Not Ready for the Rain

Amphibious vehicles? A taxi and a motorcycle make their way
thru the deep waters of the Santa Fe neighborhood.

Bicyclists do better in the water,
thanks to their taller, skinnier wheels.

You'd think that's the city the engineers who designed Bogotá's streets had in mind when they included these huge depressions at major intersections, creating lakes during every heavy rain.

Except that it does rain in Bogotá, and I don't suppose that anybody wanted streets to turn into lagoons. Instead, one suspects that an unethical contractor ripped off the city and citizens by using inadquate fill under the roads.

Who's gonna sue those contractors? The same city which approved their lousy work?

Not likely.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Bogotá's Own High-Line*

Children play ball in the new Parque Bicentenario, with the Biblioteca Nacional in the background.

Five years late and undoubtedly way over budget, El Parque Bicentenario was inaugurated last Friday, giving Bogotanos a new place to hang out, if not more green space.

The park was envisioned for 2010, the bicentennial of Colombia's founding. However, design changes and a lawsuit by neighbors delayed the project until this year - when Colombia is 207 years old.

The concept of a public space above Calle 26 connecting Independence Park and to the Museum of Modern Art was originated by famed Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona, who died in 2008. The new park is supposed to right a historic wrong: Parque de la Independencia, created in 2010 to host the World's Fair, has suffered repeated amputations as avenues slashed thru its western and southern sides. Ironically, the new Parque Bicentenario took yet another bite out of Independence Park because its elevation required the construction of access ramps and stairways on its northern side. Building those meant eliminating

A romantic moment in the park.

grassy space and cutting down several trees, and prompted an unsuccesful lawsuit by residents of the Torres del Parque on Independence Park's other side. The new park's great cost also made me wonder whether the couldn't have better spent the money creating a conventional park in some other, disadvantaged part of the city.

But that's all in the past. Parque Bicentenario is now finished, and the city has created a pleasant area for relaxing, reading, and perhaps small concerts or theatre events. It's an area of stairways and winding paths bordered by small gardens. When I visited on Monday afternoon, the Bicentenario was active with couples and families sitting, tossing balls around and taking photos, while security guards warned people not to stand on the benches. But the popularity may just be novelty. I'm not sure what will draw people here, except the promise of a quiet spot to walk or sit and read or kiss. But you can find those same things a few meters away in Parque de la Independencia, wher you can also lie on the grass and let your dog run around.

The park's entrance on Carrera Septima.

I also wondered why the designers included so many stairways where wheelchair-friendlier ramps would have worked just as well (perhaps to discourage skateboarding and bicycle riding). And what will happen during rainstorms, when torrents of water will flow down into Parque de la Independencia, turning its grass into muddy pits. And Bicentenario's paucity of trash cans also seems strainge. Sure, it's best to pack out what you pack in, but that's not Colombian culture. Hope not to see this park littered with pop cans and cigarrette butts.

In a few months, will this new park be forgotten by most Bogotanos and taken over by potheads, beggars and skateboarders? Let's hope that city officials remember to fund activities here to keep this an active place.

*For anybody who doesn't follow New York urban developments, the High Line is popular new park their built on top of an old, raised trolley line.

Calle 26 traffic passing underneath the park.

A family in the park.

A rare sight: Trash cans.

A light festival at night.

The original Parque de la Independencia, now much reduced.

Learn about the park's and neighborhood's histories.

Crowds at the Parque Bicentenario´s Inauguration.

At night, the park's lights create a show against the hills.

Ramps and stairways sliced into neighboring Parque de la Independencia.

Lots of rules, as always.

Why stairs, instead of ramps?

Nearby, the iconic Torre Colpatria.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

A Sound Project?

On this rotunda, or traffic island, at the frantic corner of Carrera 3 and Calle 19, the city plans to install the city's first audible artwork.

At a public information meeting held this evening in La Candelaria, I asked a functionary how in the

Can you hear it?

world anybody would here the noises amidst the honking cars, yelling drivers and roaring buses.

"That's the challenge," the functionary admitted.

And yes, it will be a challenge, perhaps an insurmountable one.

At the end of each hour, the artwork is supposed to project the sounds of birds tweating toward two neighboring spots across multiple lanes or traffic: the entrance to the Las Aguas TransMilenio station and the sidewalk in front of the Colombo-Americano center. That begs the question of why they don't instead install loudspeakers in the sidewalk at these spots. The answer: This is art.

Other challenges will include the dogs and homeless people who inhabit the spot and aren't great respecters of artwork.

Quite a spot for a soundwork.

Work is projected to start in about 15 days and last about a month, so expect the installation to be finished by year's end - if they hurry.

The work, to be called 'Scene Under Construction,' is by Oswaldo Maciá, a Cartagena native who lives in London. Maciá's was selected from among 72 proposals for the spot. It is Bogotá's first 'sonic sculpture.'







Here's an update:

Photo taken in November 2016. Nothing's here - mercifully. But who pocketed the money?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Reaching for the Sky, Forgetting the Ground?

Trouble on the ground? The unfinished BD Bacata just became the tallest tower in Colombia.

According to news reports, the BD Bacata Tower, being built by the intersection of Carrera 7 and Calle 19, just became the tallest skyscraper in Colombia, surpassing the 48-story, 196-meter Torre Colpatria, on Carrera 7 and Calle 26.

Reaching for the sky: An artist's
rendering of the BD Bacata tower.

I suppose that this is something to be proud of - despite some development researchers' observations that the construction of arrogantly tall buildings often anticipates economic swoons. 

The Bacata's website boasts about the project's urbanistic positives - mostly the fact that its central location won't contribute to sprawl and will reduce travel times to reach it. Those certainly are pluses, as is the potential to use public transit in the area. 

But none of that obviates the need for planning and investment to keep the surroundings livable and transit in the area functioning - things that aren't often the case now, even without this immensity. 

The 66-story BD Bacata will contain a parking lot, shopping mall, offices, apartments and a 364-room hotel. None of those are designed for poor people. Sadly, even with the area's wealth of bus service, most of the complex's users will likely arrive by car, snarling the chaotic traffic on Calle 19 and the narrow secondary streets. (Carrera 7 is currently pedestrian-only during the day.) 

Central Bogotá's skyline, with the Bacatá on the left.

While the Bacata's construction is advancing rapidly, I've seen exactly no, (zippo, 0, nada) transit improvements nearby to prepare for the onslaught of vehicles which this city-in-a-building will generate. In a rational city, of course, the Bacata's builders would be required to contribute to TransMilenio and-or light rail lines to expand the capacity of the adjoining avenues.

I won't even speculate about the capacity of nearby water, sewer and electricity service, nor mention the lack of nearby green space. And, how about urban renewal of the adjoining blocks, which are quite seedy? Will the Bacata's residents and users dare to walk a block outside the building, or immediately take refuge in a private vehicle - compounding perpetual traffic jams?

In an interesting aside, the Bacatá claims to be the world's first crowd-funded skyscraper.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Mystery of the Sinister Sculptures Solved

I've long wondered about the history of these spooky, haunting sculptures along Carrera 3 behind the Jorge Tadeo University. There's no plaque or other clue about their history.

My mystery was solved recently by a September 1988 edition of Magazin, El Espectador's old Sunday supplement, which I bought from a sidewalk vendor off of Carrera Septima near Las Nieves church. It turns out that the specters are the work of Cuban-American sculptor Galaor Carbonell (born Havana, 1938; died Miami, 1992) during the mid-1980s.

Sadly, Magazin critic Juan Manuel Roca thoroughly pans the statues. "Few times has our view been so attacked, has the scenery been so depraved," he writes. Roca goes on to call the sculptures rigid and inert and without imagination.

"What the devil were they thinking...?" when they placed the statues here, Roca asks, adding: "it's an aggression against public space, against the spectators' eyes."

Carbonell's death only four years later might well have been accelerated by this attack.

Whatever the value of Roca's opinions, the sculptures have survived (except for one, which is missing) and become a point of reference in the neighborhood. Nobody seems to mind them, or perhaps even to notice them.

I like Carbonell's works, even if they don't beautify this particular corner. But they move one to stop and reflect a bit upon unworldly visitors to this unexceptional corner of Bogotá.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Photo of the Day: The Aquatic Car

During recent days, Bogotá has experienced some intense rains (altho they usually don't last long).

Even tho Bogotá should be used to rain, the city obviously isn't prepared for it, as this scene proves. Water pools up in low places, producing urban lakes.

This taxi, however, didn't seem to mind too much, and continued on its wet way.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

It's Ugly, But It's Progressing

The view from the Museo de Arte Moderno.

The long-delayed platform being built over Calle 26, connecting Parque de la Independencia to the Museo de Arte Moderno, is finally taking shape. 

The project, which was halted for a long time because of a lawsuit by neighbors concerned about damage to the park, is far from perfect. Because the platform is several meters above the park level, it serves as much as an obstacle as a bridge. It's hard to see how they'll construct access to the platform without cutting another slice out of the park.

This area used to be green park. Will they cement it over to create access to the platform?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Finally, a Bridge to Somewhere

Concrete beams and a construction crane to lift them across Calle 26, where they will connect Parque de la Independencia to the modern art museum.

After a multi-year legal battle between the city and neighborhood residents, work has finally restarted on the bridge over Calle 26, between Parque de la Independencia and the Museum of Modern Art.

Neighbors had sued to stop the project, objecting in particular to the way it invades the park. It was halted for years while the court battle played out. The neighbors are right about the project's poor design. But, now that it's been started, it seems like the best solution is to finish it once and for all. The long-suffering park used to be much larger, but sections were sliced off as the city built avenues on its western and southern sides.

The idea of expanding the park above the avenue came from famed architect Rogelio Salmona, who also designed the Torres del Parque behind the nearby bullfighting stadium. Ironically, many of those fighting the bridge project live in those towers.

The section of Calle 26 between Carrera 3 and Carrera 7 will be shut for three months while huge beams are lifted into place. The platform, which is to contain green space and areas for cultural activities, is supposed to be completed in early 2016.

Three neighborhood residents - part of the group which fought to stop the project - watch the construction.

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours