Cesar Maia: Difference between revisions
→Mayoral career: -various factoids |
→Mayoral career: -Rio Cidade |
||
| Line 9: | Line 9: | ||
==Mayoral career== |
==Mayoral career== |
||
Maia started his first term as mayor in the wake of an episiode that mirrored and epitomized the strained relationship between classes in Rio de Janeiro, the so-caled the ''arrastão'' (looting-rampage) on October the 18th. 1992, shortly before the run-off mayoral election, during which groups of lower class youths went into a looting-spree at [[Ipanema beach]] - an event hysterically echoed by the media<ref>George Yúdice, ''The expediency of culture: uses of culture in the global era''. Duke University Press, 2003, pages 118 and 131.</ref>. Maia took the mantle of a "law and order" candidate, and after his inauguration tried a "no-nonsense" attitude, focused on new directions on public administration and urban intervention, with great social impact - and also had his presence highlighted by constant using of what he called his [[factoids]], small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous and assured him the headlines - famous examples being his proposal of an special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only<ref>"A guinada de Cesar Maia para o social-liberalismo". ''Tribuna da Imprensa'', October the 3rd. 2004, available at [http://www.consciencia.net/2004/mes/11/cesarmaia.html]</ref>, as well as wearing a [[jacket]] in public during summer<ref>Ali Kamel, ''O Globo'', August the 29th. 1996, available at [http://www.observatoriodaimprensa.com.br/obs1set/index.htm]</ref> and asking for [[ice cream]] in a [[butcher shop]]<ref>Luiz Eduardo Soares, ''Meu casaco de general: 500 dias no front da segurança pública do Rio de Janeiro''. São Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 2001, ISBN 85-359-0079-9, page 201.</ref> . |
Maia started his first term as mayor in the wake of an episiode that mirrored and epitomized the strained relationship between classes in Rio de Janeiro, the so-caled the ''arrastão'' (looting-rampage) on October the 18th. 1992, shortly before the run-off mayoral election, during which groups of lower class youths went into a looting-spree at [[Ipanema beach]] - an event hysterically echoed by the media<ref>George Yúdice, ''The expediency of culture: uses of culture in the global era''. Duke University Press, 2003, pages 118 and 131.</ref>. Maia took the mantle of a "law and order" candidate, and after his inauguration tried a "no-nonsense" attitude, focused on new directions on public administration and urban intervention, with great social impact - and also had his presence highlighted by constant using of what he called his [[factoids]], small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous and assured him the headlines - famous examples being his proposal of an special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only<ref>"A guinada de Cesar Maia para o social-liberalismo". ''Tribuna da Imprensa'', October the 3rd. 2004, available at [http://www.consciencia.net/2004/mes/11/cesarmaia.html]</ref>, as well as wearing a [[jacket]] in public during summer<ref>Ali Kamel, ''O Globo'', August the 29th. 1996, available at [http://www.observatoriodaimprensa.com.br/obs1set/index.htm]</ref> and asking for [[ice cream]] in a [[butcher shop]]<ref>Luiz Eduardo Soares, ''Meu casaco de general: 500 dias no front da segurança pública do Rio de Janeiro''. São Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 2001, ISBN 85-359-0079-9, page 201.</ref> . |
||
During his first term, Maia concentrated his activities in projects like ''Rio Cidade'' a programme for beautification of the city's commercial districts, by means of repair and change of sidewalks, urban furnishings, street lights, landscaping and aesthetic redisigning of each neighbourhood in order to give it an specific visual identity<ref>Nezar AlSayyad, ed., ''Consuming tradition, manufacturing heritage: global norms and urban forms in the age of tourism''. London: Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0-415-23941-9 , pages 278/279</ref>. Other programs included the construction a mayor urban highway called Linha Amarela, as well as the most important project of urbanization to the [[favela]]s, Favela-Bairro, as recognized by [[UNESCO]]. Favela-Bairro was a programme concerned mostly with providing basic utilities and public services (sewage, sidewalks) to a number of already existing shanty towns, at the same time attempting at beautification of such dwellings, while shunning the housing and regularization of property issues, as a way of supposedly dispelling the "stigma" associated to ''favelas''; as such, it was considered as an attempt at [[gentrification]], that created advertising opportunities and estimulated speculation with real state assets without addressing the issue of [[organized crime]] - mostly [[drug dealing]] and [[racketeering]] - in shanty towns<ref>Rafael Soares Gonçalves, ''O Debate Jurídico em Torno da Urbanização de Favelas no Rio de Janeiro'', available at [http://www.buscalegis.ccj.ufsc.br/revistas/index.php/buscalegis/article/viewFile/33324/32482]</ref>. Similar criticism met most of Maia's schemes, as in the case of Linha Amarela, an express highway that caused the dislocation of some 10,000 people who had to make way for a project that intended to foster private automobile traffic between the upstart [[Barra da Tijuca]] district and downtown Rio<ref>Rosemere Santos Maia, '"A Produção do Espaço em Áreas de Auto-Segregação: O Caso da Barra daTijuca". ''Anuário do Instituto de Geociências - UFRJ'', Volume 21 / 1998. Available at [http://www.anuario.igeo.ufrj.br/anuario_1998/vol21_39_75.pdf]</ref>. |
|||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
Revision as of 10:59, 14 September 2010
César Epitácio Maia (born July 18, 1945) is a Brazilian politician, notable for having been elected three times for mayor of Rio de Janeiro.
A native of Rio, born in 1945, like many other politically active members of his generation Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his membership of the Brazilian Communist Party. Exiled in Chile, he obtained a degree in economics, but the 1973 coup in that country saw him return to his native land. After becoming Professor of Macroeconomics at the Fluminense Federal University in the neighbouring city of Niterói, Maia became active in the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), founded by deceased left populist Leonel Brizola. Maia supported Brizola’s campaign to become Governor of Rio de Janeiro state in 1983, as Brazil was emerging from the military-led regime towards full democracy, and was rewarded with the position of Treasury Secretary for the state. In 1986, he was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies and re-elected in 1990. Having achieved political proeminence in the late 1980s, Maia affiliated with the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement (PMDB) in 1991, and was elected mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 1992, defeating the Workers' Party candidate, Afro-Brazilian Benedita da Silva in a run-off election, in a campaign that was regarded as slanderous and with racist overtones - Maia having alleged that Rio had an "image" that could not be associated with government by a black woman openly awowing sympathies with the destitute[1] . Then he switched to the Liberal Front Party (PFL).
Mayoral career
Maia started his first term as mayor in the wake of an episiode that mirrored and epitomized the strained relationship between classes in Rio de Janeiro, the so-caled the arrastão (looting-rampage) on October the 18th. 1992, shortly before the run-off mayoral election, during which groups of lower class youths went into a looting-spree at Ipanema beach - an event hysterically echoed by the media[2]. Maia took the mantle of a "law and order" candidate, and after his inauguration tried a "no-nonsense" attitude, focused on new directions on public administration and urban intervention, with great social impact - and also had his presence highlighted by constant using of what he called his factoids, small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous and assured him the headlines - famous examples being his proposal of an special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only[3], as well as wearing a jacket in public during summer[4] and asking for ice cream in a butcher shop[5] .
During his first term, Maia concentrated his activities in projects like Rio Cidade a programme for beautification of the city's commercial districts, by means of repair and change of sidewalks, urban furnishings, street lights, landscaping and aesthetic redisigning of each neighbourhood in order to give it an specific visual identity[6]. Other programs included the construction a mayor urban highway called Linha Amarela, as well as the most important project of urbanization to the favelas, Favela-Bairro, as recognized by UNESCO. Favela-Bairro was a programme concerned mostly with providing basic utilities and public services (sewage, sidewalks) to a number of already existing shanty towns, at the same time attempting at beautification of such dwellings, while shunning the housing and regularization of property issues, as a way of supposedly dispelling the "stigma" associated to favelas; as such, it was considered as an attempt at gentrification, that created advertising opportunities and estimulated speculation with real state assets without addressing the issue of organized crime - mostly drug dealing and racketeering - in shanty towns[7]. Similar criticism met most of Maia's schemes, as in the case of Linha Amarela, an express highway that caused the dislocation of some 10,000 people who had to make way for a project that intended to foster private automobile traffic between the upstart Barra da Tijuca district and downtown Rio[8].
See also
List of Mayors of Rio de Janeiro
References
- ^ Michael Mitchell, "Racial Conciousness, Afro-Brazilian Electoral Strategies, and Regime Change in Brazil", IN Georgia Anne Persons, ed. Race and ethnicity in comparative perspective. The National Political Science Review, Volume 7, 199, ISBN 0-7658-0435-2 , pages 75/76
- ^ George Yúdice, The expediency of culture: uses of culture in the global era. Duke University Press, 2003, pages 118 and 131.
- ^ "A guinada de Cesar Maia para o social-liberalismo". Tribuna da Imprensa, October the 3rd. 2004, available at [1]
- ^ Ali Kamel, O Globo, August the 29th. 1996, available at [2]
- ^ Luiz Eduardo Soares, Meu casaco de general: 500 dias no front da segurança pública do Rio de Janeiro. São Paulo: Cia. das Letras, 2001, ISBN 85-359-0079-9, page 201.
- ^ Nezar AlSayyad, ed., Consuming tradition, manufacturing heritage: global norms and urban forms in the age of tourism. London: Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0-415-23941-9 , pages 278/279
- ^ Rafael Soares Gonçalves, O Debate Jurídico em Torno da Urbanização de Favelas no Rio de Janeiro, available at [3]
- ^ Rosemere Santos Maia, '"A Produção do Espaço em Áreas de Auto-Segregação: O Caso da Barra daTijuca". Anuário do Instituto de Geociências - UFRJ, Volume 21 / 1998. Available at [4]
External links
| Federal District (1889–1960) |
| ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State of Guanabara (1960–1975) |
| ||||||||
| Municipality of Rio de Janeiro (1975–present) |
| ||||||||
.svg){kind=small}