It is important to work together for the good of the City - Exclusive interview with Mayor of Lugano Michele Foletti

It was fate that 2021 would end with Lugano discussing self-management. Is there any solution to avoid that the City of Lugano becomes hostage to a minority to whom nothing is owed, but who are taking advantage of the botched and grotesque handling of the demolition of the former slaughterhouse in May?

«The solution is the one we have always proposed: a dialogue with those who want to have a dialogue. And indeed, people who want to propose free and independent choices of culture have been sitting down to discuss it with City Hall. We will shortly present a project that goes in this direction. However, «alternative» culture does not mean anarchy and illegality».

Having elected a new Municipal Mayor, Democrat Tiziano Galeazzi, and having appointed a new Deputy Mayor, Liberal Roberto Badaracco, has there been a good chemistry between people in the Town Hall to ensure that they work well?

«There are seven of us in City Hall, it is important that there is a majority of people who are able to work together and - if possible - also have a good rapport, and it seems to me there is, no matter who has been designated deputy mayor, while it was important that the new City Hall has understood its role and is committed to the full to carry it out. I can say that within the City Hall things are going well, there is esteem for the administration, there is collaboration and trust with other institutions. It is certainly important to work more with the City Council which has diverse and varied dynamics».

After the death of Marco Borradori, you asked for political unity and the support of the citizens. Having passed the moment of sorrow and grief, how do you feel?

«The closeness of the public is all there. And I would like to thank the citizens of Lugano, and not only of Lugano, for their support to the City Hall and to me. I feel the backing of the State Councillors, I feel the collaboration of the Association of Ticino’s Municipalities and that of the Mayors, especially the urban municipalities; sadly, at the level of the City Council, too many have exploited Marco’s death to try to attack and undermine the City Hall, I think and I hope only because of electoral calculations, but without realizing that in this way they are weakening the entire city and ultimately the entire Canton.

The heated controversy over the demolition of the former slaughterhouse for « clumsy» communication, with the consequences that we have seen in recent days, followed by the sudden death of Marco Borradori, have caused a cloud of negativity to fall over the start of the new legislature. A healthy injection of confidence for the City Hall came on November 28 with the approval of the Sports and Events Pole. Now it is a matter of getting down to business. Do you recall when the late «Count Uncle» Attilio Bignasca said that the City would not be able to handle such a complex project?

«Of course I remember that and he was right. Precisely for this reason we sought to collaborate with the private sector, thus avoiding what we did with the LAC. Now we must demonstrate that we are capable of negotiating and establishing agreements: the citizens have given us their trust, and the politicians will certainly find it more difficult to give it to us, if they ever do. However, I wouldn’t put the issue of the former slaughterhouse on the same level as that of the mayor’s death: it seems to me that they are situations that are humanly very different from one another».

How are the relationships with private investors now that the public endorsement has arrived?

«I have not yet had any direct relations with the investors, we still have to resolve other administrative issues first. Relationships will certainly be complicated because everyone will be trying to obtain the maximum advantage. It will be necessary to negotiate well and to have a group of skilled and competent people to follow the project. Up to this point I think I can say that we have worked well, now we must continue on the same path.

Is the vote in support of the Sports Hub also a spur to resume projects that have remained on hold? And what, after the PSE, is a priority with respect to the City’s financial situation?

«As I have always said, the priority is investment for the general quality of life of our citizens. That’ s why we left the PSE funding system open. We have in front of us the large construction site of the Municipal Master Plan that will also include the master plan of the city center and we are re-launching with investors the tourist and conference center project at Campo Marzio. But let’s not forget that we are already working, with the resulting inconveniences, on the future of the Station».

Lugano is a beautiful city, albeit a little too busy and a slightly overbuilt. It has everything to live well. However, people leave. Is this just because of high rents?

«The fact that Lugano is an expensive city is undeniable, but it definitely has everything to live well. The issue of high rents is relative because Lugano offers many possibilities in many areas. It is obvious, however, that with the improvement of public transportation in the Canton, mobility has also increased: it takes 12 minutes by TiLo to travel from Bellinzona to Lugano, which is less than it takes from Pregassona to get to the center. But we are also analyzing the issue because we are suffering more than others from the aging of the population and this in the long term is not good for the future of the city».

You are a veteran of the Grand Council and therefore you also have a cantonal vision. After almost two years of pandemic, how is Ticino?

A political version of Ticino is worse; after a moment of cohesion due to bewilderment, everybody has started to play the game of who will fire the biggest shot, thus losing the overall vision of the Canton’s problems. Politicians are proving to be more petty than I thought: they are playing on fears and difficulties. From left to right and vice versa. In Parliament, we accuse each other and we remain still, we don’t make progress».

Precisely, politics, with its self-referential theatrics and certain debates that nobody cares about, is sometimes distant from the daily problems of the majority of the population. So what is lacking in Ticino’s political class in order to be more influential and effective?

«The courage to have visions that go far beyond pure election marketing, which ultimately leads to nothing. Parliamentary politics is also self-referential and ignores how things work and the needs of citizens and businesses. It’s enough to see how many almost unenforceable laws are produced by the Grand Council».

Previously you talked about the support of mayors, in particular those of the urban areas. Given the lack of effectiveness of cantonal politics, can you imagine that the incentives for the country’s development will have to come first and foremost from the local area, with urban realities as a driving force? Among mayors of Ticino cities, do you already have a collaboration program to move with coherence and concreteness in the building of the so-called Ticino City? This last concept may still be rather abstract, but it does represent that «courage to have visions» whose absence you denounce.

«I believe that the best stimuli are those that come from below, from those who are active in the area and want to create development. In this sense, the municipalities are certainly more attentive to gathering those stimuli. At the moment we do not yet have a program, but we have only discussed a sort of common intent that could really lead to the concretization of the City of Ticino, but it is important that the Cities have sufficient political and decision-making autonomy to be protagonists, with the Canton, of this project».

What will be left of the predictable downsizing of the ambitious Ticino 2020 reforms to review the relationship between the Canton and the municipalities?

« We will see if any operational solution is reached; certainly there is at least the possibility of cleaning up the various financial flows. The positive thing that will remain is the awareness of the municipalities of being able to work as a team, of having created an efficient system of collaboration especially thanks to the commitment of the Association of Municipalities and ERSL as institutional representatives».

What do people you meet in Piazza della Riforma or at the Coffee Shop tell you? And what do they expect from the mayor?

«In general they are happy and satisfied, they expect me to continue to manage the city with consistency, and without betraying my spirit. In fact, I don’t often receive any kind of threats or letters, and no one stops me in the city to reprimand me for anything. Of course there is always some criticism, but if it is constructive, criticism also helps to improve».

For the citizens of Lugano, and for the Ticino population in general, what do you wish for 2022 in order to nurture hope and confidence in their future without being overwhelmed by the pandemic?

«I would simply wish for people to use their own minds, without being influenced by self-interested politicians and by the ever negative mass media. I hope to believe in ourselves as people and as citizens that - fortunately - can always express themselves in our democratic state and will be able in 2023 and 2024 to select their own state councillors and municipalities, as well as the members of the legislature».