Rio scrambles to prepare for impending mega-events
鈥⑻�A version of this post ran on the author's blog,听riorealblog.com.听The views expressed are the author's own.
Less than a month from the start date for the , government officials . The problem听wasn鈥檛 just a shortage of hotel rooms or outrageously expensive rates, but听a travel agency that had blocked out most of them for a mere 25 percent service charge, on top of the hotel price.
And only two years away from the World Cup, which will take place in twelve Brazilian cities including Rio de Janeiro, 听a new government report shows that , with 44 of 101 projects still in the blueprint stage.
Fruit just dangles off the trees here 鈥� and there are always so many imprevistos (unexpected difficulties, such as, ,). Why bother to plan?
Dare we hope for mega-event readiness? It鈥檚 a question being asked by a growing number of observers.
One foreign blog friend with long experience in the arts explains the penchant for procrastination with the observation that Brazilians like to wait until the last minute and then, by way of a heroic effort, produce a stunning result 鈥� and look heroic.
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Often, waiting until the last minute allows for waiving the required bidding process, which in turn allows for padding contracts.
So you might say that procrastination walks hand in hand with making an opportunity into one鈥檚 personal best.
And yet
A presentation of Rio鈥檚 new Strategic Plan at the venue last May 14 indicated that planning has become central to urban life and politics. On taking office,听Mayor Eduardo Paes made a plan and stuck to it, with meetings, followup, and implementation that included performance bonuses for effective city servants. The new one is meant to be part of the electoral debate for the October municipal elections.
Those who commented on the听new听US$ 15 billion equivalent plan 鈥� which was drawn up with the help of McKinsey & Company consulting plus 200 carioca notables and a public opinion survey 鈥� said its very existence was reason for celebration. 鈥淚t means that city hall has recouped its ability to act,鈥� said researcher Jos茅 Marcelo Zacchi, adding that the challenges facing the city at the start of Paes鈥� term demanded a great deal of thought and planning.
One should not forget, after all, that until 15 months ago all you had to do to get on a bus was raise your hand, as long as you were outdoors and somewhat close to a curb (surviving the ride without needing physical therapy was, and still is, another matter). And that until about eight months ago, electric, cable, gas, and water utilities dug holes and laid networks with zero supervision and zero coordination amongst them. Thus the exploding manhole covers.
Jos茅 Marcelo听Zacchi recently left the city鈥檚 Social UPP program鈥檚 top post to join the urban issues thinktank, . Like everyone who鈥檚 involved with the transformation of Rio, he鈥檚 constantly demanding more. 鈥淲e have a well-prepared core, but we don鈥檛 have metropolitan management, and we don鈥檛 have any connection with that core at the level of local management, decentralized, in neighborhoods,鈥� he said about the Strategic Plan. 鈥淲e 听have mechanisms for听planning, transparency, followup, accountability, but we have a long way to go when it comes to participation and decentralized participation at the local level.鈥�
Pedro Paulo Teixeira, the mayor鈥檚 chief of staff who presented the plan at OsteRio, acknowledged the need for more bottom-up planning.
The Rio police are also investing heavily in planning 鈥� and personnel, and and conditions. They also have a long way to go. A shocking fact emerged at a May 17 presentation of the Public Safety Secretariat鈥檚 plan for the Rio + 20 Conference to foreign journalists: police called upon to work overtime at special events were paid nothing.
鈥淭here鈥檒l be greater willingness to work,鈥� said Roberto Alzir, Special Undersecretary for Mega-Events. Police academy instructors also weren鈥檛 paid; the whole system is being reformulated, in large measure to produce more pacification officers. Today, 5,000 officers work in the current 22 police pacification units. The planned number for 2014 is 12,500.
It helps if they鈥檙e moving upwards
Clearly regard for those at the bottom of the pyramid is growing. It鈥檚 not for nothing that TV Globo鈥檚 new novela das oito, Avenida Brasil, and has reached the best kickoff audience statistics over any other prime-time soap in the last five years. Parenthetically, TV Globo recently started calling the eight o鈥檆lock novela a nine o鈥檆lock novela, which has always been the time the program airs鈥� definitely a good sign.
Ricardo Henriques, who in August leaves his post as president of 听Rio鈥檚 strategic planning and data agency, Instituto Pereira Passos (IPP), speaks of a 鈥渞econfiguration of the social fabric,鈥� and says that cariocas are learning how to engage in dialogue. Mr. Henriques, who听passes on his responsibilities, including the Social UPP program, to Eduarda de la Rocque, currently municipal Finance Secretary, built the program around the concept of 鈥渟trong listening.鈥� The results have greatly expanded urban services and also听, part of the vibrant give-and-take currently going on here.
Clientelist and patrimonial behavior can be seen not only among elites, but the poor too, observes Henriques. 鈥淭hey often come with a list of demands, instead of a readiness to dialogue,鈥� he noted during a debate last week on entrepreneurship and sustainability. 鈥淲e have to break the armor on both sides, to build trust.鈥�
During a partly sponsored by energy and mining magnate Eike Batista鈥檚听 with director 听at Columbia University鈥檚 Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation鈥檚 local Studio X, echoed that thought. He suggested the creation of 鈥淭erritorial Funds,鈥� to be managed by community members. 鈥淵ou have to empower people to decide where they want to go,鈥� he added. 鈥淭hey aren鈥檛 prepared. It would even be a teaching tool. They have to plan, not ask for things. Everyone has to change.鈥�
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Mayor Paes and incoming IPP chief de la Rocque have proposed a听. Income inequality is at the heart of so much left to do.
The challenges and mindtraps lie in unlikely places.听Jailson da Silva,听Coordinator of the favela research and advocacy group, criticized the title of another gathering held last week, the . 鈥淔avelas are already part of the city,鈥� he pointed out. 鈥淭hey are integrated鈥� and unequal.鈥� When there used to be shooting in the favela of Cantagalo, invariably the newspapers would headline Ipanema residents鈥� loss of sleep, he added.
Dangling fruit, for a select few?
It could be that the reason for Brazilian dillydallying isn鈥檛 that pickings are easy, but the fact that for a minority, the pickings are near at hand; while for many people, they鈥檙e are out of reach.
How to get near the mango tree, when a small group has better muscles and longer arms? And why, if you were in the small group and close to the听mangueira, would you bother to plan much? If an imprevisto appears, all you have to do is throw money at a bunch of relatively unskilled workers and they鈥檒l shake the tree (praying no mangoes fall on听their听heads), bag the fruit, and hand it over. The solution leaves a few unhappy听toucans, but those ungainly avians prey on other birds鈥� eggs, so they have it coming.
Except that unskilled workers are getting expensive and听听(and relatively less unskilled); a growing number of people are coming to realize that the mangoes are taxpayer-financed and we all pay taxes; inequality is an ever-more key issue; and the exchanges that globalization brings are challenging long-held traditions, behaviors and values.
In other words, Brazil may actually not be fully ready for its mega-events, but by the time the last one is over, not only will Rio have changed dramatically, but this will be a very different country.
