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LA STAMPA

In Crime-Plagued Naples, Google Maps Can Help You Find Illegal Parking Spots

Aimed at assisting police in tracking down those running Naples’ infamous racket of illegal parking, a new Google maps page may be more useful for those desperate for a spot.

Parking is never pretty in Naples (anaru)
Parking is never pretty in Naples (anaru)
Antonio Salvati

NAPLES - Alongside the pizza makers and syrupy folk singers, unlicensed parking attendants -- well-known in Italian as parcheggiatori abusivi -- are traditional Naples characters central to the city's folklore.

And now their old – albeit illegal – pavement-pounding profession is going high-tech: a Google Maps page is providing all the relevant information about Naples' 150 or so unlicensed parking areas, from availability to expected fees.

Depending on your point of view, or how much of a rush you are in, you can view parcheggiatori abusivi as criminals or as a valuable help in the search for the elusive parking spaces in Naples' super congested streets. In some crime-infested areas, paying these unlicensed key-keepers guarantees that your car will not be vandalized or stolen.

If nothing else, the unlicensed parking attendants are adaptable. Recently, a huge and affordable (and legal) public lot opened in Naples. At first, the parcheggiatori abusivi bought the parking tickets and sold them to the drivers. The police responded by forcing drivers to provide their car registration number at the entrance.

A travel guide to illicit spots

The unlicensed parking attendants are still here, though. For many, this is a family business. They control streets inherited by their fathers or their grandfathers. They consider themselves professionals and would prefer to be called "parking overseers."

For a while, if a customer wanted to park in a particularly crowded area – for example, close to a restaurant on the seafront – he could call the parcheggiatori abusivi and book in advance. Now, the costumer can find them online. On Google Maps there is a constantly updated map of Naples with more than 150 – illegal – car lots.

It is a sort of Travel Guide to unlicensed parking. In via Marina, near Federico II University, there are 300 lots controlled by five parcheggiatori abusivi. The minimum fee is one euro, and the "insistence" in asking for the payoff is "medium ." On the seafront, there are around one thousand spots, and ten unlicensed attendants. The fee is two euros. In Piazzetta Scacchi, in the heart of Naples, a weekly or monthly subscription is available, especially for residents.

The creator of the Google Maps page says that though there is a gag element to his creation, it's also aimed at helping the police.

The local authorities, though, say tracking the abuses is not the hard part. "We don't need tips. We know this issue very well, and we have been combating it for years," says the Municipal Police Chief, Colonel Luigi Sementa. "The main problem is that we can arrest an unlicensed parking attendant only if a driver is assaulted, or denounces them for extortion. Without a complaint, we can only fine them."

In 2009, the parcheggiatori abusivi even rallied in front of Naples Cathedral asking not to be persecuted anymore, insisting that they provide the city with a service. And now that service is new and improved thanks to Google Maps.

More from La Stampa in Italian

photo - anaru

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Geopolitics

Why The Latin American Far Left Can't Stop Cozying Up To Iran's Regime

Among the Islamic Republic of Iran's very few diplomatic friends are too many from Latin America's left, who are always happy to milk their cash-rich allies for all they are worth.

Image of Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, Romina Pérez Ramos.

Bolivia's embassy in Tehran/Facebook
Bahram Farrokhi

-OpEd-

The Latin American Left has an incurable anti-Yankee fever. It is a sickness seen in the baffling support given by the socialist regimes of Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela or Bolivia to the Islamic Republic of Iran, which to many exemplifies clerical fascism. And all for a single, crass reason: together they hate the United States.

The Islamic Republic has so many of the traits the Left used to hate and fight in the 20th century: a religious (Islamic) vocation, medieval obscurantism, misogyny... Its kleptocratic economy has turned bog-standard class divisions into chasmic inequalities reminiscent of colonial times.

This support is, of course, cynical and in line with the mandates of realpolitik. The regional master in this regard is communist Cuba, which has peddled its anti-imperialist discourse for 60 years, even as it awaits another chance at détente with its ever wealthy neighbor.

I reflected on this on the back of recent remarks by Bolivia's ambassador in Tehran, the 64-year-old Romina Pérez Ramos. She must be the busiest diplomat in Tehran right now, and not a day goes by without her going, appearing or speaking somewhere, with all the publicity she can expect from the regime's media.

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