Barkat's Jerusalem Maintains Public Squares NOT The WC

Those of you who also read my blog A Jewish Grandmother know that I have a series of posts, Pishers' Guide to Jerusalem, about Jerusalem's public toilets, and recently my letter about their sorry state was in "In Jerusalem." 

Yesterday, although my recent visits to the large loo on floor "0" of the Jerusalem Municipality's Safra Square have been rather unpleasant, it was the most convenient, so I bit the bullet and got off the lightrail to use it. I was hoping that I'd get there soon enough after the infrequent cleaning and stocking, so I wouldn't have to search my bag for tissues while holding my nose.

Before going down the elevator, I just had to admire the new "furnishings" in the square and promised myself time to photograph them afterwards. The stink of old urine hit me as soon as I got out of the elevator in the hallway outside the toilets, but inside it was better, and there was toiletpaper at 5pm. 

Apparently, Mayor Barkat and his staff figure that the pedestrians and skateboarders are more valuable than "pishers." The square looks lovely. What do you think?

Relieved Not to be Involved in Dirty Municipal Elections

Today is Israel's "National Municipal Election Day."  Israel's cities and towns, from Beit El to Beit Shemesh, including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Efrat and Haifa are all holding elections today for Mayor and Town Council.

Polls are set to open in 191 municipalities around the country Tuesday, enabling 5,469,041 Israelis to exercise their democratic right to vote for a local government.

There have been all sorts of clever little public service ads on television, urging Israelis to get out and vote. We're told that it's the best alternative to "complaining." You have a "voice." That's a pun in Hebrew, since the same word  is used for "vote" as "voice," קול kole.  It's not an official "day off," aka democracy vacation, but since most polling booths are in schools, regular classes are affected.  I've been hearing from the media about "big sales" that will be in many large chains.  No details have been released prior to elections, since the owners do prefer that the customers buy at full price prior to elections.

local Shiloh elections
my archive

Unfortunately, one thing many of the municipal elections seem to have in common this time is talk of "dirty" campaigning. For me, that takes the fun out of elections.  I've always been fascinated by politics and campaigns, for as long as I remember.In Shiloh, I'm almost always on the election committee and set up the polling, conduct the actual voting and finally count the votes until late at night.  For whatever reason, people trust me and feel secure when I'm there supervising.

Shiloh isn't a city or even a town.  Legally it's a small village and is not governed by a mayor, so we don't have elections today.  Some yishuvim aka "settlements" have reached the required population size and have gone through the process to become cities.  They are electing their mayors today.

I've tried reading about the election campaign fight in Jerusalem, because it is Israel's Capital City, but with all the choice of lists for city council and candidates for mayor there isn't a single one I'd vote for.  We lived in Jerusalem for eleven years, and most of our children live in Jerusalem.  It's a city I know well, and I'm not at all encouraged by the politics going on there. The nastiness between Barkat and Lion are symbolic of the difficulties the city faces no matter who wins.

screen capture, Channel 2 News

Asked by the interviewer if he had anything positive to say about his rival, Lion was less magnanimous. “After three months of lies and slander by his campaign managers, I don’t even have one good thing to say about him,” he said.
Asked the same question, Barkat said he wished Lion well in his future moves — indicating his conviction that Lion, who only recently relocated to Jerusalem from his home town of Givatayim, would not be taking over at City Hall.

We need politicians who can work together for the common good.

Popular blogger Rafi of Life in Israel has been monitoring the elections in Beit Shemesh.  From my vantage here in Shiloh, it seems like Beit Shemesh is always suffering from campaign-like fever, since the three population sectors, secular/traditional,  chareidi and national religious are constantly competing for budgets, services and neighborhood domination.

All of this just reinforces the love I have of my community, Shiloh.  It may be a sleepy little town, but that's preferred over the alternative.

I haven't read or heard of a "pleasant" idealistic campaign anywhere.  If you do know of one, please tell me in the comments, thanks.

Will Olmert Ever Be Brought To Justice?

Police question Olmert for tenth time

I used to say that Olmert has collected so many secret files, like FBI's Hoover, that he's immune from prosecution.

Olmert must have ticked off some equally powerful people, since for the past few months there has been "battle" of sorts.

I think the Israeli public is sick and tired of him and all these repetitive headlines. Olmert's early political life was technically brilliant, except for one mistake when he allowed a quotation from him supporting Ehud Barak to appear in a Barak election promo. He was then Mayor of Jerusalem and in the Likud.

Things may get even more difficult for Olmert, since the new mayor-elect of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, has promised to totally investigate Olmert's legacy to Jerusalem, the lightrail, which has given new meaning to the phrase "hell on wheels."

Special Bus Lanes?

Jerusalem's Mayor-elect, Nir Barkat considers the Chelm-like lightrail construction just a way to totally bankrupt Jerusalem in more ways than one. The Arutz 7 site had a version of his plan, which didn't make sense to me.

Barkat Wants to Derail Light Train, Tear Down Bridge

(IsraelNN.com) Newly elected Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat said he wants to stop the light railway project and tear down the controversial Bridge of Strings. The high tech millionaire harshly criticized the mass transportation project, which has cost far more than originally budgeted. He said the money should have been invested in education and social projects.
Barkat also wants to tear down the Bridge of Strings, which is part of the delayed light railway system. The towering finger-like structure that has been greeted with widespread criticism for ruining the view of the city.

Barkat seems much too sensible to have make such statements. So I tried searching the other Israeli news sites until I found a more complete article. Much of the news on Arutz 7 is gleaned from sites which employ reporters, not just "summarizers." The Jerusalem Post has a few more details, which make more sense:

Barkat told reporters he would weigh "preferable alternatives" to the repeatedly-delayed light rail project in the city, which he defined as "megalomanic," including state-of-the-art buses to run where the track has already been laid.

Obviously, what's done is done, and now the smartest thing would be to figure out how to utilize it in the best and most financially wise interests of the city of Jerusalem.

At present, the neighborhoods in "stage one" of the lightrail are nightmares. You can see pictures here and here.