Comments for Venice: I am not making this up

Comment on Some big-ships lore by Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:36:05 +0000

Not that I’m tracking every moment of every situation, but you can see what results the “No Mose” protests had. The “Stop Motondoso” protests had the same effect. Or, on a humbler level, the effort (via a petition and a Facebook group) to induce the mayor to bring the lamppost back to the Punta della Dogana. He responded that it might happen last March, or perhaps May. That was in 2011. No lamppost in sight. Public protests which are not fueled by an economic entity (taxi drivers, clam fishermen) live the life cycle of a drop of water — or let’s say even a chunk of hail –falling from a cloud. It may hit water, it may hit earth, it may hit a batch of leaves. It still disappears. Even 40X seems to have long since lost its headway. But you probably know all this.

Comment on Some big-ships lore by Steven

Steven — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:41:02 +0000

I agree with your list of the serious issues facing the city and agree with the big ship issue being one among that list, not the only issue, but perhaps the big ship issue has become symbolic of residents’ desire to regain some say over the future of the city and of the lagoon. For better and worse, it’s an issue which lends itself to manifestazioni as, say, reversing the population decline of some 60 years does not. Moreover the sacrifice of the city’s infrastructure–public services, housing, jobs, education and so on–in favor of a focus on corporate interests and (their) “development” (just saw the mayor use that word in some America’s Cup pr material) is not merely a problem in Venice, but globally. (Don’t get me started on the destruction of the fabric of NYC in the last dozen years.) Unique as Venice is, people in much larger cities with what were much broader economic bases, are struggling with similar problems, and struggling to find ways to mobilize against them. Which leads me to no final point whatsoever, I’m afraid, except perhaps to note that there are groups such as 40x Venezia which are trying to grapple with more than simply the big ship issue.

Comment on Some big-ships lore by Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:25:52 +0000

Perhaps this was the event involving the “Mona Lisa” in 2004 to which I referred in an earlier post? In any case, I’d like to point out that the time, effort and emotion which the public devotes to the big ships and what they may or may not do is time, effort and emotion which is not devoted to issues which, in my opinion, are much more serious and more dangerous than a ship to the city’s survival. I am referring to motondoso, lack of affordable housing, lack of public services, lack of jobs and teachers and ambulance drivers and intelligent ideas and the gradual degradation of the city’s fabric due to daily wear and tear and lack of maintenance. None of these problems have anything like the glamor and drama of potential cruise-ship events, but I maintain that they present much graver and more urgent problems to the health, beauty, and future of Venice. People who have the well-being of Venice at heart (and I do not include the city’s administrators among this group) only wish that protecting the city were as simple as banning the cruise ships.

Comment on Some big-ships lore by Steven

Steven — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:58:49 +0000

A native Venetian friend who’s lived here all of his 70 years told me once that he was preparing food in his kitchen in Sant’ Elena when he suddenly felt a huge jolt to his entire apartment building (he was on the 3rd floor): his entire building, he said (demonstrating with a movement of his hand), surged suddenly & rather substantially to the right, then returned into its usual place.

He later found out that a big ship heading toward the open sea had gone off course and run into a mud bank as it was approaching the vicinity of San Servolo.

So the mud certainly cushions, but his point was that the shocks are spread some distance around the lagoon in the vicinity of impact. The buildings of Sant’ Elena (except for the church) are less than 100 years old; would such impact have more deleterious effects on a 500 year old structure?

Comment on Stendhal syndrome in San Marco by Beth Anderson

Beth Anderson — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:04:39 +0000

Erla, do I see a book forming in your mind? “The Supply Chain of Basilica San Marco”… think what fun that would be to research!

Comment on Some big-ships lore by Robin Hilliard

Robin Hilliard — Tue, 08 May 2012 02:32:14 +0000

Try Google chrome as your default web browser. I had the same problem for a while with IE. I switched to Chrome because, overall microsoft, annoys me. A lot.

Comment on It’s summertime, and the time is right for doing something idiotic by Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle — Mon, 07 May 2012 20:41:23 +0000

I don’t see which trouble you are referring to, exactly. In any case, I drew all my information from the Gazzettino, so I can’t be the only person who knows about it. Hope you’re doing well, in any case.

Comment on It’s summertime, and the time is right for doing something idiotic by sons

sons — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:00:23 +0000

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Comment on The power of the Po by Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:46:42 +0000

Perhaps they can’t stop it, but they ought to stop doing things that are guaranteed to make it worse. Such as building too close to the river, or heightening and/or narrowing the embankments. I learned a lot about rivers and floods when I wrote an article for National Geographic about the Po River (“Po: River of Pain and Plenty,” May 2002).

Comment on The unexpected is always expected by Erla Zwingle

Erla Zwingle — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:40:47 +0000

Sometimes they use white bags, and sometimes pink. It’s all ugly.