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June 25, 2009
A Few Interesting Projects
I´ve also been hearing about a number of cool new projects in the city:
There is an interesting initiative to install huge escalators in Comuna 13. Like many hillside slums, it is essentially a maze of dangerous, twisting alleys and nearly vertical concrete stairways. The initiative would complement metrocable with outdoor escalators all over the sector's many hills. It would certainly make the daily pedestrain communte much shorter and safer, but I am skeptical that the system would survive the heavy rain, mudslides and shootouts that plague Comuna 13.
There is another aerial tramway project in the planning stages that would link up the Santo Domingo MetroCable en route to Parque Arvi, a cold, damp, mountainous nature reserve. The vast majority of Medellin residents cannot afford to travel for leisure even to Parque Arvi, which is less than 20 minutes away. This project would begin to offer poor people affordable opportunities for tourism and would certainly increase tourism in the slum of Santo Domingo.
Since 2008 (if not earlier, I´m not entirely sure) Medellin has had several 'schools for teachers' where teachers can get together to attend free training sessions, share ideas with one another, and prepare joint projects and initiatives.
Finally, I went to the San Javier Park Library in Comuna 13 yesterday and, as always, it was an incredibly inspiring visit. Despite all the bad news about Medellin and my recent skepticism about the sustainability of its transformation, every time go to one of Fajardo or Salazar's libraries, I come out fully convinced that Medellin has a bright future.
The libraries are essentially large community spaces. Walking down a hallway, I saw poor elderly people learning to use computers, a lecture about marketing, a movie screening of the Cat in the Hat for kids who have never been to a movie theater, a recreational area full of ecstatic hyperactive five-year-olds. The libraries are full of contagious optimism and a palpable culture of peace. Everything is entirely free and open to the community. There are dozens of smiling employees everywhere helping people to use the facilities.
There is no sense in these libraries of the tremendous social problems that plague Comuna 13. Nor did I ever get the feeling that crime and violence were winning the silent 'culture war' in poor Medellin neighborhoods. These are truly revolutionary spaces. Hundreds of kids, who otherwise would spend their time in dirty, bullet-ridden alleys, are reading books and leraning to use the interent.
The library is by far their favorite place in the entire neighborhood. The houses around the library and the nearby MetroCable station are freshly painted and clean. I often hear that Fajardo and Salazar's building projects inspired neighbors to gather up their savings and tidy up the entire neighborhood.
In reality, however, the battle for the hearts and minds of Medellin's underprivileged children has not been won. Criminal groups are sitll more powerful than the state in many peripheral areas. There is still a sense, which is probably somewhat accurate, that there are more criminals living in luxury than there are criminals suffering in prison.
Finally, marginalization remains a huge social and pyschological problem despite integration projects like MetroCable: the young kids who make a few cents as informal tour guides at the Santo Domingo MetroCable station often ask tourists 'Did you come from Medellin?' as if Santo Domingo was a separate city.
Posted by Pablo Rojas at June 25, 2009 12:45 PM
