In today's Guardian newspaper concerning Help
[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/18/rio-copacabana[/url]
Have a read of this. I hope Help doesn't close. Where the paedophilia link comes from I don't know.
Agreed, the Avenida Atlantica needs a clean up; the famous wave motif tiles need a good scrub and some need replacing and attention to sprucing up the street furniture is needed.
More (active and uncorrupt) police on the streets late at night and patrolling would make visitors feel safer and deter street crime but I'm not sure if there is an un-corrupt Police Militar in the whole of Copacabana. New York has undergone a renaissance due to the last mayors increased spending on keeping streets clean, cleaning graffiti, repairing sidewalks and roads and coming down hard on anti-social behaviour. The problem is, Help is probably considered part of the problem, even though it is in a very small part of the beachfront and the problem is not with the girls and punters but with those who prey on them.
Globo article on cleaning up Copacabana
Wow, that article was all over the place in logic. It seems these uppity Brazilians are going to do for Copacabana what they did when they built Brasilia!
That article is proof that certain Brazilians just do not get it. The people quoted in the article made references to smells, drugs, etc., and then prostitution as if they all have something to do with the other.
Certain elements in Brazil have always focused on "modernization," by placing the blame for "backwardness" on others. I will guarantee these jerks quoted in the article are or will be in power in the suburb of Copa and in Rio in the future. They place the blame on others then pretend to "clean" things up in the name of the people!
who cares anyway? Prostitution in Copacabana will just move to other venues. And if no gringo ever set foot in Rio again, prositution will still be big time in Rio/Brazil, just ask Ronaldo.
TJ
Serious Issue -- Copied to Crime and Safety
[QUOTE=Sehns]** Police Scams **
Speaking of people preying on punters at help, I have been pulled over 4 times now while inside a taxi travelling from Avenida Atlantica to Ipanema by police.
They take you out of the car, Search your pockets, and if you have a prostitute with you they plant drugs on her or in the taxi and tell you you have to pay.
Has this happened to anyone else? Be careful guys, its beyond fucked.[/QUOTE]
This is a serious issue of which everyone should be aware. However, let's move the discussion of it to Rio de Janeiro -- Crime and Safety