Notorious Vandal Strikes Again - The Florentine

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More Expensive to be
a Poor Student
Housing Emergency for Students in Florence
Want to live in one
of the world’s most
beautiful cities? Try
and put your money where
your mouth is, which may
prove a tough task in the
world’s favourite university
town. As transitory housing
becomes more and more in
demand, studies show that
rental prices are starting to
raise the roof. In fact, the lack
of affordable housing for both
students and families is one of
the issues weighing heavily on the
minds of many of Florence’s inhabitants.
“The issue’s importance in this
city should be considered equal to
that of commercial fraud and environmental
pollution,” said Mayor
Leonardo Domenici in a recent
speech. He went on to say that one
of the best ways to face the housing
emergency is to crack down on
landlords who rent flats without
providing official contracts to renters.
According to Leacoop and the
Housing Coop “Unica,” rentals to
students with irregular or illegal contracts
contribute significantly to the
distortion of the market.
Recent university-provided data
shows that 38 percent of students
registered at the Ateneo live within
the province of Florence (with their
own families). 36 percent reside in
Tuscany, many of whom are later
forced to find a house in Florence.
23 percent of students come from
outside Tuscany, and 3 percent come
from other nations. Illegal transitory
housing contracts in Florence are
said to generate an estimated revenue
of 24 million euros. It is also
estimated that the economic turnover
generated by the presence of
students in Florence reaches 150
thousand euros per year, not counting
tuition fees, if you include all living
expenses sustained. The average
cost per capita per bed is 330 euros
a month.
A bit of good news for tight
pocketbooks will come into play
on October 29. Adolfo Moni, the
president of the Association Cooperativa
Abitazione is scheduled to
inaugurate the new structure in Via
Maragliano, hosting 350 rooms at a
third of the market price. A similar
building with 180 beds is also being
built in Sesto.
Orange Buses Have Green Heart
City’s Public Transportation Service Turns Ecological
ATAF is taking steps
to drive better
buses. In a dynamic yet
fragile city like Florence
“better” means more
environmentally conscious.
A series of new
Euro 4 buses, which run
on methane rather than
petrol, are currently
being added to the slew
of electronic mini-buses
that already serve Florence’s historical
centre. ATAF’s new generation
of investments make 50 percent
of the kilometres they drive completely
ecological, in full respect of
the environment.
“In the last four years, we’ve made
efforts to substitute old vehicles for
new ones, increasing the number of
Euro 4 buses that run on methane,”
says ATAF president Elisabetta Tesi.
In doing so, ATAF has achieved its
goal of reducing the amount of polluting
agents released
into the environment.
These ecologicallyminded
efforts translate
into a million kilograms
less of toxic substances
released into the air
annually, according to
research presented at a
recent conference held
in Palazzo Vecchio by
ATAF, the environmental
association Legambiente, and
the City of Florence.
The next step involves the substitution
of 28 old petrol-guzzling
buses for those that run entirely
on methane. ATAF is planning
to increase its number of “green
machines” by investing in 22 more
Euro 4 buses. The city’s service provider
is also evaluating the possibility
of purchasing vehicles that run
on mixed hydrogen-methane and
bio-diesel petrol.
News
5
Thursday 20 October 2005
Florence NEWS
THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON
Shut Down is Entertainment Industry’s
Answer to Budget Cuts
For A Day So We
Don’t Close Forever”
“Closed
was the slogan of the
Italian entertainment industry’s
nation-wide strike, held on Friday,
October 14 to protest the drastic
cuts outlined in the national government’s
2006 budget plan. October
14 was also the much anticipated
release date of Roberto Benigni’s
new film, “La tigre e la neve.”
Benigni, as well as other Tuscan
actors such as Carlo Verdone,
strongly supported the strike that
had movie theatres, concert halls,
and live performance theatres
closed for the day throughout
Italy.
The budget cuts are seen as
a severe detriment to one of the
peninsula’s most fl ourishing industries,
and the 40 percent decrease
in government culture spending
has forced the FUS, Fondo Unico
per lo Spettacolo, to interpret the
2006 plan as “a death sentence for
Mariella Zoppi
Max Biaggi
culture.” The 164 million euro cut
translates into fewer public cultural
events, fewer productions, fewer
shows, and fewer jobs within a sector
that in the Tuscan region alone
provides jobs for more than 20 thousand
people. Funds for culture represent
just 1 percent of the regional
budget, and thus Cultural Councillor
of the Tuscan Region Mariella Zoppi
voices her concerns about the issue.
“We will do all we can to reduce the
catastrophic effects of this choice
but the national government is also
intent on cutting regional budgets
and our power to intervene has
been further reduced,” says Zoppi,
summarising the fears of the Tuscan
Musical and Theatre Association.