Como PD pushes no-confidence in Maccabeo: 'Lack of political responsibility'

Context

In brief

• Municipal decisions in Como — transport, ZTL restricted zones, green spaces, parking — affect cross-border workers' daily lives every single morning.
• The political crisis over assessor Maccabeo is a symptom of a local administration that struggles to meet the needs of a border city.
• Cross-border workers are full Italian residents and taxpayers: they have the right to demand adequate services and to make that count at the polls.

At the last municipal council meeting in Como, the Democratic Party group presented a motion of no confidence against green-space assessor Chiara Bodero Maccabeo, criticising the management of city parks and lake-front gardens. A secret ballot rejected the motion: the majority held, the debate closed without immediate consequences. But the controversy brought back into focus an issue that concerns far more than party activists: the quality of public services in a city where thousands of people wake up early every morning, get into their cars or onto the train, and go to work in Switzerland.

Como is the cross-border city par excellence in the Ticino context. According to estimates from bilateral bodies, Como province alone accounts for a significant share of the roughly 80,000 cross-border workers who cross the Swiss border each day. Many live in the city or in the first-ring municipalities — Grandate, Montano Lucino, Brunate, Cernobbio, Maslianico. For these people, decisions taken in the Como city council are not abstract matters of local politics: they determine whether workers reach the border on time, whether they find parking, whether their children have a decent park nearby during the little free time that remains.

Why municipal services matter for people who work in Switzerland

The typical Como-area cross-border worker leaves home between 5:30 and 6:30. They head to Como San Giovanni or Como Nord Borghi station, or drive toward the Ponte Chiasso or Brogeda border crossings. Every morning is a sequence of variables: park-and-ride availability, Trenord punctuality, traffic conditions on the border roads. Each of these variables depends, at least in part, on municipal and provincial decisions.

Local public transport — ASF lines connecting neighbourhoods to the station, cycling access on main corridors — falls under municipal and provincial remit. ZTL restricted zones active in the city centre during the morning hours can reroute commuters who arrive by car from neighbourhoods not served by public transport. Park-and-ride facilities near stations are infrastructure whose planning and maintenance depend on the administration's priorities.

Green-space management, at the centre of the Maccabeo political crisis, may seem secondary to these issues. It is not. For a cross-border worker returning home after ten hours in Switzerland, the quality of public spaces in their neighbourhood — children's parks, safe cycle paths, tree cover that makes summer bearable — is a tangible quality-of-life factor and, indirectly, a factor in the decision of where to keep living.

Checklist for cross-border workers living in Como and its province

1. Check whether your municipality has an up-to-date sustainable mobility plan and whether it includes park-and-ride facilities near railway stations. 2. Check the Como ZTL schedule if you reach the station by car: morning time bands can overlap with cross-border workers' departure hours. 3. Report Trenord punctuality problems on the Regione Lombardia portal and to cross-border worker associations (ACLI Frontalieri, FAF), which have direct channels with transport operators.

Operational details

Rail transport: the unresolved bottleneck

Rail transport is the most frequently cited problem by cross-border workers from Como. The Trenord Como–Lugano line (via Ponte Chiasso) and the Como–Varese line (giving access to the Stabio border crossing) have historically suffered from delays and cancellations. The S11 Milan–Como–Chiasso service — the main artery for cross-border workers who do not live in the city — has frequencies and reliability that vary considerably across different time slots.

The problem is not exclusively a municipal one: Trenord is jointly owned by Regione Lombardia and FS Italiane. But the municipality can play an active role in planning station access, intermodality (bike + train, car + train), and connections with urban bus lines. Management of parking at Como San Giovanni station — historically insufficient for cross-border worker demand — is something local representatives could push more forcefully at the regional level.

ZTL zones are another friction point. Como's historic centre is under ZTL restrictions during morning hours, exactly when cross-border workers are heading to the station. People living outside the centre but driving to the station must navigate around the ZTL perimeter, adding travel time that in some parts of the city is significant. Thoughtful planning could provide temporary transit corridors or expand peripheral park-and-ride capacity.

Practical scenarios

Scenario A — Cross-border worker living in Como's historic centre: leaves home at 6:00, walks to San Giovanni station in ten minutes, takes the S11. The quality of public green spaces and pavements along the route is directly relevant. A neglected park or a broken pavement is a daily problem, not a political detail.

Scenario B — Cross-border worker living in a peripheral neighbourhood (e.g. Camnago, Albate): leaves home at 5:45, drives to the park-and-ride near Nord or San Giovanni station. If the car park is full — a frequent situation — they must look for street parking, adding extra time. This depends on parking policy and the expansion of park-and-ride areas: decisions the municipality can accelerate or delay.

Scenario C — Cross-border worker driving to the border (Ponte Chiasso or Brogeda): traffic on the SP342 or SP35 in the early morning is directly correlated with the number of cross-border workers and local road management. Roundabouts, smart traffic lights, possible bus lanes: these are micro-mobility interventions that provincial and municipal administrations can plan.

These three scenarios show that Como city council decisions are not matters for the town hall alone: they are variables that every morning affect tens of thousands of people who work across the border.

Key points

How cross-border workers can shape local politics

Unlike the situation with Swiss votes, Italian cross-border workers have full voting rights in Italian municipal, provincial, regional, and national elections. Como's municipal elections are scheduled for 2027: this is the moment to evaluate candidates not just on broad programme promises but on specific commitments relating to mobility, transport, and border infrastructure.

Useful questions to put to candidates during campaigns:

• What is the plan to increase park-and-ride capacity near railway stations?
• Are there planned improvements to cycling lanes along the main station access corridors?
• How do you intend to coordinate with Regione Lombardia and Trenord to improve punctuality on cross-border lines?
• What measures are planned for cross-border workers who drive toward the Ponte Chiasso and Brogeda border crossings?

Cross-border worker associations — ACLI Frontalieri Lombardia, Frontalieri Uniti, FAF (Federation of Cross-border Worker Associations) — periodically organise meetings with local administrators and pursue concrete demands. Joining or following their activities is the most efficient way to make your needs count in the local political debate.

Returning to the green-space assessor controversy: beyond the majority-versus-opposition quarrel, the episode raises a question of method. A local administration in a border city should measure its policies not only by the satisfaction of residents who stay put, but also by that of people who leave every day for work abroad and return tired in the evening. Well-maintained public green spaces, safe pavements, streets lit early in the morning: these seem ordinary services, but for someone with a cross-border worker's schedule they become elements that qualify the choice of where to keep living.

Regulatory references

• Legislative Decree 267/2000 (TUEL): citizens' rights and duties vis-à-vis the municipality
• Lombardy Regional Law 9/2001: local public transport planning
• Italian-Swiss agreement on cross-border mobility (under revision within the bilateral negotiations)

Useful tools

If you are assessing whether to continue as a cross-border worker or move your residence to Switzerland, the financial simulation is the first step: use the cross-border worker salary calculator to compare your net income under permit G or permit B, taking into account taxes, contributions, and transport costs.

News source: comozero.it