‘We Are Tired of Crying for the Dead’: A Stunned Genoa Mourns

You might think this Italian tragedy would serve as a cautionary lesson for America, but Republicans will probably opt for another tax cut instead. You reap what you sow, in this case negligence and rank irresponsibility. So it goes.

People are commenting about government responsibility and neglect, but responsibility for maintaining this bridge was under a contract with a private firm, Autostrade per l’Italia.

I suspect there are many more accidents waiting to happen in our own country due to poor design or deferred maintenance. Lest not forget the Mianus Bridge collapse that occurred in 1983. It happened early in the morning. Imagine the carnage if it occurred during rush hour. https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/29/nyregion/part-of-bridge-on-route-i-95...

A bridge of stressed concrete and not steel. Hmmm, didn't somebody we all know eschew steel and choose concrete to build a mid-town tower in Manhattan? Concrete, the supply of which is controlled largely by the mafia? Wonder how that concrete tower is doing these days. Just sayin'.

Already there is finger pointing going on with the new government of Five Star and Lega. There is always going to be corruption in Italy but if things get done, Italians put up with it. If the new leaders can clean the corruption as they say they can AND make improvements in their infrastructure among all their other problems, I will tip my hat to them but I doubt it.

No one should have to endure so much heartbreak, grief, and fear because infrastructure has been disregarded. This is one of the most essential functions of government. They have to make sure it is done right. There are such obvious political points to be made about how we tax and regulate for our infrastructure and it's terrible for it to come to tragedy for people to be reminded. It's worse though that anyone would bury their head in the sand rather than recognize what giving massive tax cuts and abandoning regulations can lead to. All the best to the people of Genoa.

I was a Fulbright senior lecturer in Genova in 1988. I loved the city and the people I met and worked with. It is a very Italian place. You don't hear much English spoken. No problem for me. I used an Italian grammar book to teach myself Italian before I went. And of course my Italian got better the longer i stayed. The language is beautiful. As one taxi driver told me it is like la musica. I used to buy newspapers at one place in the city. The owner asked me a hard question one day, which system is better, the Italian or the American? I waffled and said something like different things for different folk. Now I think that I would say the Italian one. That is the way Italians think. Never underestimate their capacity for organizing. They are a tough people, especially Genovesi who had to fight off Saracens. The bridge was poorly built. But they will organize and build a better one. You see relics of Roman engineering all over the country. In Genoa there is a working aqueduct about two thousand years old. The bridge was atypical. The Italians are still good engineers.

Not quite two years ago, a fire broke out on a major bridge here in Pittsburgh. It was an avoidable accident, which, according to officials, put the bridge perhaps minutes away from total collapse because of where the heat buckled key structural components. My point? This can happen anywhere if government isn't paying attention or paying for upgrades....