Blue stripes on SS 114 return: three majority councilors request suspension

The restoration of paid parking on the Ss 114, after the emergency related to cyclone Harry has passed, is causing discussion in the Ionian center.

After the grumbling of some citizens, now the three majority councilors Simona Saccà, Claudia Gugliotta, and Antonietta Garufi have questioned Mayor Giuseppe Lombardo and proposed to the assembly a reflection on the topic.

Suspended in the immediate post-cyclone phase, the blue stripes came back into effect on the National road on March 2, as established by the Municipal Administration. A couple of days later, the two-way traffic was restored along the entire seafront.

The request from the three councilors to the mayor is to evaluate the possibility of a new suspension and a restructuring of the paid parking service along Via Umberto I.

The topic has already been scheduled for March 13 in the City Council.

Saccà, Gugliotta, and Garufi have positively acknowledged the sensitivity shown by the Administration in suspending the "blue stripes" in the immediate post-emergency until March 1. However, in light of the persistent infrastructural criticalities in the area, they believe it is appropriate to consider a further shared effort.

The request from the three councilors proposes several points for reflection. Firstly, on the coordination of benefits: they ask the mayor to consider aligning the suspension of paid parking with the timing of the highway toll exemption (May 31), to provide a unified support to citizens.

The second request is to initiate a discussion with local merchants to restructure the service where it is genuinely useful to facilitate parking turnover, suspending it instead in the less congested or purely residential areas.

Finally, they ask to consider, in agreement with the contractor of the service, a more flexible management of the stalls, perhaps prioritizing the summer period, so as not to burden the daily lives of residents at a time still marked by construction sites and interruptions.