We need ” a mayor-sheriff for New York ” because ” the city is no longer safe ”. One who leads the city ” with a hard fist ” overcoming ” the excessive laxity and too much liberalism ” shown by the previous administration. Of course, ” for the Italian community, Mayor Bill De Blasio was a godsend ” and ” we will always keep good memories of him ”, but for New York we need a figure ” like Michael Bloomberg ”. Thus the Neapolitan restaurateur Rosario Procino, founder of the ‘Ribalta’ pizzeria in the West Village of Manhattan, speaks to the Adnkronos of Eric Adams, the future mayor of New York. ” It is a question mark, a bet, we hope for a change of gear and a return to Bloomberg’s glories ”, he declares, fearing ” continuity with the De Blasio administration that did not bring splendor to the city of New York . To govern it you need more pulse and with Bloomberg New York was a jewel ”. But ” with Adams we risk staying on the same wavelength ”.
In New York since 1999, therefore from the end of the Giuliani era and throughout Bloomberg’s period as mayor, Procino speaks of ” decadence ” during the De Blasio administration, of ” more filth and insecurity, more violence and less control by the police, a freer hand against many crimes. The city has undergone a change. ” With his ‘Ribalta’, which hosts the ‘Club Napoli’ and which the Italian community in New York has chosen to celebrate Italy’s victory in the European football championships, Procino recalls that ” with Bloomberg at 4 am any person, woman or man, she could go around New York, on the subway or on the street, and feel safe. Today, and I’m not just talking about the post Covid period, that’s no longer the case. ”
Ex-policeman, Adams ” may however have a greater relationship with the police ”. The future mayor of New York also stated that he does not want to have too many lines of continuity with his predecessor. ” On paper it is so, but you have to see it at work ”, continues the Italian restaurateur, who underlines that ” behind it there is a whole system that tends to have too liberal positions. Beyond the parties, I believe that a city like New York with over 10 million inhabitants, many tourists every year and 100 thousand ethnic groups and religions, must be administered by a sheriff ”.
To De Blasio, Procino acknowledges that ” he was always very sensitive and present with respect to the Italian community, which he has always supported. For the Italian community it was the best that could be had. We’ll see how it will be with Adams. ” Among other things, the chef and co-founder of the Ribalta, Pasquale Cozzolino, was also the chef of De Blasio for a period. ” De Blasio is a huge fan of Napoli and we have Club Napoli at the restaurant, so he came to see the games with us. We have had a lot of contact with him, ” he says. Even during the European football championships, the restaurant was able to ” close the street in front of the club, put up a big screen. There were four thousand people, the meeting point of the Italian community ”.
#Italian #restaurateur #York #sheriff #mayor