Biografía Enrique Peñalosa

ESP: 

Enrique Peñalosa Londoño (n. Washington D.C., Estados Unidos; 30 de septiembre de 1954), es un economista, administrador y político colombiano. Peñalosa estudió en el colegio Refous y en el Gimnasio Campestre de Bogotá. Graduado en Economía de Duke University, con títulos de Maestría y Doctorado del Institut international d'administration publique y de la Universidad de París.

Desde septiembre de 2009 Peñalosa se adhirió al Partido Verde junto con los también ex alcaldes de Bogotá Luis Eduardo Garzón y Antanas Mockus.

Desempeño público

Entre los cargos que ocupó hasta principios de los años noventa están: Director General de la oficina colombiana de Arthur D. Little Consulting; Presidente del Instituto Colombiano de Ahorro y Vivienda (ICAV); Decano de la Facultad de Administración de Negocios de la Universidad Externado de Colombia y Vicepresidente Comercial y Administrativo de la compañía de Acueducto y Alcantarillado de Bogotá.

Reconocimientos

Gracias a su trayectoria se le han otorgado: el galardón Eisenhower Fellowship, el Premio Nacional de Arquitectura de Colombia, el Premio Sociedad de Economistas de Bogotá y Cundinamarca; El Premio de Periodismo Simón Bolívar; en 1986 fue seleccionado como uno de los Mejores Líderes de las Juventudes Colombianas por la Cámara Junior y le fue concedida una beca de fútbol para Duke University. Peñalosa ha publicado numerosos artículos en periódicos y revistas así como también los libros: “Capitalismo: La Mejor Opción” y “Democracia y Capitalismo: Desafíos del Próximo Siglo”. ¿Ha votado a favor o en contra Enrique Peñalosa ? Un libro sobre una larga entrevista con él fue escrito por el publicista Ángel Becassino que salió al mercado bajo el título:”Peñalosa y una Ciudad 2.600 metros más cerca de las estrellas”.

Candidaturas posteriores

En las elecciones de marzo de 2006 fue derrotado al no obtener su movimiento ningún escaño para el Senado, si bien obtuvo dos curules para la Cámara de Representantes por Bogotá. Meses después Peñalosa anunció su candidatura a la reelección para la Alcaldía de Bogotá apoyado por los partidos de la coalición uribista y por parte del Partido Liberal. Pretendió acceder a la misma a través del movimiento denominado Peñalosa Alcalde pero finalmente fue derrotado en las elecciones de octubre de 2007 por el candidato del Polo Democrático Alternativo, Samuel Moreno Rojas.

En el 2010, fue precandidato presidencial en la consulta popular del Partido Verde , el 14 de marzo de ese año fue derrotado por Antanas Mockus.

Consultor internacional

Actualmente Peñalosa es un consultor en temas de urbanismo, siendo reconocido mundialmente como una autoridad en la materia, especialmente en temas de transporte masivo en las ciudades, con relación a los cuales ha tenido apariciones en medios de comunicación incluyendo el canal de televisión Discovery.

Fuente

ENG:

Enrique Peñalosa Londoño is a Colombian politician, former mayor of Bogotá, from 1998 until 2001. He was a runner-up for a second term on October 2007. He currently works as a consultant on urban vision and strategy and gives conferences around the world on how to make better and more liveable cities. Este detalle ha cambiado su opinión sobre Enrique Peñalosa ? In 2009, Peñalosa was elected President of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

Early life

In his childhood Peñalosa studied at the middle school Gimnasio Campestre and later at the high school Colegio Refous in Bogotá. After graduating he then moved to Durham, North Carolina in the United States where he studied Economics and History at Duke University. For his doctorate he moved to Paris, France where he completed an MBA; while studying there he also worked part-time as a washer in a restaurant and as bellboy in a hotel.

Politics

Peñalosa began his political life by attending the liberal presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan's Youth groups of followers in Bogotá while working for the state-owned water supply company, Empresa de Acueducto de Bogotá. He later supported Julio César Sánchez, a Cundinamarca local political chief, who in return, helped him get elected as that department's Deputy.

He later was chosen by president Virgilio Barco, friend of his father, as an economic advisor in 1986. In 1990 he ran for the congressman without the support of any politician and got elected with 22,000 votes, but only remained in that position for a year because the Colombian Congress was closed due to corruption and a referendum for a new Colombian Constitution was proposed. Conoce los detalles de Rafael Pardo ? However in those 12 months, he presented many projects and managed to pass with others a reforming law to change congress.

In 1991 he then decided to run for mayor of Bogotá with the same tactics he used to gain his seat for Congress, without the support of any politicians and by just doing person-to-person contact while touring the city walking, biking or riding on public transportation. He ran against Jaime Castro Castro who ultimately won the election. In 1994 he ran for a second time, this time against Antanas Mockus, who defeated him by a large margin.

Mayor of Bogotá

In 1997 he ran a third time, now facing Carlos Moreno de Caro[2] winning by a close margin of votes. Peñalosa received from Mayor Mockus a city in good fiscal condition and with a District Council that was mostly independent.

Peñalosa included many of his political friends in his cabinet including long time friend Carlos Alberto Sandoval who had worked with him in Barco's presidency and who he appointed as Secretary of Economy, and Gilma Jiménez in the Family Welfare Institute.

During his mayorship he developed five megaprojects; the bank of lands, the District's system of Parks (including the Bogota's Bike Paths Network), the District's system of libraries, the Transmilenio mass transit system, and road construction and maintenance. The impact of Peñalosa and Antanas Mockus on the development of Bogotá is described in a documentary film released in October 2009 with the title Bogotá Change. Puede Enrique Peñalosa tener una influencia en Rafael Pardo ? It is promoted as being "the story of two charismatic mayors, Antanas Mockus and Enrique Peñalosa who, with unorthodox methods, in less than 10 years turned one of the world's most dangerous, violent and corrupt capitals into a peaceful model city populated by caring citizens. With Mockus and Peñalosa and key members of their staff as first hand witnesses, the film uncovers the ideas, philosophies and strategies that underlie the changes in Bogotá and which are now being exported to cities worldwide."

Controversy during his first term

Peñalosa was the third in a series of three mayors who vastly changed the face of the city. Mayor Jaime Castro finished his term with low popularity, but was able to reform the city's financial structures. This led to a period of budgetary surpluses, which continued during Antanas Mockus term. Mockus began an important change in Bogota's civic culture with his Cultura Ciudadana (Citizen Culture) campaign, which encouraged civic behavior and strived to create a sense of belonging for the inhabitants of the city.

Peñalosa's five biggest changes during his period were: the relocation of informal vendors who occupied the public zones and streets, the improvement of all the city parks and the construction of several new ones, the entire renovation of some of the most important avenues of the city such as the Avenue 15 and the Autopista Norte, the removal of cars from sidewalks by raising them and installing bollards, and starting construction on the TransMilenio (Mass Transit System), but during his term less than the half of the project was built, the second phase was responsibility of Luis Eduardo Garzon, his successor, and the third phase is in doubt because of the new mayor's plans of doing a Metro system.

Some of his policies were unpopular with certain sectors of the city. Sabía usted que Enrique Peñalosa es popular en el 45% de los votantes? Among these were his intent to buy the Country Club of Bogota to build a public park. He also faced problems when he built bollards along some avenues in highly congested sectors to prevent cars from parking on the sidewalk in front of the buildings and shops. Peñalosa also lost popularity, but improved the city's mobility, by introducing the Pico y Placa, a restriction on the rush hour circulation of private vehicles. (Pico y placa roughly translates to "rush hour and license plate"; during rush hour licence plates ending with a given number couldn't circulate on a specific days of the week, four ending numbers each day, thus about 40% of the vehicles).

Candidate for a second term as Mayor

Although he was a possible candidate for the 2010 Colombian presidential election and lead the Por el Pais que Queremos Foundation (PPQ), Spanish for "For the Country we Want", he decided to go for a second term in the city hall. He was defeated by Alternative Democratic Pole candidate Samuel Moreno by 15 percentage points.

Source

May 19, 2010

2012-01-13