{"id":21859,"date":"2015-05-13T08:54:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T11:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=21859"},"modified":"2015-08-15T15:34:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-15T18:34:06","slug":"community-leaders-in-cascadura-demand-attention-from-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=21859","title":{"rendered":"Community Leaders in Cascadura Demand Attention From the City"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

As Cascadura<\/a>, a neighborhood in Rio\u2019s North Zone<\/a>, faces mobility and economic challenges due to recent changes to transportation routes<\/a>, communities in the neighborhood are also confronting hardships in recreation, education, and health.<\/p>\n

Local leaders and residents are speaking\u00a0out against the\u00a0lack of investment by\u00a0the municipal government in Cascadura\u2019s community park, public school, and local clinic.<\/p>\n

Orlando Leite Public Park<\/h3>\n

Orlando Leite park is like most other parks in a big city. There is a large gated entrance, grass, trees, and two medium-sized soccer pitches. It is an average-sized space, community leader Jandira Mariana da Rocha said, that simply needs a bit more care and attention.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The City] undervalues the park, and I don\u2019t know why. It\u2019s a wonderful space. So many children and elderly visit it at the end of the day,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The park is used by residents of Cascadura communities and surrounding neighborhoods, de Rocha said. It is not only a place for exercise, but a community meeting point and a political space.<\/p>\n

De Rocha also disclosed that in August of last year, Mayor Eduardo Paes<\/a>\u00a0promised to begin park renovations in early September to add bathrooms and a playground, improve the soccer pitches, and make other additions to the space. However, the City\u00a0suspended the construction. Park renovations are now slated for this\u00a0month, about eight months after the original date.<\/p>\n

According to the leader of the\u00a06 de Maio<\/em>,<\/em>\u00a0Sonhar e Realizar\u00a0<\/i>youth sports organization, Jos\u00e9 Fernando\u00a0Silva, one of the main problems with the park\u00a0is its infrastructure. The park was built more than 30 years ago and hasn\u2019t undergone any renovations since then.<\/p>\n

Victor Bruno, a 25-year-old resident of Cascadura and member of the same\u00a0sports organization\u00a0since childhood, said one of the soccer pitches\u00a0is infested with weeds and always floods when it\u00a0rains. The other, a cement court, has several crevices that trip and injure its users. The lighting in the park has improved in the last year with the installation of new lights, he said, but the park remains dark and unsafe at night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were\u00a0a project placing municipal guards here, to make it a closed space, we could even have the infrastructure for a kiosk\u00a0on the weekends,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cInvestment. What\u2019s missing here is investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In the past, the park was a place associated with violence and drugs. Drug users would often congregate inside, and dead bodies would be dumped there by local gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny urban space that is abandoned by the State becomes a marginalized space,\u201d Silva said. \u201cIn any place where the government doesn\u2019t act, where it becomes neglectful, violence will take over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, the establishment of Silva’s\u00a0sports organization radically changed the area\u2019s image. The project continues to train youth in sports today.<\/p>\n

\u201cChildren and young people worked as peace mediators. The drug users would leave,\u201d Silva recalled. \u201cWe use sports as an instrument, a tool to get [the children] involved and free them of the surrounding violence, and to help them dream about better paths.\u201d<\/p>\n

De Rocha said residents remain skeptical as to if and when the promised renovations will happen.<\/p>\n

Mauricio Manuel Albuquerque CIEP\u00a0Public School<\/h3>\n

The M.M. Albuquerque public school is located next to Orlando Leite Park and the building’s infrastructure is good, Silva said. However, the same cannot be said of\u00a0the school’s playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of the rain, the playground and the court where students play both have flood problems,\u201d Silva said.<\/p>\n

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

Miguel Silva de Moura, president of the Luiz Carlos Prestes Neighborhood\u00a0Association, said the school serves children aged 4 – 11, but they have no areas in which to play now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoon the school will have to close, it’s being so poorly maintained,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Mayor\u00a0has not provided any books, shoes, or shirts. The children have no uniforms and we are nearing the end of the school year.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

An even more pressing issue is the recent change to the\u00a0school schedule. Silva said former school hours ran from 8am to 5pm, which meant students were provided breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which have now\u00a0been reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I believe the fact that children begin school at 7:20am and get out at 2:30pm is such a violent act against mothers,\u201d Silva said. \u201cWhat happens to the children who need those meals? So the biggest problem at the [school]\u00a0is that issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health Clinic<\/h3>\n

The local clinic was established about 20 years ago and very few improvements have been made to its infrastructure since then. According to Silva, the clinic lacks important equipment, doesn\u2019t have enough rooms and only has one bathroom for the 36,297 registered patients.<\/p>\n

There are also a limited number of physicians and the clinic does not have doctors available every day of the week. Specialists such as pediatricians and gynecologists have a strict schedule of only two days a week. In the past, Silva said, the team was more complete and there would be full medical care every day. Now, on the days when specialists are available patients line up at 5am to get an appointment with doctors who arrive around 9am.<\/p>\n

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

According to De Rocha, the quality of care is also questionable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen many bad and sad things there in terms of patient service. The government should clear out the current staff and replace them with better qualified people,\u201d she said. \u201cThey should be prepared to provide service to these\u00a0people… We have suffered enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Eduardo Paes visited the clinic last year and assured the community he would look into resolving some of its issues, but nothing has been done since then, Silva said.<\/p>\n

\u201c[He] told us he would pay special attention to the clinic, and we are still waiting on that attention now.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas As Cascadura, a neighborhood in Rio\u2019s North Zone, faces mobility and economic challenges due to recent changes to transportation routes, communities in the neighborhood are also confronting hardships in recreation, education, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":21867,"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":[335,336,1329],"tags":[1610,756,272,397,182,107,234,512,673,37,1525,171,207],"writer":[1453],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policies","8":"category-violations","9":"category-by-international-observers","10":"tag-cascadura","11":"tag-community-organizing","12":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","13":"tag-education","14":"tag-government-neglect","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-inadequate-maintenance","17":"tag-leisure","18":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","19":"tag-north-zone","20":"tag-playground","21":"tag-public-space","22":"tag-sports","23":"writer-elma-gonzalez"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21859","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\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=21859"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=21859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}