Alckmin and Haddad make peace amidst the PT-PSDB war.

Marco Damiani _247 - At a time when the already strained relations between the PT and PSDB parties are deteriorating at the accelerated pace of the early presidential campaign, two of the most important figures from both parties are determined to break the chain of antagonism – Mayor Fernando Haddad and Governor Geraldo Alckmin have never been closer than now. More than just avoiding political spats, they are creating, in succession, objective facts involving millions of dollars in funding and major structural changes in a scenario in which they have a strategic interest: the largest city in Latin America.

In São Paulo, the city Haddad was elected to govern and from which Alckmin draws his largest source of votes, the two politicians have already signed no fewer than six agreements since the city's anniversary on January 25th. This Friday, the 26th, in a simple ceremony at the Palácio dos Bandeirantes, the two politicians appeared side-by-side again, this time joining forces to combat the crack epidemic plaguing the city. Initially, Alckmin established the compulsory hospitalization of users and addicts. Haddad criticized the measure. However, as the weeks passed, he adjusted his position until, through the agreement signed today, he added the municipal ambulance structure of SAMU (Mobile Emergency Care Service) and the network of 25 Psychosocial Care Centers for Alcohol and Drugs (CAPS-AD) to the state government's efforts to implement its policy. Conversely, anticipating an increase in the number of users and addicts admitted, Alckmin reserved an additional 100 beds in the state hospital network to meet the demand for referrals from municipal diagnostic and initial care centers.

"With the integration of the City Hall, we expect an increase in the number of hospitalizations, which has already reached 656 so far," projected the governor. "We are coordinating actions," summarized the mayor. "This is another important step for the capital," acknowledged Alckmin. Before the anti-crack agreement, both established a partnership for the construction of no less than 20 affordable housing units in the city center, for which the City Hall provides land and the state government cooperates in the construction. Among them are funds from the Union to help make viable a project with estimated costs of R$ 4,6 billion. In the neighborhoods, CDHU, the São Paulo state-owned company for affordable housing, is already starting to build 2,2 residences for which the City Hall will contribute at a rate of R$ 20 per unit.

Before the billion-dollar housing deal, the governor, a member of the PSDB party, and the mayor, a member of the PT party, appeared together to discuss municipal investments in the construction of 62 new daycare centers, the vast majority of which will be built on occupied land with state assistance. More than R$ 100 million is being invested in this area by the Haddad administration. "The governor's willingness to expedite the necessary expropriations will help us meet the goals of our government program in this regard," Haddad points out. Who would have thought, a member of the PSDB helping a member of the PT party achieve their goals!

So far, there's no sign of jealousy between them. On the contrary. The flow of daily phone calls only increases. And when they appear together, they both seem very comfortable. In practice, when the housing projects begin to be inaugurated, they will each have their own scissors to cut the celebratory ribbons, profiting, in their distinct fields, politically and electorally, from the good understanding.

In the sensitive area of ​​Public Security, Alckmin can now count on the Municipal Guard, controlled by Haddad, to engage in the so-called Delegated Operation, still restricted to the city's central area. "We are going to develop a common project and combine efforts," says the PT mayor. "There is a contingent of civil guards and military police officers who can, without prejudice to the work they currently perform, be reassigned to other activities, expanding the scope of the agreement."

This is also the case with flood control projects, for which the responsible state and municipal agencies communicate more regularly in order to act in a coordinated manner, and also in the public transportation sector, where the state and city will work together on the construction, estimated at R$ 137,5 million, of the East Perimeter corridor. This road project will extend beyond the limits of the capital and reach Greater São Paulo.

Meetings have already taken place between Alckmin and Haddad, involving ten state and municipal secretaries, creating new channels for dialogue. The cooperation that should be seen as normal for politicians elected from the same territorial base is, in Brazil, an absolute exception, even more so when one is a member of the PSDB party and the other is a member of the PT party. Amidst the partisan war, Alckmin and Haddad are showing that there can at least be some peace.