no planning apart from the plans to use friends land and friends building companies.... he topped himself in prison...
so my theory true or not is that Abruzzo for a long time starved in the regional free for all for funding once European money and deprived area investment came into being got lots of cash being thrown at it... and many of the politicians and their friend saw chances for easy money...
all i can say to me that the one good thing here is that the police forces that investigate and the citizens that know what is happening do not keep quite in the hope that the wealth might spread down to them too for keeping quite... both locals and police seem to be keeping on top if not totally abreast of what is happening... and the people end up if only for a short while being popped into prison... here the total inadequacy of the magistrates allows them to spend the rest of their lives under house arrest... and as the case in abruzzo involves all politicians from the left and that's the side of the magistrates that is quite normal here...
so i would continue feeling proud of your heritage...its just that the figures involved now are higher therefore it makes more news but abruzzo politicians are much the same as many in Italy... their pockets always seem to come first... however they are not given such a free run here to my mind...
finally if you are seking a more objective view sallys advice is good... get an online view through the papers... althougfh as most are paid for by political groups you always need to read a couple at least to get some sort of balanced view...
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
So is there another news paper for Abruzzo then John???
In reply to A newbie all over again! by Annec
sally yes there are hundreds... well not literally... if you go into a bar on your next visit you will find at least three which have both national and abruzzo sections which are the most common around... here in Teramo we have also two monthly periodical types... plus several weekly papers...generally free... and this will e the same for any italian city... more depending on its size... then there are various other specific provincial papers...
its not that Italians read more papers necessarily its the fact that a paper gets very high government grants, can be set up as an association or coop with no tax to pay, and is virtually guaranteed here to make a profit for the owner... many of which are produced by the political parties and are used to help them lead their desired life styles.. however do not think that you can set up your own here... you have to have taken the university course, Be a member of the trade body and have a good accountant on hand.. you also have to give most of your production away for free so that you can supply figures on distribution that will allow you to get the full grants available... ie its quite simple here to become a millionaire running a two bit local paper with a distribution of say 10,000 per month, providing you have the right degree and have enough money to start it all up... it then becomes a bit of a doddle
Adriatica has given you the answer perhaps you can check out the other Thread...Chiodi won.... so now things should settle down here a bit... an election called because the regional president was arrested for corruption.... but maybe there is worse to come as the mayor of pescara has also now found himself arrested for corruption...in fact he was supposed to be running as the left candidate for the regional presidency.... i guess as he was under investigation at the time Veltroni decided not to run him... however the official news came out after voting had finished...basically it would have seen even a further reduction in the vote for the lefts candidate... as now abruzzo has to come to terms with further scandal...