By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIO, BRAZIL – The Parque Radical (Radical Park) of Deodoro Sports Complex, one of the intended legacies of the Olympics for the residents living in Rio’s Zona Norte and Zona Oeste (North and West Zone), has been closed since the beginning of the new year.
The 500,000 square meter Olympic venue and park was opened to the public on December 23, 2015, and became the second largest leisure area of the city.
The use of the park was then taken over by the Rio 2016 Olympics organization from March until September 2016, when it was then reopened for public use.
Yet the company managing the site closed operations at the end of last year (2016). Local news outlets reported that the City Hall has started a new bidding process, but it was challenged by the Court of Auditors.
According to reports, the Municipal Office of the Civil House it has an interest in reopening the park, but is still trying to resolve the issue of bidding. This comes after recent news of the four Biblioteca Parque (Park Libraries) of Rio de Janeiro also closing on December 30th.
Unaware of the closure, many families went over the weekend to the park and found the gates locked. “We called friends and we were going to spend the whole afternoon at the pool. Everything went wrong,” resident of Irajá, Marcos Lázaro, told Poder Júridico news.
In December 2015, when the site’s water attractions were opened to the public, authorities stated it would benefit the more than 1.5 million residents of the surrounding neighborhoods of Campo dos Afonsos, Deodoro, Guadalupe, Jardim Sulacap, Magalhães Bastos, Parque Anchieta, Realengo, Ricardo de Albuquerque and Vila Militar.