Corruption Accomplishes Something

Jumpin' Jack Flash

During his last year as mayhor, Gustavo Petron built this nice wooden platform along Calle 26 across from the Central Cemetery and furnished it with tables and chairs for folks to sit around or enjoy lunch. Despite the noise and pollution from the adjoining avenue, the area was actually used - for about a month, until the tables and chairs all disappeared.

Further west along Calle 26, the city build similar platforms, but these were never even furnished.

The whole project stank badly of an administration ladeling out public money to friendly contractors - no matter the usefullness of the work- which is a long-winded way to say 'corruption'. (They also installed bike racks in a place where nobody would want to park a bike -which racks were promptly stolen.)

But the public expense has not been completely useless. The wooden platforms have become popular skateboard parks, as these photos attest. And the huge city-funded murals don't harm the visuals at all.

The below scenes, further west along Calle 26, with backdrops of murals by Toxicomano y DJLU, are in a stretch where the Petro administration built wooden platforms, but never did anything at all with them. Is that corruption compounded by mismanagement?

Happy skateboarding!

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Wasted Space on Calle 26

Jaime Garzón, the martyred comedian, now behind barbed wire.

A handy dumpsite.

A few years ago, when the city began work on the TransMilenio line for the Calle 26, they demolished houses and businesses on both sides of the street. What did they need the space for? It wasn't clear.

But the answer's now obvious: They didn't need the space for anything.

Predictably, the empty lots the city left on both sides of Calle 26, just west of the Central Cemetery, became illegal dumping grounds, providing ugly foregrounds for the huge murals the city has sponsored there. In response, the city is now fencing the empty lots off with concrete posts and barbed-wire.

This sad jaguar and miner
will soon be fenced in.

My prediction: Within a few weeks, the barbed wire will get stolen and the dumpers will move in again.

Isn't there a better use for this land? How about green space? Lots of locals would find these areas useful for dog-walking or pick-up futbol games.

The folks who saw their homes and businesses needlessly demolished must be shaking their heads - and their fists.

A few days ago, these feet murals
were walking on trash piles.

Why did this happen in the first place? I can only speculate. Incompetence? Bad planning? Or did someone with influence own a demolition company?

Pulling barbed wire.

Stringing up barbed wire.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Avenue of Sad Sculptures

La Rebecca reaches futiley for water on a dry island amidst trash. 

It was supposed to be an avenue of art, welcoming visitors on their way from the airport to central Bogotá in style.

But neglect, time and weather and the mistakes of city workers, have turned Bogotá's 'art avenue' into a sad spectacle. 

The concept was created in 1991, entitled el Museo Vial, according to El Tiempo, altho several of the works were created before that. 

The Ala Solar, donated by Venezuela,
is now a skeleton against the sky. 

Perhaps the most pathetic piece is the Ala Solar, or Solar Wing, located on 26th St. near the National Prisons Institute, INPEC. The sculpture, created in 1975 by Venezuelan artist Alejandro Otero and donated to Colombia by the Venezuelan government, was part of a series including other works located in Venezuela, Washington D.C. and Italy. The original sculpture included many pieces of metal, which have since been stolen and sold to scrap dealers. Today, the sculpture could be mistaken for a framework for a construction project, or perhaps a support for a lost billboard.

Across 26th from the Central Cemetery is a bust of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan, the leftist, populist politician assassinated in 1948. The bust, by sculptor Bernardo Vieco Ortiz, is in good shape. However, it was removed and replaced during the work on the 26th St. Transmilenio line. El Tiempo reports that the bust had originally been placed with its back to the Central Cemetery, symbolizing the fact that, for political reasons, Gaitan was not buried. When the bust was returned, it was placed facing the cemetery.

This cement platform a kilometer west of the
Ala Solar looks like it ONCE carried a sculpture. 

Near the Central Cemetery, however, stands perhaps Bogotá's most best-known piece of outdoor art - the huge 'fat man on a fat horse' by sculptor Fernando Botero, outside of the Parque del Renacimiento. And the huge, empty mausoleums in the block just west of the Central Cemetery are decorated with images of people carrying stretchers - a haunting memorial to the victims of Colombia's armed conflict. 

Finally, somewhat hidden in a concrete plaza at Carrera 13 and 26th is La Rebecca, a nude woman kneeling to collect water. The artist is unknown, according to Wikipedia, but the sculpture has suffered a lot. The sculpture was installed in 1926 in what was then the Parque Centenario, created for the centennial of Simon Bolivar's birth. But during the following decades the park lost sections as avenues were sliced thru around it. The park's other sculptures were moved to the Parque Nacional, but La Rebecca remains, pathetically reaching out toward a pool of dirty, trash-strewb water. City officials are considering moving La Rebecca to the nearby Parque de la Independencia, El Tiempo reports. 

Bogotá has nearly 500 pieces of public art, many of which are deteriorating. The city's partimony department says that during 2013 it will concentrate on restoring the 50 or so pieces located in Bogotá's historical center. 

This bust of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan across from the Central Cemetery was removed for TransMilenio construction and then put back. Gaitan, a fiery communist, may feel unformfortable beside a marketing billboard. 

When Gaitan was put back he was set facing the Central Cemetery - even tho the sculptor wanted Gaitan with his back to the cemetery, where he could not be buried. 

Some real, new art on 26th St. - great street murals near Ave. Septima.

Stencils on these empty mausoleums along 26th St. represent victims of Colombia's conflict. 

'Life is sacred.'

Near the Central Cemetery stands Bogotá's only Botero sculpture in a public space.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours