Don't drop the potato - São Paulo

Praça das Araucarias, Largo da Batata

On my way home from the "gringalhada" (the monthly meeting of gringas) yesterday in Cidade Jardim, I passed by this, possibly the saddest "praça" or square in São Paulo. There is some competition from a skateboard park called Roosevelt near Republica Square. But I won't set foot there as it seems if not dangerous, more than a little seamy. Even after renovations last year.

I've talked about Largo da Batata before. It's on the way to my kids' school. I walk through it frequently on the way back from dropping them off, or when I occasionally take the yellow line metro to things like Chinese New Year.  Its name roughly translates to "Potato Square" and was the site of a farmer's market of potato sellers long ago. Those farmers have since moved to the Mercado Municipal de Pinheiros, just down the street.

The square itself is one big tiled sadness. The only green is some poor decrepit new trees surrounded by orange fencing and a green square of grass. The grass mixed with hard-packed dirt fend off wrappers and dog crap and the flotsam and jetsam of city life. There is NO shade. There are electric wires and hoses coming mysteriously out of the ground as if a lamp was planned but discarded.

In case you don't know what an Araucária is, let me tell you. Araucárias are the giant monkey puzzle pine trees that take years to grow. They are protected--you cannot cut one down now, not even a dead one, without permission. 

Araucária in its happy place--the fazenda.

None of the new trees in the square are araucárias. A friend of mine, owner of a tree farm, has many araucária seedlings and she has even volunteered to donate small ones to the city. Instead these tiny saplings struggle.

There is not one bench in the square. Not one. Are they afraid there would just be bums sleeping? I don't know. Even if you could find shade, you can't sit in it. Recently I noticed and joined a community movement page on facebook called "Não largue da Batata" or "don't give up on the Largo da Batata." They are organizing events to bring life to the square--there is even yoga planned there for Friday night. I applaud their work and will be showing up to an event in the future. 

The square needs YOU!

As of now, I have not seen any of the "green changes" promised by the sub-mayor's office. In fact I find this title of an article from November 1, 2013 hilarious: "O verde toma conta da Praça das Araucárias" --"Green is taking over Araucária Square." What? Where? I guess this was to counter the article published in March 2013 that the araucárias planted in 2010 were all completely dead. The news in March was published by Arvores de São Paulo, one of my favorite blogs and worth checking out if you're a tree person.

Don't give up on the Potato.

Timber!! A Tree Execution - São Paulo

This was the scene on the roadway on my way to pick up my son from his capoeira lesson today. One lane of a big road was diverted as an old tipuana tree was being slowly cut down, branch by huge branch. It had finally invaded too much of the roadway and the electric wires, and was listing dangerously. There is a man on the middle of the final branches chainsawing the boughs and letting them fall to the roadway. The tree execution involved at least 20 people from the city crew, plus transit cops plus more than a few bystanders gaping open-mouthed.  A sad end to an old giant.

As I think I have mentioned in a previous blogs, roadside trees "belong" to the city. If you want to have them trimmed or cut down, you need to petition the city. You may then have to wait a long time to have the work done. When we had a request in to the city to trim a tree threatening our driveway, it took the city six months to show up, and then the crew waited two whole days, sitting and smoking and joking on the sidewalk curb, for the electric company to come and shut off power (required when near any electric wires--given the rat's nest of wires here, everything is). After all of the wait, the city crew left one decrepit old bough because they had found a bird's nest there--that's nice but of course they didn't come back to cut the rest when the birds had left the nest.  I await that bough's inopportune drop on my car any day.

By the way, the blue sign above the roadway is from the famous drive to report a robbery. It shows the 23rd Battalion of the Policia Militar - Headquarters. Do not attempt to report a crime of any kind there. Headquarters is not for us (which seriously makes me question why there is a sign!)

Trees, sidewalks and street life - São Paulo

Every Thursday morning I walk back home after Reading Mum (see post last week). It's about a 5 km/3 mile walk depending on the route I take. I try to vary my route every time, not only because a police man advised me to do so (that is a story for another day) for security reasons but because there is nothing like a walk for learning about a place. The latest discovery on my walk is that there exists in São Paulo a Center for Hellenic Studies. Who knew? Must investigate--I did love my Greek mythology.

The first part of the walk goes through what I call "gritty" Pinheiros. Office towers, small restaurants, mom and pop shops selling everything, people rushing to work from the metro. Next up is a stroll  through the feira (farmer's market) where I get calls to check out various veggies and fruits, as well as smell the fried pasteis (pasties, as the Brits call them) at 10 am (this does not make me hungry).

Then, all of a sudden after 2 km, the world changes. Trees are everywhere. I am in Alto de Pinheiros (know how there is Upper Nob Hill and Lower Nob Hill in San Francisco? This is Upper Nob Hill). The sidewalks change from concrete city sidewalks. In reality, sidewalks change in front of each house. Every house owner is responsible for putting sidewalks in front of their own house. You can choose the material. And the style. And so everyone does--and the sidewalk is a patchwork of tiles, and stones, and planks and concrete. You cannot ever run on a neighborhood sidewalk--you will for sure trip over the tiles or concrete slabs. Many of them are uneven because of trees that grow on the verge--the growing roots bubble and warp the sidewalk, a small earthquake that takes months and years to manifest itself.

This is one of my favorite ironies of São Paulo. The sidewalks must be built and maintained by each owner in front of their individual house. But the trees belong to the city. You may not cut down or even trim a tree in front of your house. Even if a branch sheers off to the last stringy part, you cannot cut it or you are liable for a large fine as per municipal law. If the roots of Haddad's trees (yes, I call the trees for our SP mayor--remember you pronounce it Ah-Dah-GEE which makes it fun), warp your sidewalk, too bad for you. You have to fix the sidewalk or face paying a fine because your sidewalk is dangerous. Unfortunately what this leads to (and this I have seen near my kids' school) is some residents cutting the roots of the trees under their sidewalks. They lift up each tile, cut the root, put the tile back. Tree murder.

I live in Pinheiros. I don't get too worked up about whether it is Upper or Lower Pinheiros. The neighborhood was named for the Araucaria pine trees which used to line the Pinheiros River and populate the neighborhood. In 2008, a local botanist did a study and found there are only 10 araucarias in Pinheiros, and they are all new and trying hard to survive in Praça Panamericana (Where are the Pinheiros of Pinheiros neighborhood?). In a 5 square mile area, there are 10 araucarias. Sad, no? They are beautiful (see photo below from the fazenda in Joanopolis).

While Pinheiros has many other trees (the lovely ficus pictured above is a recent settler, and is problematic in its size), São Paulo in general is under-treed. The city has four square meters of green space per inhabitant, with the recommended Urban Green space is 12 square meters (source:  Urban Nature). So we're lucky here in my neighborhood.

Ah, in case it comes up in Trivial Pursuit (does anyone still play that?), the official tree of São Paulo is the cambuci. And the official flower is the azalea.  I have seen lots of the latter, not many of the former. More research awaits me...