Colourful criticism for mayor at Rio de Janeiro street party Rio de Janeiro's mayor came in for some colorful criticism Saturday at the biggest of scores of pre-carnival street parties that took over the city. The day's highlight was the Simpatia e Quase Amor, or "sympathy and almost love," party in beachfront Ipanema, which drew tens of thousands of revellers but one person not getting any sympathy was Mayor Marcelo Crivella, whom carnival-goers accuse of giving the annual extravaganza a cold shoulder.