Opinion – É Logo Ali: City Hall revitalizes squares in downtown São Paulo

The City of São Paulo announced last week the delivery of a package of 19 revitalized squares and squares in the central region of the capital. Then, on a beautiful and boiling spring morning, the blog went to check out the benefits implemented in 12 of the places listed on the site — after all, who doesn’t like an umbrella to escape the heatwave of the approaching summer, right? Well then: to the despair of neurons exposed to the sun, very few trees, let’s say new trees, were registered there. Many flower beds, yes. More or less tall and resistant foliage, too. Curbs, edges and walls of recently painted gardens, in the mountains. And that’s all.

Or almost.

For those, like this blogger, who have been in the habit of walking around the city center for (many) decades, this center that terrifies so many of its inhabitants but that fascinates those who like to go through the history of a megalopolis that escapes all management models urban life on the planet, the proliferation of green spots between buildings and avenues that practically only receive cars and buses most of the time, is good and welcome news. It’s really nice to cross a street and come across a flowering rain garden, like in Praça Darcy Penteado, in front of the iconic Copan building, designed by Oscar Niemeyer. It’s a garden shard, a small thing, but it’s good for the eyes. It should also be good for the surrounding air, in addition to retaining rainwater that used to puddle. Point for the project.

Like this one, there are a few pulls from existing squares that have gained rain gardens to call their own. This is the case of the Desembargador Mário Pires square, a few meters from the Mário de Andrade library. Or even Largo do Arouche, which had much of its area covered with cement, echoing the horrendous aquariums that house the once charming flower stalls that marked the place.

But, following the route outlined for this morning’s tour, which added up to 10 kilometers in total, what we found was that most of the announced benefits were really cosmetic, with minimal changes to the original space. It’s more than many administrations have done before, let’s admit it, but there’s still a need for more affection.

However, a novelty drew attention: the number of homeless people’s camps dropped significantly in these places where they were ostensibly numerous before. And when we say before we are talking about two weeks ago at most.

Asked about the end it gave to the various groups that camped in that neighborhood, the Municipal Secretariat for Assistance and Social Development replied, by means of a note, that “teams from the Specialized Social Approach Service (Seas) carry out daily social assistance in the central region of the city ​​to adults, the elderly, children and adolescents who live on the street or who are socially vulnerable, including scenes of alcohol and other drug use”.

And he highlighted that “between the 21st and 23rd of November, the 2nd task force of Special Assistance for Homeless People – Jud Sampa was held at Praça da Sé, in the central region, in which around 30 services were offered for this population “.

The note also informs that, on the days in which the action took place, “475 consultations were carried out, with 314 new registrations (…) and 90 referrals to the reception and coexistence services of the social assistance network”.