‘Olympic Park’ viral video satirizes failing Rio infrastructure - The Washington Post

 

Work laying track for new trams began in November 2013 with a first stretch promised to be functioning by the following May, just in time for the World Cup. More than a year later, work has been stalled for weeks, and the neighborhood has become a chaotic mess of mud, disconnected rails and gaping holes that residents describe as "an embarrassment."

And as the trams have become symbolic of repeated failure of the Brazilian authorities to deliver legacy works promised for major sporting events, a video satirizing both the games and the tram work chaos has gone viral.

"Olympic-related works are causing chaos across Rio de Janeiro. City center traffic is constantly rerouted, to the confusion of cabdrivers and other motorists. As pre-Olympic tension mounts, so too has fear of violent crime: On May 19, a doctor was fatally stabbed while riding his bicycle around the postcard Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where Olympic rowing events will be held. Last month, police inadvertently shot and killed a 10-year-old boy in the sprawling Complexo do Alemão favela.

At a breakfast event Friday morning, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said that the Olympics would transform Rio for the better, citing new BRT lines, the pacification policy, an extension to one of the city’s two metro lines, improved sanitation and a revamped port area. Seventeen legacy projects were promised, he said, and 27 will be delivered. “We are delivering more than we promised,” he said."

read the article by Dom Philips > 

‘Olympic Park’ viral video satirizes failing Rio infrastructure - The Washington Post: