The deputy mayor of Bari is disheartened and still parks illegally

Sparks in the Municipality of Bari after the mayor Vito Leccese, in a meeting at Palazzo di Città, distrusted the deputy mayor and councilor for urban regeneration, Giovanna Iacovone. Behind the decision was the fact that twice the deputy mayor's car (a Dacia, never fined) was immortalized by the Corriere del Mezzogiorno while it was parked on yellow lines without parking.

The first time in September, when the deputy mayor had parked in a space reserved for disabled people. On that occasion Iacovone, after apologizing, made a donation to an association that deals with people with disabilities. Last Saturday, however, the 'stall-gate' exploded again, after the councilor's car was photographed while it was parked, once again, under no parking conditions, in the stall reserved for municipal vehicles.

"It is not possible for infringements that affect collective sensitivity to be lightly repeated, it means betraying the trust of the mayor but first of all the trust of the citizens", said Leccese.

Iacovone's appointment to the council is the result of the agreement reached after the 2024 local elections. At that electoral appointment, the left of Bari presented itself 'divided': on one side the current mayor of the centre-left Vito Leccese (winner in the run-off with the centre-right led by the Northern League member Fabio Romito) also supported by the Democratic Party; on the other, the forces of the 'Convention for Bari', who instead supported the criminal lawyer Michele Laforgia.

Among the forces of the Convention, which also included the M5s, there is also the political-cultural association 'La Giusta Causa' which, after joining the majority, had indicated Iacovone in the city government. And it is precisely La Giusta Causa, after the mayor's decision to cast a vote of no confidence in his deputy, to question the continuation of the alliance, announcing in a note that it wanted to "verify whether the conditions of the government pact remain", together with the other political forces of the Convention.

"Superimposing the balance of the coalition on an episode of this magnitude would be instrumental and misleading", replied the mayor. Even the city secretary of the Democratic Party, Gianfranco Todaro, underlined that "there was no request for an exit from the majority". The centre-right is harsh: "A Leccese - said Romito - after a life spent serving the institutions, he would do well to say goodbye to everyone and resign". Meanwhile, the people of Bari are going wild on social media, even resorting to irony in the abundant production of 'memes' regarding the deputy mayor's car, which thanks to AI can also be seen parked in the city council hall. But there are those who read otherwise into the attacks on Iacovone: for Rifondazione Comunista, the affair "has the flavor of postponing indefinitely the discussion in the city council of the new general urban plan", on which the deputy mayor, who now has 48 hours to discuss with her political party, was involved.