Sanity in Rio

I inexplicably missed this gem from yesterday's New York Times (thanks to BC for calling it to my attention.)

BRAZIL: GOVERNOR VETOES WALL AROUND RIO SLUMS
The governor of Rio de Janeiro has revoked a plan approved by the state legislature to build a wall six-and-a-half-feet high along some main thoroughfares in the city of Rio to block them off from squatter slums. Lawmakers had endorsed the proposal in order to shield motorists from the gun battles that often break out between drug trafficking gangs in the slums and to obstruct robbers who take to the roads and assault commuters. But the governor, Rosinha Mateus, said in her veto of the measure that the plan "would be a form of discrimination against good citizens who make up the vast majority of these communities."

It's great to know that some politicians understand that you can't wall off one-fifth of a city's residents.