When the public degrades, that city cannot be called the "metropolis of the north"!

Yesterday, after 26 years, I met a friend of mine, who left in the crazy year 1997 for America! He ran away, because they fined him, destroyed his business and beat him. He is from an old citizen family with many high-ranking people of art and culture, but also of commerce in the former Shkodra! From the families most persecuted by the regime! I haven't heard it in almost two decades! There is a super business there but it has kept a low profile in relation to Shkodra and the people in Albania. February did not want to "stand out" at all! We sat down to drink coffee and I asked him: what does Shkodra look like to you? I made a mistake! This was what my old friend had been waiting for. Bektesh told me: I am sad, terrified, almost the same as the day I ran away in 1997! I'm sorry, but the picture doesn't show anything! I sometimes read your writings and try to imagine, but you were too guarded not to show the reality! I let him talk, because I saw that he needed and wanted to vent! Bektesh continued: Shkodra's identity has ended. They destroyed the alleys, doors and yards almost completely. When I was in Korça I found a lot of its heritage! Shkodra has lost them, my friend. Bektesh, Shkodra does not have painted facades, but the buildings look old, older than their age. Biles and new ones built without orientation and without system. Bektesh has no paved roads and all Shkodra highways are black. Wells and pits together with trash and bins are a "symphony" that I have not seen, neither in Vlora, nor in Durrës, nor in Elbasan. Bektesh, there are no free and continuous sidewalks in Shkodër. They are full as in the beginnings of medemek democracy, my friend from America tells me. I remembered that they would have fixed the markets and cleared the sidewalks, but it's useless. Yes, Bektesh told me, longing outside and empty store inside! From Russia to Xhabiye, my friend. Someone will sell with culture, but the other in front of him competes by not applying any urban civil rules! Bektesh There is no urban service. It's a line once an hour and with some breathtaking buses! There are no squares, O Bektesh, the large flower garden is also broken and filled with nonsense of useless constructions and the pontil where the pedestrian crossing is. School yards have been taken, O Bektesh! The city doesn't even have a traffic light. Bektesh in Shkodër has no traffic rules. It's the biggest chaos on foot and the craziness between bikes, pedestrians and cars! The parking lots in Shkodër are not double Bektesh, yes three! The arrogance of the strong and those with "beautiful cars and license plates" is a model that I did not see, neither in Tirana nor anywhere else in Albania. There is no policeman, Bektesh, he is not present, not even when he returns to the Shkodra station parking lot at "Luigj Gurakuqi!" Bektesh all the beautiful places of Shkodra, are part of the camp by the Roma and Egyptian community, and of course it is not their fault, but of the Shkodra citizens and the government that does not take care of them. There are no projects and plans for them! The ring broke before starting work, Bektesh. They tear up the road and no one is responsible for the damage they do. Construction permits are being issued in a tragic way, Bektesh! I have seen concrete in the middle of Shkodra in a senseless way. "Hati Inglizit" has been covered, O Bektesh! I didn't see "Pioneer's House" again, he told me with a quivering lip, and because of the fact that there was almost three decades of absence in Shkodër. I went to the government offices and there they told me: from kujna, je or shooq! In the government offices they told me that I had to prove that I was a citizen of Shkodër! I didn't hear shkodranche on the street, my friend told me! The neighbor had sold the house and the one who had come had jumped with the porch over the walls of my old house, Bektesh! When I asked him "do you have a permit" he said: Shapodon you, take your permission from America aaaaa?! Did you remember that they are taking your leave! When I told those in power about this problem, they told me: take care of it yourself, because they are big troublemakers! I had a car accident without fault and they told me "where are the keys to the car and we want a new one, bring it to us tomorrow"! I also fell into the well that had been dug near my house for the work of internet lines and private TV cables! In the end, I went to the cemetery and that's where I got my breath! They were the best public event in Shkodër. The cemetery was better in Shkodër than in Tirana! When I went to register for some jobs, a senior official told me: Shkodra is a metropolis of the north, my God! I was nervous, my old friend told me! I told the official: when every public thing degrades, this city cannot be called the "motropolis" of the north! What kind of metropolis did you take, I told him, Shkodra does not have a good road and you say - metropolis! And the subway!! I smiled, my old friend was "nervous ba"! Bektesh, nothing public is normal in Shkodra. It's worse than ever. Absolutely worse than in the dictatorship, one of the relatives of the family probably the most persecuted in Shkodër by the communist regime told me. Only the cemetery is somehow good as something public gave me! It almost seemed to me, as if he was telling me: You have a good last apartment! It was great sarcasm, but in the end he was right. I believe he left today. Hardly coming back.