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couldn't pay the higher rent and they had replaced him. The next year I lost my greengro-
cer and then my neighborhood bakery. Now I wait in long lines with the tourists at a new
bakery. It's the same boarding a vaporetto (boat taxi). Sometimes you can't get in, wait-
ing behind tourists. Try going around the streets with a baby stroller—it's about impossible
with the crowds.”
Real estate prices are astronomical because zoning laws have loosened up, favoring
wealthy foreigners and international companies. Even the laws meant to protect locals are
poorly enforced, these men said. People buy houses and pretend they are primary residen-
ces but then rent them out under the table to tourists. In sum, locals can no longer afford
to live and own a business in Venice and are forced to leave for the mainland. As they dis-
appear, so too do the clinics, schools and other services necessary for a city in a seemingly
endless chain of cause and effect.
“Just apply the law. Everything has to compete with tourism for space: student housing
for our universities versus hotels; workers' housing versus hotels; local shops versus souven-
ir shops and big-name designer boutiques. There is no space for locals. We always lose,”
said Claudio. “Our politicians have to consider the social consequences of giving in to the
tourism lobby—it is so powerful with so much money. We want the Venetian leaders to
acknowledge that this is our city; that we deserve to live within our own patrimony.”
The 40xVenezia group has remedies. First, they want authorities to enforce all the laws
against cheap foreign copies pretending to be fine Venetian crafts. Murano blown glass has
been undercut by cheap foreign copies, leading to more local unemployment. Kempin-
ski Hotels recently bought up one of those abandoned factories on the island of Murano.
The press release announcing this new hotel said: “This veritable gem of a building of-
fers dazzling vistas across the lagoon to Venice and is directly connected to Rio dei Vetrai
Canal. Apart from its outstanding location, the hotel will feature approximately 150 rooms
and suites, a sun terrace, bar with a terrace, café, spa area and fitness center, a ballroom as
well as meeting and convention facilities.”
With factories transformed to hotels, “Murano glass” as well as souvenir masks are more
likely to be mass-produced in China than made in Italy.
To alter the city leaders' fixation on tourism, the group has asked that the city's books
and audits be opened up to determine how much the city, and the city's inhabitants, ac-
tually gain from tourism and how much goes into deep pockets elsewhere. They want to
regulate the number of tourists. They want to reroute the cruise ships out of the canal to
sail directly to the mainland, eliminating the damage being done in their wakes. “Why not
send them around so they drop off their tourists to take small boats and buses? The ma-
jority of Venetians don't like these cruise ships smashing into our city. Don't let them just
dive into the city as if we were their theme park.”
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