Every capital city has one or two neighborhoods that are or have been symbols to its people. To cite one example, Rio de Janeiro has had its Copacabana, the ‘little princess of the sea’. Belo Horizonte has had Cidade Jardim and Lourdes almost all together. Pampulha had its shot, but now the only thing left over is the little church, due to almost a third of the lake being silted up while verticalization brings about the coldness of commercial buildings. Today Pampulha incorporates dozens of neighborhoods greatly distanced from beautifull lake, where it got its name from. What other neighborhood symbolizes Belo Horizonte?
Today I am remembered of old Venda Nova which was formerly just another of Belo Horizonte’s many neighborhoods. A narrow street gave access to the neighborhood that was at one point a practically independent district. Virtually an entire city all by itself, the District of Venda Nova has belonged to several other cities until definitively merging with Belo Horizonte.
I remember with nostalgia in 1972, when I co-ordinated a Community Development course in Leisure Colony of SESC in Venda Nova. The place was very far away and access was restricted. No public transport was available to the location. It was surrounded by vegetation on all sides. What a beauty!
Today, Venda Nova has dozens of neighborhoods, townships or favelas (slums). It represents 25% of the territory of Belo Horizonte and has almost 300,000 inhabitants. It is recorded to be over 300 years old. For about four months now, I have been responsible for the social mobilization and education of urban cleaning in that city’s regional office, and I still have much to learn about its extensive Administrative Region.
I am especially enthusiastic with the efforts taken by our colleagues, who deal with the garbage collection and street sweeping in Venda Nova and professionals alike in their planning and execution of trash collection, providing us with total support. Then my enthusiasm peaked. At the beginning of the month, I was invited to work at the city council, which means a much lesser work load. So I went there with the witness of a great friend and colleague and showed my gratitude. I want to work a few more years and contribute with what I can for a cleaner and more beautiful Venda Nova.
There we have a few dozen critical points to which we are slowly working towards raising the awareness of the nearby population, especially of the villages and favelas, to adopt more sensible attitudes with the aim of ending illegal garbage dumping in these areas. Currently, the lengthy Vilarinho Avenue is being exceptionally well kept. The traditional Padre Pedro Pinto Street is improving daily, despite its large city movement generating large amounts of residues and considering that waste collection takes place entirely at night.
By the end of the year, the Receival Units of Small Volumes (rubble and bulky objects called voluminous junk) will be redesigned and fully operational. I am adamant about creating an incentive for the Urban Cleaning Management team of Venda Nova to act along with the Regional Secretary in getting more units to fill in for the receival of rubble from all around the region, especially in the vicinity of Serra Verde neighborhood. There are buildings everywhere and so, of course, a huge debris generation.
The entire Department of Social Policy and Mobilization, where I’m crammed into, with emphasis on the Education Division for Urban Cleaning, sensitizes promises and demonstrates interest in participating effectively in the efforts to improve the cleanliness of Venda Nova. The Department of Parks and Gardens also brings its proposal to perform in the Regional Administration of Venda Nova. Gradually we will involve every governmental organ and organization in this arduous task of keeping the streets clean and beautiful.
We already have in the Regional of Venda Nova, the Administrative City of the State Government. The streams are being channeled with every environmental care kept in mind, some have even been redirected into parks. Soon we will have the Catholic Church’s Cristo Rei Cathedral, whose construction has already begun, with a large cross set on location.
The breakthrough in improving regional cleanup is visible. Avenues like the Várzea da Palma, the old Sanitária and Avenida Álvaro Camargos make access faster, safer and easier to all districts of Venda Nova. Its subway transports thousands of passengers every day.
I invite anyone interested to visit the neighborhoods that make up the Regional Administration of Venda Nova and witness for themselves the numerous improvements that the place is going through. As an end note, I recommend for lunch the canteen Baanas on Javaés Street, which offers the Capixaba seasoning and as confirmed by a colleague of ours, the food is delightful. Enjoy!
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