What's happening in Milan, the earthquake investigation, and the real scandal: the rich driving out the poor.

In Milan, the rich are succeeding in driving the poor out of an increasingly exclusive city. This is the political problem that, obviously, not even the urban planning investigation will be able to resolve if politicians continue to ignore it and, in fact, exacerbate it. A power shift emerges between developers and those who administer public affairs. If there are crimes, the trials, some already at the trial stage, will determine them.

But the overall picture is very confusing. All the major political forces had voted in favor of the so-called "Save Milan" law, now stalled in the Senate, which President Ignazio La Russa reiterated yesterday as " saving Sala." It was obviously also supported by the Brothers of Italy party, along with the Democratic Party, the League, and Forza Italia. La Russa perhaps forgot about it, sensing an election campaign that has essentially already begun due to the flurry of arrests requested by the prosecutor's office, which preliminary investigations judge Mattia Fiorentini will rule on by the end of the month. But the investigating judge's decision on the arrests seems destined to change very little from a political perspective. The problem of urban regeneration, which has led to skyscrapers being erected on the basis of a simple notice of commencement of work while pretending to merely renovate courtyards, is a long-standing one. The judiciary has been dealing with it for a couple of years because it had not intervened before.

The Public Prosecutor's Office was then in the hands of the Democratic Magistrates' Party (Magistratura Democratica) , which did not disturb the center-left government, as had already happened with the investigations into Expo 2015, which were subject to a moratorium. It's impossible to forget that then-Prime Minister Matteo Renzi thanked the Public Prosecutor's Office for demonstrating a " sense of responsibility ," that is, for not having investigated the matter as thoroughly as it should have. Beppe Sala was the Democratic Party's candidate for mayor after being acquitted in the Farinetti case without even being questioned and without anyone knowing about the investigation at the time. Sala is now paying for the fact that the Public Prosecutor's Office is no longer in the hands of the Democratic Party, and he is left without a safety net. It takes a good historical memory to understand what is happening these days. On the other hand, it must be said that the Public Prosecutor's Office now uses an exaggerated term when referring to building violations as "subversive degeneration." Because subversion aims to destabilize power. The pact between developers and politicians, however, stabilizes the current balance of power, exacerbating social disparities in favor of the rich. The poor are increasingly out. Out, and not just from Milan.

FROM

Frank Cimini