This past Friday, there was in Rome a bit of an uproar over the driving habits of the current mayor of the Eternal City, Ignazio Marino:
Despite pushing for pedestrianization across central Rome, the city’s mayor was over the summer fined ten times for driving his car unauthorized into the heart of the Italian capital.Between June 24th and August 20th, Marino drove into the city’s traffic controlled zone (ZTL) with an expired permit. As a result, the mayor was slammed with ten €80 fines, of which he has paid two, Rai News reported [more].
In addition to not paying €640 (nearly $800) in these parking fines, Mr. Marino has also frequently parked in spaces reserved for senators. Because of these reasons, one senator has called for the mayor to answer parliamentary questions.
A few hours after these reports began to circulate, the Transport Councillor announced that the eight fines Mr. Marino neglected to pay were forgiven. Why? Apparently because the Mayor simply forgot to renew his permit:
Now, one might well wonder it could the Mayor could possibly forget to renew his required permit after receiving 10 fines and paying 2 of them, but this is Italy and, more importantly, Rome."There is no abuse," claimed [Guido] Improta, "it is a normal practice, called friendly administration. If somebody forgets to renew their pass and is given a fine the citizen can write to the Mobility Agency or the fines office to ask to act in self-defense, avoiding an appeal and so eliminating the fines" [more].
UPDATE 1:
As the above story of Mayor Marino develops, my opening assertion that politicians are much the same everywhere proves true. Consider Mr. Marino's varied explanations:
After a moment of incertitude from Campidoglio, Marino firmly replied with a series of posts in which, at first, accused Augello of slandering, then swiftly changed tone claiming a hacker attack against the ZTL telematics system, which was the cause of this “administrative mistake”.
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent [more].
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
After
a moment of incertitude from Campidoglio, Marino firmly replied with a
series of posts in which, at first, accused Augello of slandering, then
swiftly changed tone claiming a hacker attack against the ZTL telematics
system, which was the cause of this “administrative mistake”.
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
After
a moment of incertitude from Campidoglio, Marino firmly replied with a
series of posts in which, at first, accused Augello of slandering, then
swiftly changed tone claiming a hacker attack against the ZTL telematics
system, which was the cause of this “administrative mistake”.
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
In light of the mayor's claim that someone manipulated his ZTL device, an investigation was opened today.Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
UPDATE 2:
This whole affair is apparently of much greater significance than I would have imagined. News comes today that the city council of Rome plans to file a motion of no confidence in Mayor Marino.
This whole affair is apparently of much greater significance than I would have imagined. News comes today that the city council of Rome plans to file a motion of no confidence in Mayor Marino.
After
a moment of incertitude from Campidoglio, Marino firmly replied with a
series of posts in which, at first, accused Augello of slandering, then
swiftly changed tone claiming a hacker attack against the ZTL telematics
system, which was the cause of this “administrative mistake”.
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
Marino distanced himself from the event reassuring the public opinion that he was aware of the coming expiration of his ZTL pass, in the period between June and August, but he asked his assistants to renew it in advance. Although running out of time, they managed to give him a ‘white list’ temporary pass.
However, Marino’s latest version of events, according to the video posted on his facebook profile, talks about a premeditated action against his person and the stealing of telematics material together with his ZTL temporary pass, thus causing the misunderstanding.
Public opinions seemed not to appreciate Marino’s attempt to ‘calm the water’ as many of the staff statements and his quotes are incongruent.
- See more at: http://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/2592#sthash.HxwcCquB.dpuf
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