{"id":132,"date":"2010-07-28T10:00:29","date_gmt":"2010-07-28T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=132"},"modified":"2016-05-04T20:28:20","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T23:28:20","slug":"the-2016-olympics-a-win-for-rio-part-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=132","title":{"rendered":"The 2016 Olympics: A Win for Rio? (Part 3\/5)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Children
Children from Vila Autodromo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the threat of removal, community leaders were only invited to speak with the mayor after they led a demonstration with hundreds of protesters representing 20 communities outside City Hall in early March. Yet these \u201cconversations\u201d are described by organizers as \u201cone-way dialogues,\u201d where the City states its intentions without much room for discussion. The next meeting has been set when the city will present its resettlement plans and provide an opportunity for the community to present an alternative plan for the area (to compete with the Olympic bid plan that took top technical experts 3 years to prepare).<\/p>\n

As months passed and the Mayor snapped up other momentary opportunities for evicting residents that allowed him to ignore the legal process\u2014like the intense rains of April 2010\u2014it became clear that the Olympics had simply provided a rare opportunity to make plans for the city that avoided the obligation for public comment while making evictions publicly acceptable to the middle class and the bulk of neighborhoods who wouldn\u2019t be affected. In fact, much like George Bush\u2019s \u201cyou\u2019re with us or against us\u201d mentality, efforts at fighting evictions have been covered by the mainstream media, since last October, as practically traitorous.<\/p>\n

Immediately upon visiting Vila Aut\u00f3dromo on a weekday one senses a unique tranquility in the air. No loud music. No screaming children. \u201cThis is a dormitory community,\u201d the Neighorhood Association President, Altair Guimar\u00e3es, tells me. Everyone\u2019s at work or in school.<\/p>\n

Vila Aut\u00f3dromo is one of the 18% of Rio\u2019s communities that have remained peaceful (no drug or vigilante militias), through citizen action. As one resident explains, \u201cThis is a community where anyone can appear at all times of day and no one will question, \u2018who are you here to see.\u2019 This is a family community, everyone knows each other, everyone lives well, whether near or distant neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the community\u2019s history, residents worked together not only to build their homes, but all public spaces too: streets, sidewalks, simple sewerage and water distribution networks, the football (soccer) field, church, and Residents Association. See a slideshow of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo on Global Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As described on the official notification sent by Rio\u2019s public defenders to the IOC on May 18, 2010, \u201cOne observes in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo a gradual social evolution of the families which, over the years, encouraged their children to undertake study and professional development. In addition to being a space built through the constant effort of residents, Vila Aut\u00f3dromo also appears as a diversified network of the city\u2019s workers: electricians, plumbers, mechanics, doormen, construction workers, seamstresses, small business owners, (teachers, and police officers), among others\u2026offer fundamental services.\u201d Most residents pay property tax, as a way to defend their right to stay.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn eventual removal would cause grave problems with regard to adaptation, in addition to the disappearance of all the urban patrimony and with regard to the social relations developed among residents during this long period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Altair
Altair Guimar\u00e3es, one of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo’s community leaders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sharing his perspective, which echoed that of dozens of others interviewed independently by visitors to the community in official reports and the media, one resident told me: \u201cThere is nothing the city could offer me that would make it worth my while to leave. What I\u2019d really like is for them to leave us alone, that everyone stays where they are, and that they sought to legalize and improve our situation, so people could pay their taxes, and for something worthwhile. No politician has ever done anything for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

A technical team of engineers and architects assembled to study the situation ask: “Why are condominiums, shopping centers, and other commercial developments being approved for the edges of the Lagoon?\u201d In fact, just across the street from the community, 5 luxury condos are going up. The billboard outside the closest one encouraging passers-by to purchase, reads \u201cPlace your dreams at the top of the podium. Three rooms in the region that\u2019ll grow most by 2016. And you\u2019ll get to see it all from your very own box seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 2016 Olympics: A Win For Rio?\u201d<\/strong> is a five-part series by Theresa Williamson.
\nCheck out part 1<\/a>, part 2<\/a>, part 4<\/a> and part 5<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the threat of removal, community leaders were only invited to speak with the mayor after they led a demonstration with hundreds of protesters representing 20 communities outside City Hall in early March. Yet these […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1736,335,336],"tags":[9,11,5,1781,340,4,21],"writer":[51],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-1736","8":"category-policies","9":"category-violations","10":"tag-9","11":"tag-forced-evictions","12":"tag-olympics","13":"tag-opinion-2","14":"tag-property-tax","15":"tag-vila-autodromo","16":"tag-west-zone","17":"writer-theresa-williamson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=132"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}