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Local elections.
| Local elections. Patrick, congratulations! Zimmer made it again in Colonia. I'm sure you are happy. And now you'll also have an Alcalde in Nueva Helvecia to see for the interests of the neighbouring towns. In Montevideo we will have another FA administration, and hopefully the exceptionally high "en blanco" (null) votes send them a strong message to do their best. I was one of those "en blanco", so I guess I can also celebrate. By the way, the null vote was even stronger in the voting for Alcaldes. It was the winner "Party" in all the 8 Alcaldías in MVD, followed by the FA! Really exceptional in the electoral history of Uruguay. |
Comment #105/10/10 11:44Rural east Colonia departmento | "Zimmer and the alcaldes"
Thank you kind sir! Zimmer isn't exactly a saint but he keeps the roads graded, has done a wonderful job prettifying Colonia del Sacramento and does his best to keep local taxes low. He may be a rogue but he's our rogue :-) Alcaldes have an evil reputation for corruption in Spain and judging from the views I've heard locally, their introduction down here is not a popular move. On the other hand we respect the national law (unless it seems daft to us) so we'll have to wait and see whether our new alcalde is worth the money or is just an annoying waste of time. To celebrate I'll take the bus and waste yet another day having a fourth try at the IMM trying to (a) find out how much I owe and in the unlikely event of me succeeding (b) pay my MVD speeding ticket :-) |
| "Blanco vote"
Hi Alberto, I also vote "en blanco", I am really pissed off at the way they came up with Ana Olivera -I have nothing against her though-, they ruled out Martinez (Not a saint I adore), probably because MPP wants to keep the Socialist Away, and may be avoid him to be a likely presidencial candidate in 2014 who knows!!. On the other side, it is obvious that after 4 periods in office, there are a lot of dodgy things going on in the IMM. Sonner or latter they will came to light. Like the Bengoa, Casinos, Mariano Arana an other things. I am glad the message was perceived and lets see how it goes, i expect no change and continued ADEOM rule.(ADEOM - Montevideo Council workers Union, a Union that does whatever they think is ok) Patrick: Most of your fine money will go to pay the salaries of the ADEOM guys!!! They absorb most of the City Council budget!!! I hate them, the place is dirty and families travel without helmet by motorcicle all over the place. |
| "En blanco vote."
I was also angry with the way they elected the candidate, but that was not my main concern. In fact, I decided to vote "en blanco" before they chose Ana. I think many good things have been done (that's why I don't vote for other parties), I also think (against your opinion) that the administration is still mostly clean (even the Casinos-Bengoa-Arana issue was built upon an investigation made by the IMM). The problem for me is that there's also a lot of things to solve that seem to have become somehow accepted as unchangeable (mostly: garbage, the carritos, the patentes of the Interior, the informal shopping in 18 de Julio, the innaction about taxi and trucks emitions, the innaction about noise polution, and the sidewalks). And most important, something that it is probably behind all those problems: the relation with ADEOM. I would have voted for anyone that asured he would finally brake ADEOM's arm. Nobody did. But the message was sent. I hope they take it into account. It's better when you receive a message when you still have time to change, before you definetly loose an election. |
| "The carritos"
What is really the problem with the carritos? They are ugly? They interrupt traffic? The 'rich' don't like to see the 'poor' in 'their' neighborhoods?Would it be better to give them 'welfare' so they can sit home, in their own neighborhoods, and do nothing? |
| "The problems with the carritos."
Linda, I don't know how you go from the first 4 questions to your last one. There are many more solutions I can have than paying them to "dissapear". Answering to your questions: Yes, they are ugly. Yes, they interrupt traffic; they are also dangerous cause they don't count with all the security measures that cars have (they don't pay fines cause there's an incredible unwriten regulation that make them inmune; they are even drived by minors even!). Yes, I think not only the rich, but anybody don't like to see the carritos (not the poor) on their neighbourhoods. It's a sad and unconfortable view. They have many other problems. For example, they themselves are a big problem for the city's cleanness. The horses let the streets dirty, they lose garbage while they march, some of their drivers let garbage out of the containers, most of them use public areas near their own homes, and even their own homes, to make the classification work, so that is a big higienic problem. But, most of all, it's not a healthy work for them in the conditions it's being made now. So the solution is not to "hide" them. Common, you are more intelligent than that! The solution is to eliminate collection, and facilitate and enhance classification in special, well conditioned areas. Collection is just the result of the inhability of the collectors to work cooperatively. They prefer to hunt for themselves, in the search of the better places and the better catchs they can get. A more cooperative solution has to be promoted. However, earning a salary or a cooperative quota is not the same as this free-lance lotery, and maybe not everybody may easily abide by the rules. You know, even between the poor, some individualist feelings drive people's conducts. |
Comment #605/11/10 08:53Rural east Colonia departmento | "Strange"
Every single visitor I've had from the UK has praised MVD's use of poor people with horses and carts for rubbish collection. They seem to think that its a more "environmentally friendly" method of collection than using big diesel powered garbage trucks but there again, the Brits are obsessed about perceived "greenness." I even had one who criticised our garbage trucks here in Colonia Valdense (the self proclaimed Uruguayo capitol of the medio ambiente)... saying that we too should use poor people, horses and carts instead. When I pointed out that we lacked sufficient poor people to do such a thing, the visitor in question suggested that we import some from MVD :-) Its strange how 1st worlders view such things :-) |
| "Send them elsewhere..."
Just like the discussion about the poor people in Cuidad Vieja.What you seem to be saying, is collect the trash, dump it somewhere and let the carritos dig through it out of site! I didn't see any mention of developing a viable economic system to provide them with suitable work opportunities. How do the carritos view themselves? |
| "Send them elswhere..."
Linda, you are not reading what I wrote. I'm not saying they should be exclusion areas for the collection of garbage by the carritos. I'm saying that the collection of garbage should be let to the normal truck service of the IMM, and the carritos should be forbidden. Not the classificators, just the carritos. Not the classification activity, just the collection activity. Got it? Classification can be made in special installations with all the higienic facilities and equipment to make it a healthy job. Classification is an important function for the society, and it can be made in a proffitable and digniffied way for the workers. Collection on the streets and individual classification in their homes or near their homes, instead, are a problem for the city and for them. But to unify and align the activity of them all so they don't avoid the classification installations to go and copete for the best garbage at the container mouth recreating the problem, you have to prohibit the carritos. Of course, another possibility is that they found other types of jobs. Unfortunately, the economy has been creating a lot of new jobs but, these people don't have the required skills, or else, the salaries aren't attractive enough for them to change their activity. In the meantime, the city cannot wait to solve this problem. And if any alternative job solution is to appear in the future, it would be much easier to redirect them if they are already aligned in a cooperative scheme than if they keep in this independent activity. |
| "Poor people."
Patrick, Yes, I've seen that kind of comments from people comming from developped countries. The question I asked them is: "Would you do that job?" The planet's resources are under stress and there's probable no much more place for "developed" consumers. Each point of Gross Product increase in China or India, a lot more carbon is being burned, and millions of additional tons of agro-chimics are being thrown to the fields and waters. It won't be a surprise if well intentioned people start to say that the poor should remain poor. :( |
| "Article on Waste Pickers (in English)"
Linda, thanks for asking those questions -- I have wondered the same, and it's apparently a sensitive topic for many Uruguayans. Alberto, thanks for your insights. I hope you can have patience with us; things that seem obvious to you are not at all obvious to us who are new in the country. For many of us, all we know is what we see in the streets; we don't have the background knowledge to understand what we are seeing. When we ask questions, it's not to criticize, but because we want to learn and understand. That is the first step, before we can form any legitimate opinions. Here is an article (in English!) I saw recently that helped me understand more about the role of the waste pickers ("hurgadores"), the background and their working conditions. |
| "Learning from experience."
Shirley, Don't worry. Not only newcomers but also Uruguayans are learning about this. And nothing is really obvious. It would sound obvious that these people would prefer to go to a cement platform with all gloves and special working clothes, containers for the classification, first aid means, and facilities to take a bath and change clothes before going home. It's not. During the worst years of crisis, survival needs pushed them to adopt individualistic solutions. A culture grew based on that. It's hard to take them back to change that for a salary or an orderly production which beneffit would be shared by their pairs. Same thing happens with the problem of the "asentamientos". It would sound obvious that people would like to move out of them if you give them housing. However, it's not. In the asentamientos people not only don't pay for housing, but also they don't pay for electricity or water. So some things are not easy. The problem is that the political system has been avoiding some of these problems for too long. The Right don't really mind of these problems; they say the Market will solve them all. It doesn't; we know that by now. On the other hand, the Left is still processing its healing of the 70s Dictatorship. Anything that sounds as forced, anything looking as an imposition, sounds like Dictatorship. When there is a project that is backed by the majorities through democratic discussion, that project can be put in place even if you haven't got the consensus of all the parts. Consensus is a good thing, but some problems may have to be solved with authority. Specially when you are trying to change a "culture" that has grown in other circumstances and that the society need to change. There are other problems like that. For example, the children on the streets. Things have been made, and programs were implemented. Many children are now back in their homes and in the health/educational system. However, some remain there. The Left always took the consensual approach to this problem too. No child was forced to join an institution is he/she prefered to remain in the streets. And parents were sometimes contacted, but not forced to take care of the children or give up their parenthood. You don't discuss with your son whether he wants to come back home to sleep in his bed, do you? Or if he wants to go to school or not. The Left have to asume authority and exercise in some cases without guilt. Now the country is growing and it's a good opportunity to solve these integration problems. We are not a rich country but we now have some economic means to do it. |
Comment #1205/11/10 15:05Rural east Colonia departmento | "Eco babble."
"Yes, I've seen that kind of comments from people comming from developped countries."I just smile politely and take no notice of the more fashionably doctrinaire greens I meet. Last July one of them was telling me what a bad man I was for flying to the UK while we ate an excellent dinner prepared by her which featured fresh baby corn and asparagus flown in from Kenya with lobsters which had done an even longer flight from the Maldives Islands. :-) The sad thing is that I'd prefer to travel by ship but I can't afford the 22k U$S for the return fare. In my view the only way to achieve global sustainability is to reduce our numbers dramatically. Fiddling about with horses and carts or unplugging phone chargers isn't going to do the trick. |
| " Carritos - Childrens and Horses -"
The Carritos situation in Montevideo is a half Century old. The discussion and passion for it is also very old.You should think that when the Intendencia become the way to the Presidential house that all the important problems would be solved, their not. We can't let the underprivileged create a major problem for the City and their Citizens rich or poor because of their situation. The situation is that Carritos is making more money than many people working in a regular job, that also has happened for half a Century. Because their not paying Electric or Water their need for money is less as Alberto says. It's also a wholesale market with garbage (believe it or not)and there is more money involved than a lot of people know. But there are the CHILDREN and lets not forget the Horses. When I was 13 the Baby Futbol Association sent a Team to play Soccer to Argentina. We stayed in a Military station in la Plata(Rio Santiago). When the time to eat arrived, they offered Soup and we looked at each other and said "Sopa de Cuartel" No thanks - "This kid" said yes - A year later while waiting for the Bus I saw "this kid" pushing a Carrito with his Father at his side. I asked "how are you doing" not a very smart question, I still remember how he looked at me and I always hoped that he was able to get over this hurdle in his life. Sorry for boring you with my memories but this happens to a lot of children RIGHT NOW and it needs to change. Already it's 20 years of hope with no results, I'm guessing, the voting in Blanco is because it's not really a good second choice or because they don't want to accept defeat, NOT YET. Also ADEOM is an old fashion mentality just like the future Intendenta and I hope I'm wrong. I just watched on TV that American, British and French troops Parade in Moscow and I remember decent and idealistic people in my Country gave their life for what is now obsolete. |
| "Defeat?"
Jorge, in another posts I wrote my reasons to vote null. I wasn't thinking in defeat but just in a rectification of the directions the IMM have taken. "No results" in 20 years is a vision that I cannot share at all. In these 20 years the city has changed a lot. Twenty years ago the city was in complete dark, the parks and the plazas in the Center (and everywhere) had no flowers and the grass was uncut and dry, nothing was being done to support culture and the Solis was stumbling down to the point that it was very near to complete loss because of a fire generated by the deterioration of the electric system and the humidity of the walls. The clinics and "merenderos" in the poor neighbours were not functioning, the public transportation system was based on old 20 or 30year old buses. There were only a few semmaphores just in a few corners of the Center! A lot has being made. The city has made a huge investment to extend the sewage net to almost the whole city by now, while none was invested during the previous 50 years! Now in each neighbourhood the elder have some place to gather and make craft activities, or learn how to use a computer, or have free gym classes in the beaches and clubs. Hires are made by merit contests or draw showed publicly through TV. Even the garbage, that's still a big problem mostly because of the carritos, was much worse then. The plastic bags were let at the sidewalks in each house, and the stray dogs would tear them apart to eat spreading the garbage all over the street. Maybe you don't remember, but these 20 years administrations, were still the better I can remember. If I voted null it was because some particular problems have become permanent and we are at a stage when we need to make a new step forward. If the majority of the people still vote what they vote, and if the insatisfied people like me vote null instead of other alternatives, that should move you to ask why and not to conclude people don't want to "accept defeat". After all, we voters just chose; we don't participate in the administration as to feel "defeated". About the new Intendenta and ADEOM: I'm not sure you can compare them. ADEOM is a union fighting for corporative interests and has split long ago from any relationship with the administration. Moreover, ADEOM put its weight to work against the FA in this election. They even started an unexplained strike for the collection of garbage during the week previous to the election in an intent to influence the vote towards the traditional parties. ADEOM may know that the FA is being internally presured by its voters to change the way they relate with the union and go forward with reforms that would make workers really start working as they should. Instead, they know that the traditional parties are more bound to cohabit with the privileges of burocrats; after all they created the Uruguayan burocracy! Some things are not obsolete at all. Communism may be, but not the deep justice and equalitarian ideas that were in the souls of those who as you say "gave their lives" to change Uruguay. What is really obsolete is to stay on the Cold War era where there were a bad and a good side and one of them had all the righ reasons and the other had none. Fukuyama became obsolete as soon as he announced the "end of History". History continued. The towers fall down in New York, terrorism changed for ever the way we travel, global economic power is shifting to Asia driven by a hybrid communist - capitalist China, people is actually suffering the evident climate change in their day life. And the World is still searching for better systems than the one that competed during the Cold War. |
| "Hope for the future ?"
Old fashion mentality - Cold war era mentality - unrealistic ideas - drastic ideas - short term solutions that is what I'm against.You know Alberto you can write, I'm guessing that talking with you is not a few minutes thing it may take a lot or espressos or beers. What is also remarkable is that somebody intellectual and over 50 years young like you is still a believer of equalitarian ideas that they are border line impossible in reality, good for you. I noticed progress in many areas of the City, mostly at the Coast, but the old Neighborhoods getting older with no visible changes or improvements. Calle Justicia y Pagola where two movie Theaters (across from Los Olimpicos (Dogomar bar) did business many years ago, Calle Republica 2045 where (like you) I thought to knock and look inside one more time. All this the same, just much older like me, haha. Walking in Calle Agraciada (different name now) where Soler was once an important Store it was not a good experience, kind of sad. The Security is not the same and you recognize that many times. About social changes I don't have an idea so thank you for explaining. DEFEATED - What I mean, your ideas, hope, trust and confidence from your own Party and no place to go, what do you do next?. Adeom vs Intendenta, both old fashion, when you see people talking in 2010 and sound the same as they did in 1960 something is not right. The Sindicato can't talk about workers like you or me, Florence was Branch President of a Local Union here in Florida and she knows that the Unions obligation is to defend the Workers, improve benefits, wages, safety, training etc. and the rest is Managements responsibility. The Intendenta I think she is and old hard liner and not because the side of the Frente Amplio that she comes from. She must remember the Intendencia represent all the Montevideanos including from others Parties. I also believe that after she won the Election the flag to carry is the Uruguayan Flag not the Frente Amplio but I will have hope for the future of Montevideo. I didn't have too much hope for Mujica and so far he is becoming my Idol and I will predict that he will be one of the top politicians in Uruguayan history if the Companeros allow him to do it. He is right we need all the Uruguayans to push in the same direction and heal the scars for the good of Uruguay. |
| "Hope for the future?"
"What is also remarkable is that somebody intellectual and over 50 years young like you is still a believer of equalitarian ideas that they are border line impossible in reality, good for you."Thank you for the "intellectual" and the "young"! Both wrong, I'm just informed...:))) I picked this phrase out of the whole post because it probably has the key of the "Defeat" word that you used before. As Benedetti says in one of his poems: without Utopia, Life would be just a rehersal of Death... But of course Utopia is, by definition, impossible in reality. Utopia is just a direction, not a finish line. It is an illusion only if one thinks it's reachable. If you renounce to perfection, and you use your ideals just as a guide, you are not at all unrealistic. I would feel really old if I wouldn't think my actions and options can help, if not the World, at least my environment, to be better. I still believe in positive action and I still believe it's worth. If I wouldn't that would certainly be a defeat. I would really feel defeated because the ones that spoil the World would have won. However, even if this sounds paradoxical, I'm basically a skeptical person. I don't expect anybody, any party, any system, any "anything"..., to have all the answers. I love this phrase from Bertrand Russell: "I would never dye for my beliefs because I might be wrong." Old Bertrand was teaching us to open our minds; however, even if he didn't died for his beliefs, he certainly fought for them a lot, and dared to challenge a lot of the mainstream ideas of his age. Ethics may be powerfull engine, even for guys as skeptical as Master Bertrand. Through these feelings and ideas is where you can find the differences between Left and Right. As I said somewhere before, Left and Right are older, and will last longer, than the socialism/capitalism controverse. Should we order another coffe? hahaha |
| "the way I see it..."
I have visited Montevideo once a year --on average-- since age 16 and I am now 50. My average stay in the city is two months. Plus when I am not there I read and I read and I read (diverse local and foreign sources), and watch local Uruguayan TV (in the US), so I have a pretty good idea of what's going on, except for the intricate internal (national and local) politics which I honestly find boring. So as an kind of "outsider" looking in, my impression is that in the past few years Montevideo has improved in many areas: the bus fleet is new or newer, there are more street and traffic lights, new bus stops, new public squares, more shops of all sorts, lots of new beautiful business centers and residential buildings, hotels, etc. However...there are many areas where there is still room for improvement. Not every neighborhood has benefited from progress. I have visited neighborhoods in the periphery of the city where people live just like they did many years ago. The situation for them seems to have hardly changed. Far too many young people who live there have no jobs and don't go to school. They need jobs and education. Also, there a few other things that need improvement: yes, there are more traffic lights, but NOT enough. Yes, the fleet of buses is new, but the fleet of taxis is definitely not. Most of them are too small, uncomfortable, and to me, unsafe. Tall people can hardly fit in them and are often forced to ride in the front seat without being able to fasten their safety belts. There should be more stop and yield signs and there should be more public education programs that teach people how to drive safely. The collection of garbage is an issue. Apparently it has improved but from an outsider's perspective it's far from perfect... And yes, the "carritos" are an unsightly thing. I don't know the answer to that problem, but if more garbage truck are needed perhaps sometime in the future, when the municipality can afford it, these people should be trained to be garbage truck drivers or work in other jobs related to that vital service. |
| "The way I see it..."
Yes, I can agree with most of that. About the last coments: In my opinion it isn't even the lack of trucks. The trucks already cover all the containers, but the carritos go for the trash before them. The solution is more difficult because of social and political reasons than because of technical reasons. Well, as usual... We'll have to tell people that grew up having a "family business" that they are not allowed to continue with it (at least, the way they have always done it). And we'll have to convince them that it is not only on the beneffit of the city, but on theirs too. |
| "Books and Life -"
In my twenties, Benedetti introduced me to Marquez, LLosa, Fuentes and to books in general. The world has changed but a lot of the problems from the seventies are still around. My biggest concern is Children, they need so much and they get so little. Somes can't even be Kids and others their proud because they have the coolest Cell Phones, go figure.When I came to United States I decided not to follow the Colonel decision so I sold my Rooster to make sure that my children and myself would eat food the next day. So I became a provider more than a friend to my children. Alberto it would be "Three Sugars" or "Media Blanca" probably these terms are obsolete but we will talk. You too Dan, it's going to be in Lake Mary because I don't think we wants to spend the Winter in Uruguay. We live in Florida for 17 years and our blood is not like yours. My lovely Gringa(32 years)is New York born (Brooklyn) but.... Ahh one more thing about the Carritos situation, in New York a Police Officer a Fireman and a Sanitation worker earn almost equal money and benefits. |
| "Children."
"Somes can't even be Kids..." And not only between the poor families. In some medium and upper class families there's a new fashion of stuffing children with activities and courses. It seems they have to be perfect and hyper prepared, as if they were building a curriculum to go looking for a job at twelve. Children need to play, and they need to lose time! |
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