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Who’s on their payroll? What your Council Members don’t want to share.
Here’s what happened with an experiment I ran with the new council members in 2016.
In Florianópolis, each council member had a gross monthly budget of R$15,759.66/month to hire between 4 and 10 advisors.
To promote transparency and public participation, in early November 2016, I sent an email suggesting they adopt an open and transparent selection process. The goal was to avoid political favoritism, foster accountability, and give well-qualified individuals a fair chance at these positions.
But this wasn’t just any email. I included a “reading check” to track how many times the email was opened and who actually read it. The results? Some politicians opened it multiple times, while others didn’t even bother. I also tracked the response rate—let’s just say I’re still waiting for answers from most of them.
Do you still remember who you voted for? Why not ask them to publicly share who their advisors will be and what roles they’ll have? Transparency starts with us.
(Original posted in portuguese)
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Silicon Island, Medieval Sewers
The sewer system is scheduled to be implemented in Ratones—a neighborhood surrounding Florianópolis’ largest watershed—by 2032.
Currently, most homes rely on traditional septic tanks or discharge directly into the water system, much like other neighborhoods in the city. It feels like we’ve skipped a few steps in our complex journey toward becoming a better society.
We bypassed the Middle Ages and now aim to be the Silicon Island. Yet, we have the worst water quality among Brazilian capitals and are 20 years behind when it comes to sewage and waste management.
However, I believe this could be an excellent opportunity to innovate and become a reference in sanitation and waste management technology. But in a culture that has never prioritized these issues, it would take more than 20 years for people to change spontaneously. That’s why I believe in public policies to transform our Medieval mindset.
This is the only topic that interests me in these elections. I spent this rainy Sunday analyzing candidates’ proposals and found people who share this concern, I found just one, whose platform includes the following goal:
“Advocating for decentralized and ecological sanitation systems with biological filters in small stations, as well as encouraging efficient household systems such as wetlands, banana circles, dry toilets, evapotranspiration basins, etc.”
The “etc.” here should really include “throwing the s**t at the fan” by holding the Medieval criminals still sitting in the Chamber, City Hall, Fatma, and Casan accountable—those who have achieved only 15% of their annual sanitation goals for the past 20 years.
