[HN Gopher] Italian streets that don't exist on any map (2022)
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       Italian streets that don't exist on any map (2022)
        
       Author : fanf2
       Score  : 65 points
       Date   : 2024-06-07 13:42 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
        
       | AlbertCory wrote:
       | Also, of course, the Old City of Jerusalem, which I couldn't get
       | out of without asking someone.
       | 
       | (Although I'm sure an HNer will tell me now that it's actually
       | easy, if you _just_ do x, y, and z. Of course, you can also ask
       | someone, which is easier.)
        
       | balderdash wrote:
       | I thought these were going to be hidden streets rather than
       | fictitious streets used for administrative purposes
        
       | dejj wrote:
       | Related: phantom settlement/copyright trap that became real
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agloe,_New_York
        
       | karaterobot wrote:
       | > "Local authorities know that if someone asks to be registered
       | on a fictitious street, it's almost always going to be a person
       | who needs social help," explains Minardi. "They're worried that
       | this person will be an excessive burden on the town budget."
       | 
       | > As soon as someone asks an Italian town to be registered on a
       | via fittizia, that town is legally obliged to create one...
       | 
       | I assumed the purpose of this workaround was to provide accurate
       | population numbers to the national government, who would then
       | provide funding for services based on how many people actually
       | needed them.
       | 
       | If that's true, I don't see the advantage to the city in blocking
       | homeless or itinerant people from registering.
       | 
       | If that's false--for example, if no money trickles down to the
       | city level based on population--then why legally require cities
       | to create these fictional streets in the first place?
       | 
       | It may be a requirement without corresponding support. That's
       | certainly a possibility. But it's confusing to me without
       | clarification. It's easy to speculate, but I'd love an
       | authoritative answer.
        
         | situationista wrote:
         | The services in question are provided by the local municipality
         | - and they don't receive extra government funding for this. So
         | unlike a regular citizen who registers on a real street, from
         | whom the city typically collects taxes, a homeless citizen
         | brings costs without bringing many "benefits" (from a purely
         | economic perspective).
         | 
         | As for why they mandate the creation of these fictitious
         | streets, it's because Italy's administrative system is obsessed
         | with linking people to an address in a way that is absolutely
         | alien to many foreigners. When you change address the police
         | literally come round to check you actually live there...
        
           | pulisse wrote:
           | Italy's not unique in that respect, in Europe at least. You
           | can't do much in Germany without a Meldebescheingung.
        
           | riffraff wrote:
           | in Hungary you also can't do anything with a lakcimkartya (=~
           | address card). The only difference with Italy is that it's a
           | separate document from the ID card.
        
       | LorenPechtel wrote:
       | It actually sounds like a good idea, although I think each person
       | on the fictitious street should get a separate address number.
        
         | hi-v-rocknroll wrote:
         | Exactly and a unique extended postcode based on a hash of the
         | address number, for easier routing and error
         | detection/correction.
        
       | skrtskrt wrote:
       | Italian bureaucracy is the 8th wonder of the modern world
        
         | m2f2 wrote:
         | True
         | 
         | Here at least no one sues the government over free tax filing
         | though...
        
         | bonzini wrote:
         | We have both the best and the worst examples of bureaucracy.
         | 
         | We were even the first country to have "registered email", in
         | 2005. It's a set of server side protocols based on SMTP and
         | MIME, that provide a legally-binding confirmation that the
         | email was received by the recipient's server and delivered to
         | the recipient. The cool part is that there are even RFCs
         | describing the protocol. Since then it's been extended and has
         | become a European standard.
        
       | mormegil wrote:
       | In the Czech Republic, homeless people get the address of the
       | municipal office as their official address of residence.
        
         | jeroen wrote:
         | It should work the same in The Netherlands, but when my city
         | had semi-technical problems with registering me at my new
         | address, they weren't exactly forthcoming with this option.
        
           | hi-v-rocknroll wrote:
           | Sounds a lot like they gave you some BS to conceal
           | discrimination.
        
         | hi-v-rocknroll wrote:
         | Cool. Sometimes nonprofits like churches do the same in the US.
         | Small businesses tend to use their home address (for tax
         | reasons) or the address of a membership-based office space
         | vendor like Regus (pre-coworking and pre-WeWork).
         | 
         | In the US, it's possible for anyone to receive a few pieces of
         | mail or packages at a post office without a permanent physical
         | address using general delivery.[0] For people without means who
         | receive significant mail, the local USPS postmaster can grant
         | them a PO Box.[1] As of 2018, there were 1.3 million no-fee PO
         | Boxes out of 21.3 million.[2] (I assume this is for very low
         | income people and actual homeless people and combined with some
         | tens of thousands of deceased homeless people and perhaps as
         | many cheaters of means taking advantage of the system.) And to
         | workaround the artificial discrimination against PO Boxes for
         | all users, USPS offers Post Office Box Street Addresses
         | (PBSA).[3]
         | 
         | 0. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-General-Delivery
         | 
         | 1. https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Is-there-mail-service-for-
         | the...
         | 
         | 2. https://www.uspsoig.gov/reports/audit-reports/no-fee-post-
         | of...
         | 
         | 3. https://postalpro.usps.com/PBSA
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-07 23:00 UTC)