Economist.com Cities Guide: Sao Paulo Briefing - June 2005

News this month

Another Atlantis

The timing was unfortunate. A day after Geraldo Alckmin, São Paulo's governor, lauded his pet public-works project, the deepening of the River Tietê to avoid recurring floods, the heavens opened and drowned the city in late May. Fourteen centimetres of rain, twice the usual amount for the month, fell in just two days. The swollen river submerged the inner ring-road, one of São Paulo's busiest highways, forcing drivers to abandon their vehicles and blocking traffic for over seven hours. Signs spanning the river touting three years without floods were hastily edited. Torrential rains and tornadoes accounted for six deaths throughout the state; damages in one city totalled 100m reais ($40m).

As the clean-up got underway, Mr Alckmin, who is a likely presidential candidate in 2006, had more than mud to contend with. Not only did his flood-prevention project fail, but also the state accounting office announced it was more than 300m reais over budget, apparently due to price-gouging by contractors. In one case, the bill was three times the original estimate, despite a state law that contractors cannot exceed initial estimates by more than 25%. Five other contracts were deemed “irregular”. The project's cost to Mr Alckmin's career is not yet clear.

Skin deep

With São Paulo’s finances in the red, the new mayor, José Serra, cannot make big public-works promises. However, a few cosmetic initiatives are underway. He launched Operation Clean-up in a downtown area known as Cracolândia earlier this year. Now there are plans for a city-wide anti-graffiti project, and a facelift for Praça da Sé, an area in the city centre that has long been a symbol of urban decay. The Praça, which dates from 1912, was last renovated in 1973. Since then it has become a hang-out for petty criminals and the homeless, who camp beneath its concrete plant containers. The city plans to improve the lighting and remove the containers, which also dangerously block sightlines.

But not everyone is pleased. Residents and shopkeepers are less than thrilled with the city-employed painters, who are replacing graffiti with grey splotches. And advocates for the homeless say the sweep through Cracolândia has simply displaced the problem instead of solving it.

Knock on wood

On June 5th, World Environment Day, Governor Geraldo Alckmin and the mayor, José Serra, announced that both the state and the city would try to buy wood only from accredited sources. This came in response to a recent report that deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest had increased by 6% from 2003 to 2004—the second-biggest rise in history. In the year to August 2004, an area larger than the American state of New Jersey was destroyed.

It is a noble goal, but the problem is not a lack of laws. Brazil already has impressively tough restrictions on paper, which impose stiff penalties for illegal logging. But the destruction continues to accelerate. Last month, several government-agency officials were accused of involvement in a huge illegal-logging operation in Mato Grosso, the state with the biggest deforestation problem. Most of the timber from the Amazon forests is sold to domestic buyers, with São Paulo state consuming about 15% of the total. To Folha de São Paulo, a local newspaper, the announcement from the governor and mayor smacks of political opportunism: Mr Alckmin is jockeying for position to become president in 2006, and Mr Serra comes from the same opposition party.

Famous father, infamous son

On June 7th, police in Santos, the port city of São Paulo, rounded up 52 people suspected of drug trafficking. Such arrests are common, but among them was Edson Cholbi Nascimento, or “O Edinho”, better-known as the son of Pelé, a Brazilian football star. Police claim Edinho, a 34-year-old former goalkeeper, was recorded talking to another ex-footballer who is allegedly head of a Santos-based drug ring. Edinho’s lawyer, hired by Pelé, admitted his client has a drug problem, but said he is not connected with trafficking.

Edinho, who quit football in 1999, seems bent on undermining his defence. In tapes of interviews with the police, aired on national television, he admitted his guilt and his connection to the drug dealers, and said he was prepared to face two-to-three years in prison for using drugs. His lawyers moved swiftly to mitigate the damage of the tapes, arguing that knowing dealers is not the same as belonging to a drug gang, a crime that could earn more than ten years in prison. Edinho is being held at a São Paulo police station pending a bail decision; the other suspects were put in prison without bail.

Nowhere to ride

There are few spots for serious cyclists to train in congested São Paulo, so the sprawling, flat campus of the University of São Paulo (USP) is popular with the fast-peddling crowd. But in late April, following complaints from students and staff about the number of bike-related accidents, USP banned cyclists unaffiliated with the university. After the deaths in May of two cyclists on the state’s motorways, the Paulista Cycling and Triathlon Federation (FPC) filed a lawsuit against the USP, alleging the deaths would have been avoided had training been allowed at USP. The State Secretary for Youth, Sport and Leisure intervened, pushing the USP to reopen the campus to cyclists at specific times if the FPC drops its lawsuit.

A temple of chic

Across town and a galaxy away from the city's favelas, Daslu, an up-market boutique, opened its new emporium in early June. Once occupying several interconnected houses in a posh residential area, Daslu has been reincarnated as a 20,000-square-metre mega-department store with Doric columns. Unlike the city’s ubiquitous shopping malls, Daslu attempts to recreate the feel of a plush country home for its high-end labels, such as Chanel and Valentino, and its women-only areas allow shoppers to undress in the aisles.

At the store's inauguration on June 4th and 5th, 6,000 social high-fliers negotiated the maze. Mr Alckmin, whose daughter Sophia is one of the store's celebrity employees (known as “Dasluzetes”), cut the ribbon. Press reports dwelled on the sticker shock most Paulistanos, who earn about 900 reais ($280) a month, might experience when faced with Chanel bags for 14,000 reais and a 30,000 reais Armani blazer.

Catch if you can

June 2005

Dança em Pauta 2005

Until June 26th 2005

After an absence of 12 years, Marilena Ansaldi, one of Brazil’s best-known and most-innovative ballerinas, is returning to the stage to launch a month-long dance programme. Ms Ansaldi, 70, has choreographed a solo work, “Desassossego” (Restless), a reflection on her years fighting depression, which she says is more theatre than dance. A former prima ballerina for the Bolshoi Ballet and the Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, she turned to modern dance at 36. Five dance companies taking part are from Brazil; others are from Costa Rica and Germany.

Cultural Centre of the Bank of Brazil, rua Álvares Penteado, 112. Tel: +55 (11) 3113-3651. Performances: Wed-Sat 8pm; Sun 9pm. Tickets: ten reais.

More from the Sao Paulo cultural calendar