Mayor Sebastião Melo wants private security in Porto Alegre parks
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Diego Nuñez, Bruna Suptitz and Nikelly de Souza
Amid debates on concessions for important parks in Porto Alegre, such as the historic Redenção, Marinha, Stretch 3 of Orla do Guaíba and Orla do Lami, Sebastião Melo (MDB) is studying other alternatives for green areas in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
The mayor wants to use the Chico Mendes Park, located in the North Zone of the city, as a test site for the use of private security in parks, in an experience that could be reproduced in other locations.
In this interview to Jornal do Comércioin Porto Alegre’s anniversary month, Melo explains why he believes that this is the way to curb nighttime violence in parks, commits to reopening Usina do Gasômetro still in 2023, to send the Master Plan project to the Legislature by At the end of the year, he reports on how he intends to grant the Municipal Department of Water and Sewage (Dmae) and evades re-election.
Jornal do Comércio – Your government has reached the halfway point of its mandate. What will be the mark of the Sebastião Melo administration?
Sebastião Melo – We are a government that is very careful with the social, with education, with innovation, with the care of the city. The City Hall is a set of actions that makes the city work. I think the government’s brand is dialogue, delivery, improving the business environment in the city, Porto Alegrense’s self-esteem, that’s the brand.
JC – Couldn’t the brand, or even should, be the conclusion of the Master Plan?
melon – The Master Plan was interrupted because of the pandemic. We had a problem with the Federal University (from Rio Grande do Sul, Ufrgs), we had to change the route. I would say that, by crooked lines, I think we got it right, because the cities that are born after the pandemic are other cities. Reforming the Master Plan during the biggest health crisis, maybe a master plan would sprout there and be exhausted soon after. And the Master Plan is the general line. There is no ideal Master Plan, it is possible. Another theme within the Master Plan is the urban consortium operation of Ipiranga, which is already on the street for bidding to contract the executive project. There is a law going forward, you have to form a consortium, you have to put money in. It is another important brand. In the same way that we started there in the (José) Fogaça government, more especially (José) Fortunati, the recovery of the shore (of Guaíba), which today everyone applauds. The Ipiranga (stream) is another large river basin, so this is not a simple topic. We are going to make a great effort to leave until the end of the term so that whoever succeeds us can play.
JC – The term is very technical, Urban Operation Consortium…
Melo – Consortium Urban Operation is to make a cut of an area and give a differentiated urbanism regime to the region. In the Ipiranga corridor, there are still many urban voids, land. If you increase the height, you create what we call surplus value, and the surplus value you put in a fund and this fund finances works that are of interest to society. This height increase alone will not solve. More public money will be needed. I’m talking to Governor Eduardo (Leite, PSDB) and he said: “Look, Melo, I’m interested in having an emblematic work in Porto Alegre, and we have two to discuss”. The joint operation is one and the other is the event center. These two works, I think the state government could… we could contribute with part of public money from the municipality, the state could enter, and the private sector with the large portion.
JC – Did you sign the Master Plan during this term?
melon – The Chamber is already resolving its commission, which helps a lot, because when it gets there, there is already an accumulation of debates. Our intention is to send the Master Plan this year. The harmony and autonomy of the powers is a basic rule of democracy. Once the Master Plan has been sent, what I can do is make the government available to help the councilors make the decision. Now, the agenda becomes the responsibility of the councilors, because a Master Plan is not created by decree, by ordinance. The Chamber has always responded very well in an election year. Let’s imagine that we deliver the plan in October. Then, with the commission formed, you can already have an accumulation and be able to face the issues. There is no ideal Master Plan. People are really listening. They are very different visions. You have to look at land regularization, the flooding of the city, public transport, the social issue. What you can’t do is reduce the Master Plan to buildings. It is economic development, it is sustainability, it is a rural area. The biggest challenge to sustainability is to combat poverty. There are 80,000 people who live in risk areas (in Porto Alegre). I see very little being discussed in the Master Plan
JC – How can Porto Alegre’s housing deficit be solved?
melon – You have to have new houses, apartments, but you have to regularize what can be regularized. The lands that are occupied today, and that are public, I will water, light and regularize. Regularization is a social issue. In the space that fits 200 families, there are 300. How do I accommodate 100? Then the person says “I’m here and I’m not leaving here”. It’s not such a simple thing. And there’s the shared purchase, which is you giving R$ 15 thousand to that very low-income citizen who doesn’t have the down payment to give. There is even a discussion there in the Chamber, they want me to exempt ITBI from these purchases as well. Let’s analyze. Then there’s the housing bonus, which I think is a good solution and today it’s over R$ 100,000. The debate that is going on today is that many of these families are welcomed, but others go to the risk area. It’s drying ice. It is decided that no more families will be removed without having a solution so that others do not return. There are many very high risk areas in Porto Alegre and the number of residents at risk has increased a lot.
JC – What do you think today about granting Redemption?
melon – It was placed for consultation purposes, among other things, to put parking in Redemption. This topic was very controversial, so I already discarded it. We have a security problem at the parks. If the government had enough guards to put in each park, with electronic fencing… it’s an alternative. But I have too few guards and too many Public Safety demands. I hope to do Chico Mendes, which is a park that had a precarious fence. There will be born an experience that may be useful for other locations.
JC – Would the city hall contract this private security?
melon – Yes. Returning to Redemption: It was never in Redemption modeling to surround the park. We have the Bom Fim market where everyone pays the rent, there’s that playground which is a concession and has some resources, there’s Araújo Vianna which is R$ 40 thousand that enters the city hall’s cash per month, there’s Refúgio do Lago and there’s the train. And the money from the blue area too. There are seven things. So that came to R$200,000, R$250,000 a month. Then make a smaller concession, less years and leave a single manager and that money left over is for cutting the grass, is for taking care of the monuments and for security. People have the right to use the parks at night too, and that is the challenge ahead.
JC – Did these funds enter the single cash register?
melon – Today they are free.
JC – Other parks that were announced, such as Orla do Lami, Marinha and Trecho 3, would they also have this model?
melon – We removed Orla from Lami because the model was misunderstood. If you have Lami as a beach in Porto Alegre, bathable for a long time. I was going to invest money to upgrade the beach. With this small model, there is no money for Lami. It is out. The Redemption one was made listening, and today it has a modeling. Because it has the Orla (Section) 1 concession, with the Harmonia concession and all those adoptions. And in Section 3 there is a skate park, which costs BRL 50,000 per month, and the adopter pays for the maintenance of the track. There is already a model of partnerships. We would be extending this partnership to the Marinha park. We will proceed with this.
JC – When will the Usina do Gasômetro reopen?
Melo – We are going to deliver the Plant in 2023. We are going to open it up for interested parties to be plant managers. Is the plant cultural? It’s cultural. Will you have coffee? Will there be a movie? Will there be theater? It’s all in this process. She will have great attractiveness. It is an iconic space in the city.
JC – With regard to the Dmae concession, has an interesting model been reached for the municipality?
melon – There were two years of intense debate. We are designing a model to maintain 100% of public water production. Dmae continues to exist. This week there was a ranking of sewage in Brazil, and Porto Alegre lost a score. Maintenance has been abysmal and network extension has been zero. To hand over to the private sector to extend the sewage network according to targets is to comply with the regulatory framework, which is a federal law that has established very strict deadlines. Porto Alegre is treating only 50% of its sewage. We have to pass 90%. Handing over the sewage to the private sector, I think it’s right. It would also deliver the extension of the water network. Today, water does not reach the tip due to the lack of legs on Dmae. This is the possible modeling. By delivering the water, the volume of money for the auction would be very large. We prefer to make a partial, safe concession. This is the modeling that we are building in an almost final phase.
JC – How is the drainage in this model?
melon – Our investment today in drainage is very low. All asset money arising from this modeling is for new drainage and maintenance. It’s stamped money.
JC – To be executed by the municipality?
melon – Yes, because the market is not willing to take drainage, because drainage is flooding, nature. Let’s start the pump house drainage. We have 26 and all of them have a problem. All the money that comes from this modeling, 100% of the resource is for you to invest in maintenance.
JC – Do you believe it will be difficult to approve the extinction of the premium license in the Chamber?
melon – This article has been there since last year. We wanted it to be faced, it was not possible, and now it is ready to go to the plenary. The federal government ended the premium license in 1997, 1998. And several governments throughout Brazil. Today, every five years, there is a three-month premium license. Imagine a 35-year-old employee, how many months he will have. Imagine an employee with a salary of R$ 20,000 and takes 18 months. The law says that only the employee can apply for the premium license. And he doesn’t ask. When he gets close to retirement, he makes an application, gets a lawyer, goes to court and gets the premium license. In these last two and a half years, Porto Alegre contributed, in judicial decisions, around R$ 14 million. We did the Social Security reform, which is much more complicated. But we are in a year of government turnaround. It’s one thing to face a 24-vote issue at the beginning of the government, it’s another thing to face it in the middle. The election is approaching. The topic goes to a vote and, if there is no vote, I respect the decision of the Legislature. Distortions that have been created over the years in public life need to be gradually corrected. If most municipalities have already done this, if Eduardo (Leite) has already done this, I have legitimacy because I voted for this as a (state) deputy.
JC – The name of Sebastião Melo has a lot of support for the reelection of the center right. How are you preparing for 2024?
melon – We made an alliance in the last election in this center-right spectrum and today these parties all make up the base of this government. We haven’t opened this succession process yet because I think whoever is in government has to work to deliver improvements to the city and to the people. If we anticipate the electoral debate, we contaminate many city deliveries. But I also cannot ignore the fact that the day one election ends, another begins. The election of President Lula is over, the 2026 election has already begun. And so goes Eduardo (Leite) and so goes Melo. Our field, which today makes up the government, will have a candidacy. Whether it will be Melo or Ricardo (Gomes, PL), or another name, is a discussion that will take place in due time.
JC – Are you a name?
melon – There are 12, 13 parties in the government base. The search for a re-election has to be a construction. This topic is not under debate at this time. I’m not saying yes or no. I’m saying that the project yes, the name is that we have to build.
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