The private tunnel of Porsche’s heir makes the city of Salzburg angry: « Symbol of the privileges of ultra rich »

The 81 -year -old Wolfgang Porschenephew of Ferdinand, the founder of the homonymous German car manufacturer, managed to make a good part of the inhabitants of the city of Salisburgwith one of those pretensions that, promptly, his fellow citizens have stigmatized as « arrogant stuff from rich ».

The story

Wolfgang, whose family business boasts an estimated assets around 30 billion dollarsIn 2020 he purchased an ancient villa on the Salzburg hills, for the beauty of 9 million dollars. The building is considered a historical symbol of the city, which hosted characters of the caliber of James Joyce and Thomas Mann. The Porsche, for their part, have a close link with the city that gave birth to Mozart, if only because their holding is located here. The purchase of this seventeenth -century house, worthy of the brand president of the brand, had therefore not surprised anyone. Until the population has not known the ambitious Wolfgang project: Build a 500 -meter private tunneldug in the lively rock, to connect the aforementioned Magione to a huge underground garage (where his many Porsche stays, ça va sans say).

« The golden tunnel »

The gallery, nicknamed by the local media «The tunnel d’OrOr « , in addition to unleashing the indignation of ordinary and political citizens, he has also raised a series of questions about various issues, broadening environmental criticism on the use of public land for private purposes to the debate on the privileges insured to super-riches and equity in the urban choices. While some salisburgs, such as Doris Rüggeberga neighbor of Porsche, praise the investment, stating that if « Salzburg is famous, it is thanks to the buildings that the rich have built », a greater number of fellow citizens of the 81 -year -old magnate think differently. The left and environmental groups are now on the war footing and accuse Porsche of having taken advantage of his immense resources to obtain political favors and rapid construction permits that a common salisburg would never have even been able to dream.

The attack of the green

The Greens, in particular, asked for an independent expert report to establish whether the excavation right had been correctly evaluated. The result of the expertise revealed that Porsche paid only 35.304 euros for permissiona negligible figure for the millionaire and which, although in accordance with the regulations, did not appease the controversies, on the contrary, it has refreshed them. « What amazes is that a private individual can freely dig a mountain close to the city, » he said Ingeborg Hallerleader of the Greens in the city council, underlining the speed with which the project received the approvals, while similar projects similar to see the light.

Symbol of salisburg inequality

In reality, until recently, everything seemed to proceed without hitches. The former conservative mayor had already granted Porsche to build under the mountain, accessing the municipal parking for those 35 thousand euros above. However, after the municipal elections of last March, they saw a strong success of the left, especially of the Communist Partythe situation overturned. And so, the Porsche project has become the symbol of inequality in the city of music, especially in a period in which the dear-fi and the housing crisis are putting the population to the test (the problem, as you can see, is not only Italian!).

The decision to the mayor and his junta

Porsche has tried to let it understand that it could be willing to grant public access to the villa or, at least, to share the tunnel with other residents of the Kapuzinerbergwhich currently have to face a steep and narrow road to reach home. Now, the ball passes to the socialist mayor Bernhard Aingerhowever, he is in an uncomfortable position, having been in the past on the board of directors of the Porsche holding as a workers’ representative. Meanwhile, Salzburg is preparing for a political confrontation that will decide if the luxury of a few private individuals will be able to continue overlooking ordinary people and collective needs.