Cesar Maia
Encyclopedia
César Epitácio Maia is a Brazil
ian politician, notable for having been elected three times for mayor of Rio de Janeiro
.
A native of Rio, born in 1945, Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his affiliation with the Brazilian Communist Party
. Exiled in Chile
, he obtained a degree in economics
, but the 1973 coup in the 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 subsequently appointed Treasury Secretary for the state.
A trusted personal adviser to Brizola, who was instrumental in uncovering and denouncing the allegedly electoral fraud that threatened Brizola's gubernatorial election in 1982, the so-called Proconsult scheme, Maia was to be elected to the national Chamber of Deputies in 1986, and saw re-election in 1990. Meanwhile having achieved personal political proeminence in the late 1980s, Maia broke with Brizola and the PDT, affiliating with the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement
(PMDB) in 1991, being 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 by some as being driven by racist ideology. Maia subsequently left the PMDB and joined the Liberal Front Party (PFL).
bands (funkeiros) sorting out their differences and going on to a looting-spree at Ipanema beach. 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. He frequently courted media attention through the use of so-called factoids; small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous, an example being his proposal of a special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only. Given the bizarre character of some of these antics, some say that Maia from the start "wanted to build an image purposedly intended to appear as surprisingly as well as strange".
During his first term, Maia focussed his attention on projects such as "Rio Cidade", an urban renewal initiative targeted toward the city's commercial districts. The renewal would involve the repair and changing of sidewalks, urban furnishings, street lights, landscaping, as well as aesthetic redesigning of each neighbourhood in order to give it a specific visual identity. Rio-Cidade, however, was subjected from the outset to criticism regarding what was seen to be poor architectural choices, as in the case of a giant cast iron obelisk
built in Ipanema
, together with an elevated causeway that crossed a street, which was never opened to the public and was eventually razed in 2009 at the locals' behest. Rio-Cidade was also seem as a scheme for providing infrastructure for expansion of cable TV networks in wealthy districts 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 as recognized by UNESCO
, Favela-Bairro, a project which received a starting credit of 180 million US$ from Inter-American Development Bank
. Favela-Bairro was a programme concerned mostly with providing basic utilities and public services (sewage systems, sidewalks, etc.) to a number of already existing shanty towns, while at the same time attempting to renovate the dwellings and their surroundings in aesthetical terms, a concern already expressed by Rio-Cidade. Favela-Bairro, however, as much as it was presented as a plan for drastic improvement of actual living conditions, was regarded as having failed in one of its chief concerns, that of blurring the boundaries between the "formal" city and the shantytown: in the words of scholar Janice Perlman, "there's still no doubt about where the asfalto ends and the morro begins". At the same time, by stating that favela residents could have access to proper urbanism if they behaved in an "ordely" fashion, Favela-Bairro perpetiated the stigma long associated to shantytown dwellers. Finally, Favela-Bairro was also seem as very limited in scope, as it concerned itself with only 27% of all Rio shanty-towns. After the ending of his first mayoral term, in which he was succeeded by one of his associates, the architect Luiz Paulo Conde, Maia chose to distance himself from the legacy of Favela Bairro, as the programme came to be fostered by Conde, who had meanwhile distanced himself from Maia. In the end, Favela Bairro achieved what was called by some as "anecdotal success at best".
Similar criticism met many of Maia's other projects, as in the case of Linha Amarela, an express highway that caused the relocation of some 10,000 people in order to make way for a project that intended to foster private automobile traffic between the Barra da Tijuca
district and downtown Rio.
Reelected in 2000 in a runoff election against his former protégé Conde - for which he had meanwhile joined the Brazilian Labour Party
- Maia embarked on a controversial scheme, that of setting a branch of the Guggenheim Museum
on the Rio waterfront, a US$ 200 million project - in partnership with controversial Guggenheim director Thomas Krens
- which included a building desigened by French architect Jean Nouvel
and whose cost would be borne entirely by the city in return for the prestige associated with the Guggenheim brand. The scheme was eventually shelved as a court decision declared the contract between the Rio City Hall and the Guggenheim Foundation to be against Brazilian law, the project being described as "as a piece of hubris and folly worthy of Maia's Roman namesake". In his second term, however, Maia embarked in various building schemes, such as: Cidade do Samba (Samba City) a complex of workshops in Rio's docking district that was to be used by samba schools as a basis for preparation of yearly Carnival parades that was inaugurated in 2005 - and was partially destroyed by a fire on 7th. February 2011; the Luiz Gonzaga
Center for Northeastern Traditions, an old pavilion in downtown Rio long used for selling Northeastern traditional foods and wares that was refurbished for functioning both as a market and a showhouse - in what was seem as a "commodification" of traditional culture.
Easily reelected in 2004,this time again on the Democratas
party ticket, Maia embarked in a whole gamut of public works linked to the successful Rio candidature for hosting the 2007 Pan American Games
, including many works that were hotly contested as authoritarian, environmentally unfriendly, and in colusion with private building interests, such as the proposed works for the Gloria Marina
, which included the construction of a huge garage for yachts - as well as a shopping mall - in the ladmark protected Aterro do Flamengo area, works which were shelved after being questioned by a public attorney. Works actually concluded, such as the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange
and others, were regarded by many as simply an embarrassing legacy of "white elephants" - a Brazilian idiom for costly, only-for-show works and without any actual counterpart in urban infrastructure - a result reached after cost overruns that were actually six to ten times the original US$ 177 million budget. As he finished his term of office in early 2009, Maia also left a legacy of an unfinished and huge (1 million square feet) concert hall in Barra da Tijuca, the Cidade da Música
(City of Music), designed by French architect
Christian de Portzamparc
, that had cost some US$ 220 million and was left unused after it was declared as unsafe by the State's Fire Brigade. Finishing work on the City of Music premises continues, with actual innauguration lastly being set tentatively on July 2010, at a grand total cost of R$ 481.3 million (US$ 818.2 million); although most of the future activities are to be conceded to private contractors, it's forecast that the complex's operations will generate public spending in the order of R$ 247 million (US$ 420 million) for the next twenty-five years.
At the same time, during Maia's third term, the management of the city's public hospitals was deemed as so poor that in March 2005 the federal Ministry of Health decreed an intervention in health facilities jointly administered by the federal government and the city, two military field hospital
s being set in order to deal with the ongoing jam. In early 2008, a dengue fever
epidemic hit Rio, taking 54 lives at the three first months of the year, despite of Maia's declaring it to be a purely local occurrence at the same time charging the Minister of Health of "criminal neglect" for supposedly having failed to forewarn Rio of the oncoming disease surge. In late March 2008, Maia traveled to Salvador
for attending a party event and declared that he had "prayed to the Senhor do Bonfim
to blow away the Rio mosquitos to the sea" and that he had travelled to Bahia "in order to bring Rio the strong spiritual vibes we have here". Also in early 2008, Maia had to face a citizens' boycott
on the property tax
on real state assets (IPTU).
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian politician, notable for having been elected three times for mayor of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
.
A native of Rio, born in 1945, Maia was forced to leave Brazil in exile during the 1960s on account of his affiliation with the Brazilian Communist Party
Brazilian Communist Party
Brazilian Communist Party is the oldest political party still active in Brazil, founded in 1922, and one of the only Brazilian parties with a Stalinist orientation...
. Exiled in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, he obtained a degree in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, but the 1973 coup in the country saw him return to his native land. After becoming Professor of Macroeconomics at the Fluminense Federal University
Fluminense Federal University
- Introduction :The Fluminense Federal University is one of the four federally funded public universities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil....
in the neighbouring city of Niterói
Niterói
Niterói is a municipality in the state of Rio de Janeiro, southeast region of Brazil. It has an estimated population of 487,327 inhabitants and an area of ², being the sixth most populous city in the state and the highest Human Development Index. Integrates the Metropolitan Region of Rio de...
, Maia became active in the Democratic Labour Party
Democratic Labour Party (Brazil)
The Democratic Labour Party is a populist, democratic socialist political party of Brazil. It was founded in 1979 by left-wing leader Leonel Brizola as an attempt to reorganize the Brazilian leftist forces during the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship...
(PDT), founded by deceased left populist Leonel Brizola
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola was a Brazilian politician. Launched in politics by Getúlio Vargas, Brizola was the only politician to serve as governor of two different states in the whole history of Brazil. In 1959 he was elected governor of Rio Grande do Sul, and in 1982 and 1990 he was elected...
. Maia supported Brizola’s campaign to become Governor of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rio de Janeiro is one of the 27 states of Brazil.Rio de Janeiro has the second largest economy of Brazil behind only São Paulo state.The state of Rio de Janeiro is located within the Brazilian geopolitical region classified as the Southeast...
state in 1983, as Brazil was emerging from the military-led regime towards full democracy, and was subsequently appointed Treasury Secretary for the state.
A trusted personal adviser to Brizola, who was instrumental in uncovering and denouncing the allegedly electoral fraud that threatened Brizola's gubernatorial election in 1982, the so-called Proconsult scheme, Maia was to be elected to the national Chamber of Deputies in 1986, and saw re-election in 1990. Meanwhile having achieved personal political proeminence in the late 1980s, Maia broke with Brizola and the PDT, affiliating with the Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement
Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement
The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party is the successor of the Brazilian Democratic Movement. It is a big tent party, including a range of politicians from conservatives as José Sarney to liberals as Pedro Simon, left-liberals as Roberto Requião, populists as Íris Resende, nationalists as Orestes...
(PMDB) in 1991, being elected mayor of the city of Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 1992, defeating the Workers' Party
Workers' Party (Brazil)
The Workers' Party is a democratic socialist political party in Brazil. Launched in 1980, it is recognized as one of the largest and most important left-wing movements of Latin America. It governs at the federal level in a coalition government with several other parties since January 1, 2003...
candidate, Afro-Brazilian Benedita da Silva
Benedita da Silva
Benedita Souza da Silva Sampaio, is a Brazilian politician. During her life she faced a lot of prejudice for her humble origin, but she overcame the adversities and was Governor of the State of Rio de Janeiro and, later, Minister of State in the Government of Luiz Inacio Lula da...
in a run-off election, in a campaign that was regarded by some as being driven by racist ideology. Maia subsequently left the PMDB and joined the Liberal Front Party (PFL).
Mayoral career
Maia began his first term as mayor in the wake of an episode that mirrored the strained relationship between the social classes in Rio de Janeiro, the so-called arrastão (looting-rampage, or "dragnet") on October the 18th, which saw rival groups of youths from different shantytowns(galeras) and associated with various funkFunk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
bands (funkeiros) sorting out their differences and going on to a looting-spree at Ipanema beach. 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. He frequently courted media attention through the use of so-called factoids; small antics that went from the eccentric to the ridiculous, an example being his proposal of a special monetary unit that would be legal tender in Rio de Janeiro only. Given the bizarre character of some of these antics, some say that Maia from the start "wanted to build an image purposedly intended to appear as surprisingly as well as strange".
During his first term, Maia focussed his attention on projects such as "Rio Cidade", an urban renewal initiative targeted toward the city's commercial districts. The renewal would involve the repair and changing of sidewalks, urban furnishings, street lights, landscaping, as well as aesthetic redesigning of each neighbourhood in order to give it a specific visual identity. Rio-Cidade, however, was subjected from the outset to criticism regarding what was seen to be poor architectural choices, as in the case of a giant cast iron obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
built in Ipanema
Ipanema
For other uses, see Ipanema . For the British rock band, see Ipanema .Ipanema is a neighborhood located in the southern region of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon and Arpoador...
, together with an elevated causeway that crossed a street, which was never opened to the public and was eventually razed in 2009 at the locals' behest. Rio-Cidade was also seem as a scheme for providing infrastructure for expansion of cable TV networks in wealthy districts Other programs included the construction a mayor urban highway called Linha Amarela, as well as the most important project of urbanization to the favela
Favela
A favela is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. In the late 18th century, the first settlements were called bairros africanos . This was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Over the years, many freed black slaves moved in...
s as recognized by UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, Favela-Bairro, a project which received a starting credit of 180 million US$ from Inter-American Development Bank
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank is the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean...
. Favela-Bairro was a programme concerned mostly with providing basic utilities and public services (sewage systems, sidewalks, etc.) to a number of already existing shanty towns, while at the same time attempting to renovate the dwellings and their surroundings in aesthetical terms, a concern already expressed by Rio-Cidade. Favela-Bairro, however, as much as it was presented as a plan for drastic improvement of actual living conditions, was regarded as having failed in one of its chief concerns, that of blurring the boundaries between the "formal" city and the shantytown: in the words of scholar Janice Perlman, "there's still no doubt about where the asfalto ends and the morro begins". At the same time, by stating that favela residents could have access to proper urbanism if they behaved in an "ordely" fashion, Favela-Bairro perpetiated the stigma long associated to shantytown dwellers. Finally, Favela-Bairro was also seem as very limited in scope, as it concerned itself with only 27% of all Rio shanty-towns. After the ending of his first mayoral term, in which he was succeeded by one of his associates, the architect Luiz Paulo Conde, Maia chose to distance himself from the legacy of Favela Bairro, as the programme came to be fostered by Conde, who had meanwhile distanced himself from Maia. In the end, Favela Bairro achieved what was called by some as "anecdotal success at best".
Similar criticism met many of Maia's other projects, as in the case of Linha Amarela, an express highway that caused the relocation of some 10,000 people in order to make way for a project that intended to foster private automobile traffic between the Barra da Tijuca
Barra da Tijuca
Barra da Tijuca is a famous neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, located southwest of the city on the Atlantic Ocean. Barra, as it is popularly known, will have most of the venues of the 2016 Summer Olympics, which will be the first edition held in South America. Barra is well-known for its...
district and downtown Rio.
Reelected in 2000 in a runoff election against his former protégé Conde - for which he had meanwhile joined the Brazilian Labour Party
Brazilian Labour Party (current)
The Brazilian Labour Party is a center-right political party in Brazil founded in 1981 by Ivete Vargas, niece of President Getúlio Vargas. It claims the legacy of the historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a center-left party with wide support in...
- Maia embarked on a controversial scheme, that of setting a branch of the Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is a nonprofit corporation founded in 1937 by philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim and artist Hilla von Rebay. The first museum established by the foundation was the "Museum of Non-Objective Art", which was housed in rented space on Park Avenue in New York....
on the Rio waterfront, a US$ 200 million project - in partnership with controversial Guggenheim director Thomas Krens
Thomas Krens
Thomas Krens is the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York City, and currently the Guggenheim's Senior Advisor for International Affairs, overseeing the completion of the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Abu Dhabi...
- which included a building desigened by French architect Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture...
and whose cost would be borne entirely by the city in return for the prestige associated with the Guggenheim brand. The scheme was eventually shelved as a court decision declared the contract between the Rio City Hall and the Guggenheim Foundation to be against Brazilian law, the project being described as "as a piece of hubris and folly worthy of Maia's Roman namesake". In his second term, however, Maia embarked in various building schemes, such as: Cidade do Samba (Samba City) a complex of workshops in Rio's docking district that was to be used by samba schools as a basis for preparation of yearly Carnival parades that was inaugurated in 2005 - and was partially destroyed by a fire on 7th. February 2011; the Luiz Gonzaga
Luiz Gonzaga
Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento was a very prominent Brazilian folk singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Born in the countryside of Pernambuco , he is considered to be responsible for the promotion of northeastern music throughout the rest of the country...
Center for Northeastern Traditions, an old pavilion in downtown Rio long used for selling Northeastern traditional foods and wares that was refurbished for functioning both as a market and a showhouse - in what was seem as a "commodification" of traditional culture.
Easily reelected in 2004,this time again on the Democratas
Democrats (Brazil)
The Democrats is a centre-right political party in Brazil, considered the main in the right-wing spectrum. Despite its former name , the party affiliates itself to the Centrist Democrat International, and the International Democrat Union. The name comes from its support to free market policies...
party ticket, Maia embarked in a whole gamut of public works linked to the successful Rio candidature for hosting the 2007 Pan American Games
2007 Pan American Games
The 2007 Pan American Games, officially known as the XV Pan American Games, were a major continental multi-sport event that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from July 13 to July 29, 2007. A total of 5,633 athletes from 42 National Olympic Committees competed in 332 events in 34 sports and in...
, including many works that were hotly contested as authoritarian, environmentally unfriendly, and in colusion with private building interests, such as the proposed works for the Gloria Marina
Marina
A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
, which included the construction of a huge garage for yachts - as well as a shopping mall - in the ladmark protected Aterro do Flamengo area, works which were shelved after being questioned by a public attorney. Works actually concluded, such as the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, the Estádio Olímpico João Havelange
Estádio Olímpico João Havelange
-Women's tournament:Group A----Group B----Group A----Group B----Group A----Group B----Group B----Group A-External links:*...
and others, were regarded by many as simply an embarrassing legacy of "white elephants" - a Brazilian idiom for costly, only-for-show works and without any actual counterpart in urban infrastructure - a result reached after cost overruns that were actually six to ten times the original US$ 177 million budget. As he finished his term of office in early 2009, Maia also left a legacy of an unfinished and huge (1 million square feet) concert hall in Barra da Tijuca, the Cidade da Música
Cidade da Música
The Cidade da Música is a cultural complex located in Barra da Tijuca in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which was originally planned to open in 2004. The formal inauguration is now anticipated for 2012, restyled as Cidade das Artes .The project's R$515 million to the city of Rio caused...
(City of Music), designed by French architect
Christian de Portzamparc
Christian de Portzamparc
Christian de Portzamparc is a French architect and urbanist. He graduated from the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris in 1970 and has since been noted for his bold designs and artistic touch; his projects reflect a sensibility to their environment and the town is a founding principal of his...
, that had cost some US$ 220 million and was left unused after it was declared as unsafe by the State's Fire Brigade. Finishing work on the City of Music premises continues, with actual innauguration lastly being set tentatively on July 2010, at a grand total cost of R$ 481.3 million (US$ 818.2 million); although most of the future activities are to be conceded to private contractors, it's forecast that the complex's operations will generate public spending in the order of R$ 247 million (US$ 420 million) for the next twenty-five years.
At the same time, during Maia's third term, the management of the city's public hospitals was deemed as so poor that in March 2005 the federal Ministry of Health decreed an intervention in health facilities jointly administered by the federal government and the city, two military field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
s being set in order to deal with the ongoing jam. In early 2008, a dengue fever
Dengue fever
Dengue fever , also known as breakbone fever, is an infectious tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles...
epidemic hit Rio, taking 54 lives at the three first months of the year, despite of Maia's declaring it to be a purely local occurrence at the same time charging the Minister of Health of "criminal neglect" for supposedly having failed to forewarn Rio of the oncoming disease surge. In late March 2008, Maia traveled to Salvador
Salvador, Bahia
Salvador is the largest city on the northeast coast of Brazil and the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia. Salvador is also known as Brazil's capital of happiness due to its easygoing population and countless popular outdoor parties, including its street carnival. The first...
for attending a party event and declared that he had "prayed to the Senhor do Bonfim
Senhor do Bonfim
Senhor do Bonfim is a town and municipality in the state of Bahia in the North-East region of Brazil.-See also:**List of municipalities in Bahia-References:...
to blow away the Rio mosquitos to the sea" and that he had travelled to Bahia "in order to bring Rio the strong spiritual vibes we have here". Also in early 2008, Maia had to face a citizens' boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
on the property tax
Property tax
A property tax is an ad valorem levy on the value of property that the owner is required to pay. The tax is levied by the governing authority of the jurisdiction in which the property is located; it may be paid to a national government, a federated state or a municipality...
on real state assets (IPTU).