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Federal Prosecutor Rips Rio Olympic Planning, 'White Elephant' Venues

A federal prosecutor looking into last year's Rio Olympics said that many of the venues "are white elephants" that were built with "no planning," according to Wade & De Almeida of the AP. Many of the venues are empty, boarded up and have no tenants or income, with the maintenance costs "dumped on the federal government." Federal Prosecutor Leandro Mitidieri said, "There was no planning. There was no planning when they put out the bid to host the Games. No planning. They are white elephants today. What we are trying to look at here is to how to turn this into something usable." Rio de Janeiro spent about $12B to organize the Games. The Olympic Park in suburban Barra da Tijuca, which was the largest cluster of venues, is an "expanse of empty arenas with clutter still remaining from the Games." The second largest cluster, in the northern area of Deodoro, is closed "despite plans to open it as a public park with swimming facilities for the mostly poor who live in the area." Nine months after the Rio Olympics ended, the local organizing committee still owes creditors about $30M (AP, 5/23).

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