{"id":20983,"date":"2015-03-25T16:16:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T19:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=20983"},"modified":"2016-04-05T10:36:25","modified_gmt":"2016-04-05T13:36:25","slug":"mayor-announces-vila-autodromo-evictions-as-mit-report-criticizes-city-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=20983","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Announces Eminent Domain in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo as MIT Report Criticizes City Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On Friday March 20 the city of Rio de Janeiro marked\u00a058 families<\/a>\u00a0for eviction from their homes\u00a0in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a>, a community that has been torn apart<\/a>\u00a0due to\u00a0its location adjacent to<\/a>\u00a0the 2016 Olympic Park. The city government’s use of eminent domain is a departure from\u00a0the previous policy of promising to relocate only those who agreed and upgrading the community for those who remained<\/a>, and offering market rate compensation<\/a>\u00a0or alternative housing in Parque Carioca<\/a>\u00a0(less than a mile away) to those who decided to leave willingly. There are\u00a0growing fears among the remaining 150 families that they will now\u00a0be forced to leave with inadequate compensation.<\/p>\n

The apparent change of policy, in what was reported to be an \u201cexpropriation via decree<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0comes in the wake of an\u00a0MIT report<\/a> questioning the city\u2019s internationally lauded<\/a>\u00a0program offering residents market rate compensation. The report highlights that 12,275 people across 24 communities in Rio de Janeiro who have been directly displaced because of the World Cup and the Olympic Games and who did not receive market rate compensation.<\/p>\n

For 20 years Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u2019s population of 3,000 has resisted evictions. In 1994 Vila Aut\u00f3dromo residents were granted 99-year land titles<\/a>, in 2005 the community was declared a special zone of social interest, and in 2013 Mayor Eduardo Paes publicly declared that no residents would be forced to leave<\/a>. Despite all this, the population of the small community in Rio\u2019s West Zone<\/a>\u00a0currently stands at a mere 150 families, a number which is rapidly declining<\/a> as the situation becomes unbearable and settlement offers are taken up.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday March 11, Jane Nascimento, a long-term community activist resisting eviction, watched as the city demolished the surrounding houses. Her neighbors settled for the compensation offered by the city, reported to be over\u00a0US$321,419 (R$1 million), leaving her house next in line. Barely audible above the roaring machinery destroying the houses, Jane explained that this is \u201canother species of violence. I can, I can, I can, I can. I am the economic power. I can do this and I will buy since you [residents] do not want to leave. I will buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jane<\/a><\/p>\n

While some have applauded the city\u2019s new strategy of offering market rate compensation, there are some, like Altair Guimar\u00e3es, president of the residents’ association, who remain critical. He said: \u201cWhen they started to offer money and the people began to accept, then the fight ended. Am I going to ask these guys to fight with me if the offer they are receiving is to become a millionaire?\u201d Altair\u2019s sense of hopelessness grew\u00a0when 43 families still residing in the community declared their commitment to stay\u00a0to the state’s Public Defenders, but then within a week some had already begun to negotiate.<\/p>\n

Some residents allege that the city only negotiates with them individually<\/a> so as to create confusion and speculation over the offers, resulting in tensions and fears within the community.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0earlier report in 2013<\/a>, MIT academics Lawrence Vale and AnneMarie Gray argued that the displacement and destruction of an entire community, with its history and stories, is a non-monetary loss that cannot be replaced. Maria da Penha, a resident of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, expressed this feeling in\u00a0her refusal to\u00a0\u201cgive up her 22 year history for 15 days of Olympic Games<\/a>” on Swedish national\u00a0television last week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Graffiti<\/a><\/p>\n

In numerous cases, hosting the Olympic Games has pushed up property prices in the host city. In Barcelona, housing prices rose by 250%<\/a> from the announcement of the Games in 1986 to the actual event in 1992. This trend has\u00a0continued in Rio<\/a>, with rents\u00a0increasing\u00a0citywide, averaging 6.8% in\u00a0favelas over the past two years. Vale and Gray\u2019s new report argues that given this track-record of inflated property prices in Olympic host cities, the current offered rate may prove to fall short of market value. Vila Aut\u00f3dromo is located in Barra da Tijuca<\/a>, one of Rio\u2019s most expensive neighborhoods. The report argues that the city \u201cappears to be [offering] reasonable compensation. However, considering that the land is slated to be converted into a luxury condominium development near a brand-new transportation hub after the Olympic Games, this still may be well below what could be considered market rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MIT report states that the government\u2019s market rate compensation stands at US$88,400 (R$275,000) for a 40-square-meter two-bedroom apartment. However, O Globo<\/a><\/em> reported in August 2014 that the market rate per square meter in Barra da Tijuca was valued at US$3,226 (R$10,037). This suggests that a 40-square-meter apartment should be valued as high as US$128,567 (R$400,000), almost 150% of\u00a0the compensation being offered to Vila Aut\u00f3dromo residents.<\/p>\n

Altair points out that the city\u2019s policy of buying the residents’ houses to then destroy them is an extremely expensive tactic that is paid for by \u201cmoney from public coffers.\u201d He argues\u00a0that it would be cheaper for the city to keep and upgrade the community, as the original Olympic plans<\/a> proposed to do and as Bill Hanway of AECOM, the designers of the\u00a0Olympic Park site, said was \u201cthe right thing to do<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

So why is this not the city\u2019s policy? Vale and Gray argue: \u201cAlmost always such aggressive displacement reveals the powerful undercurrents that have been influencing the growth politics of the host city for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s subsequent policies and latest actions will only add to the list of more than two million people<\/a>\u00a0already displaced by the Olympic Games between 1998 and 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Friday March 20 the city of Rio de Janeiro marked\u00a058 families\u00a0for eviction from their homes\u00a0in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, a community that has been torn apart\u00a0due to\u00a0its location adjacent to\u00a0the 2016 Olympic […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":21012,"comment_status":"closed","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":[1293,1736,1288,335,336,1329],"tags":[9,272,761,1496,11,282,26,25,1513,1259,5,10,270,4,21],"writer":[1564],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-1736","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-policies","11":"category-violations","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-9","14":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","15":"tag-eminent-domain","16":"tag-eviction-tactics-divide-and-conquer","17":"tag-forced-evictions","18":"tag-housing","19":"tag-housing-rights","20":"tag-human-rights","21":"tag-market-rate-compensation","22":"tag-mega-events","23":"tag-olympics","24":"tag-real-estate-speculation","25":"tag-resistance","26":"tag-vila-autodromo","27":"tag-west-zone","28":"writer-brooke-parkin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983","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\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=20983"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=20983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}