{"id":27988,"date":"2016-04-09T10:11:10","date_gmt":"2016-04-09T13:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=27988"},"modified":"2016-04-10T14:43:18","modified_gmt":"2016-04-10T17:43:18","slug":"vila-autodromo-residents-reach-tentative-agreement-with-city-on-upgrades","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=27988","title":{"rendered":"Vila Aut\u00f3dromo Residents Reach Tentative Agreement with City on Upgrades"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

After going to City Hall on March 15 to formally request a meeting with the Mayor to discuss the City\u2019s upgrading\u00a0plan<\/a> for the community, residents of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a> have had several rounds of meetings with Mayor Eduardo Paes<\/a> on March 28\u00a0and Sub-Mayor of Barra de Tijuca Alex Costa<\/a> on March 29 and April 1 to discuss its future. The community initially rejected the city\u2019s plan because it had been developed without community input<\/a> and had been released to a select group of journalists at an event made deliberately difficult<\/a> for community members to attend.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The original City upgrading plan<\/a>\u00a0released on March 8 was not very detailed and left much to the imagination. Featuring 24 PowerPoint slides, most of the presentation focused on the decrease of families in the community from 824 to 25, without detailing the hard fought negotiations<\/a>,\u00a0routine intimidation<\/a> and psychological pressure<\/a> that went into that reduction. Most of the details were only made available to the journalists present during the March 8 meeting<\/a>. It is clear, however, that the original plan did not take into account Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u2019s own award-winning, updated People’s Plan.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"City's<\/a>
City’s original plan for Vila Aut\u00f3dromo presented on March 8. Image from Rio City Government.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, following the recent meetings with public officials, it seems the community has been able to secure some modifications to the City’s original plan. The original twin houses will be separated, with an increase in ten square meters from 46 to 56 meters squared. According to blueprints<\/a> shared on the Vila Aut\u00f3dromo Facebook page, each home will be one story with two bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and living room. The City also agreed to increase lot sizes from 125 to 180 meters squared with room for a small garden and driveway. Within the community, the City also agreed to include a new Neighborhood\u00a0Association building, commercial area, cultural center, and more public space. An additional road will connect Nelson Piquet Street to the already standing Catholic church. The community will also remain an Area of Special Interest for Housing<\/a>\u00a0under Municipal Law 74\/2005<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Community<\/a>
New Plan with Community Modifications. Photo courtesy of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite\u00a0how long and arduous<\/a> this fight for upgrades has been, residents seem optimistic following these rounds of negotiations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The City\u2019s updated plan, however, still requires that residents relocate to an as yet undisclosed location temporarily during the construction process. Residents have expressed skepticism of this proposal, arguing that they cannot trust that they will be allowed to move back to Vila Aut\u00f3dromo. Given a history of deceit<\/a> on the part of the City administration, including past use of a\u00a0‘Trojan Horse’ tactic<\/a>, their concern is well founded. As a result, community members tagged a building with the message \u201cwe will only leave once we are in our new homes.\u201d A<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Facebook post<\/span><\/a> accompanying a picture of the graffiti explained: “It is very difficult to trust the City management after all the awful things we have been subjected to.”<\/span><\/p>\n

\""We'll<\/a>
“We’ll only leave to enter\u00a0our new homes” graffiti in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a meeting with residents in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a> on April 1, Sub-Mayor of Barra de Tijuca Alex Costa<\/a> insisted on the importance of clearing the community for upgrades. \u201cWhat\u2019s preferable, that everyone leaves to do the work all in one go, or to do it with people living [here]?\u201d he asked<\/a>. \u201cI think without anyone living [here].\u201d <\/span>Costa cited the dust, noise and general inconvenience that the construction would cause residents, as <\/span>well as the delays caused by accommodating residents who refuse to leave. <\/span><\/p>\n

The City\u2019s plan lacks a clear timeline, though residents have been assured that the new homes will be completed before the Olympics<\/a> begin on August 5. However no one has clearly articulated when construction will begin. The two schools included in the plan will be built\u00a0using recycled material from an Olympic stadium<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that will be disassembled after the Games.<\/span><\/p>\n

Community members encourage supporters to continue their #UrbanizaJ\u00e1 <\/a>\u00a0(#UpgradesNow) campaign to ensure that upgrades happen as agreed upon and in a timely manner. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas After going to City Hall on March 15 to formally request a meeting with the Mayor to discuss the City\u2019s upgrading\u00a0plan for the community, residents of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo have had several […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":27992,"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":[1293,1854,1668,1736,1288,329,1329],"tags":[9,1787,272,1607,11,26,5,152,1866,1892,1890,206,4,21,365],"writer":[1304,1716],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27988","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-housingwatch","9":"category-participationwatch","10":"category-1736","11":"category-highlight","12":"category-solutions","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-9","15":"tag-aeis-zeis","16":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","17":"tag-eviction-tactics-trojan-horse","18":"tag-forced-evictions","19":"tag-housing-rights","20":"tag-olympics","21":"tag-participation","22":"tag-peoples-plan","23":"tag-sub-mayor","24":"tag-alex-costa","25":"tag-upgrading","26":"tag-vila-autodromo","27":"tag-west-zone","28":"tag-zero-participation","29":"writer-meg-healy","30":"writer-stephanie-reist"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27988","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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27988"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=27988"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=27988"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=27988"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=27988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}