"Just as I will not cheat on my wife, so I will not cheat on Klish" • Holiday interview with Nir Shuver, a member of the city council

(haipo) - Councilor Nir Shuver, 38, married to Lara and father of two, is undoubtedly one of the most colorful local politicians we have. Shuver was one of the owners of the "Heina" cafe in Gan Shmuel, which many parents liked to go to, both because of the coffee and because of the adjacent playground. In his last days at the cafe, Shuver announced that he was starting a public activity for the benefit of the city, and did not hide his hope that he would reach the mayor's chair on Hassan Shukri Street.

Shuver supported Mayor Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem, who appointed him to the position of her assistant after the elections in October 2018. The communal council led to his dismissal, and when Naama Lazimi entered the Knesset and vacated her seat on the city council, Shuver entered as a council member. Since then he has been fighting for the small businesses in the city, holding The SFA portfolio (improving the appearance of the city) and does a lot to strengthen local tourism in Haifa.

Shuver is very active on social networks and in the various Haifa groups. It seems that every time a resident of the city complains about something in Haifa, another resident immediately stands up and tags Nir in order for him to give the answer.

"I'm very upset that I can't reach everyone. I receive inquiries in every possible media, I advertise my phone number everywhere. I'm completely available to the public."

Shuver is not the first in his family to work for our city. "My grandfather worked with the mayor Abba Khushi, my grandfather and his brother came to Israel in the 30s from Germany and were part of the construction of the city. They were active in the Histadrut. Their sisters stayed in Germany and did not join the immigration to Israel, and died in the Holocaust."

Where do you see yourself after the municipal elections in a year?

"It is important for me to be deputy mayor in a year, because as a deputy I will be able to do much more for the residents. Leave the salary, the fact that you have an office with an assistant, a secretary and all this envelope, allows you to provide a much better response to the residents, and that is very important to me."

Do you have a bet who will be the next mayor in the elections on October 23?

"Who will be the next mayor? I think it's too early to say. I'm busy being deputy mayor in the next election."

Doesn't your wife get mad that you run around all day for the residents and at the end of the month there is no salary?

"Council members do not earn money. My wife and I are a team. Before I entered politics, I asked my wife if my public activity was acceptable to her, and I explained to her that the family would be involved and she approved. I would not do it without her consent.

I will give you an example of what is meant by the family being involved. There is a hardship for the residents of Yair Katz Street. They were used to the Hogi high school and now, because of the David Yelin elementary school located in the building of the old Hogi school, there are a lot of vehicles. Parents of children in grades 1 and 2 bring their children and pick them up and these cars make life difficult for the street dwellers. Ilanit, the manager, does "gun and go", the parent leaves the child at the entrance to the street and drives away, but there are still many vehicles that enter and it is very disturbing."

"Not long ago, on Friday, I stood with Lara outside the school to pick up Ben, and a neighbor stands at her window and yells at me for going to restaurants and she saw it on Facebook, and I don't take care of the problem of the street dwellers. She yelled at me from the window, in front of my whole family and in front of everyone The parents who were there. I understand the plight of the street dwellers, and still, there is a way to turn to me and ask for help. Because I am an elected official, people feel that I am their property."

"I'm really saying, I'm a projector for the residents. I work for everyone who pays property taxes here. I fought this week for a plan to pass the planning and construction committee, for an elevator that should be erected for unhealthy people. Someone who has been attacking me for years on the networks called me and asked me if now I I will deal less with his problem, in this elevator, because he repeatedly goes against me and I said absolutely not.

My main work is with small businesses. I try to be in the field as much as possible. There are very good employees in the municipality and also good managers, despite the name they got. In the end people just need that little connection. Sometimes the residents just need the connection to the correct department in the municipality and the problem is solved."

Do you understand the criticism of Einat?

I understand the criticism of the mayor, but results are examined at the end of the term and the mayor is replaced only by ballot. They didn't even give her 100 days of grace. I really think that because she is a woman it was more difficult for her. The first term of the previous mayors Yona Yahav and Amram Mitsna was difficult, and so was hers. I think there are many good things in the city. I really like the proliferation of tours in the city, for example in the Wadi, on Hanamal Street, going down by cable car to Nahal Saadia, a company from Tel Aviv that does tours in the Talpiot market and competes with veteran hifis. Domestic tourism is charming in my eyes.

I was recently appointed a board member at the Haifa Tourism Association. There is a lot to do in tourism. I think that many hotel rooms are missing here and also a strip of hotels, hotels with trade below and parking lots. I think the southern entrances of Haifa need to develop."

Will you support the mayoral bid next year?

"If Einat finally announces that she is running, I will consider supporting her. I am a loyal person, and just as I will not betray my wife Lara, I will not betray Klish either. Klish gave me the first opportunity when she appointed me to be her assistant and later as a council member, and I will support her .

What about the director of engineering and construction in the city?

"I have a criticism of the city engineer, and I told Ariel that. I greatly appreciate him and he saved lives with the Pfizer complex in Neve Shanan. There will be new apartments there, an urban renewal complex at the end of Hanita Street. I was very proud of him because at first he resisted, and after that He realized the benefits of building there and changed his mind.

It is very important to me that people understand that I don't want to build without thinking. I am against TMA'ot in the neighborhoods, it is a disaster. What happened following the TMA'ot to the Carmelia neighborhood and Habiva Reich street in Ramez is very problematic in my eyes. High-rise construction can only be on the axis of the ridge, from the university to Tschernakhovsky Street. The vision of Abba Khushi, who broke through the Carmel neighborhoods, must be continued. We need to create a mix of uses with light public transportation, a cable car, metro, and this is my vision. I want to see people walking in Moria and enjoying commerce and entertainment on the first floor and above high-rise residences.

I really do not think that it is necessary to build in the neighborhoods for height. In the area of ​​the missile building, perhaps it is possible to build a little higher, but beyond that, I don't like the 30-story towers in Neve David. I understand the feasibility, but it's jarring and the Neve David penthouse almost reaches Vizzo Street in Carmelia, and it's not fair to have a tower in front of you, after you bought an apartment with a view for the best of your money."

It is impossible to end an interview for the holiday in Haifa without talking about the pigs.

"I didn't deal with the issue of pigs. I mainly deal with business promotion. The place of pigs is not on the streets, but only in the wadis. They need to be taken off the streets, there's no doubt about that. The goal is to copy them. The disobedient ones need to be killed, we need to say that clearly Studies both in the world and here show that the hunting of the pigs actually increases the birth rate. I really appreciate that since Klish has been mayor, there has been a long learning process here at a cost of millions. Millions are being invested to eradicate the problem. I think this is brave, right and not populist. Our goal is to close the "buffet" called Haifa. I live in the center of Carmel, I used to have pigs near the house and today there are none anymore. Because the bins are fixed, far fewer pigs come.

There are dozens of pig feeders in Haifa, with some of whom we end up in court. In addition to that, there are irresponsible people, who feed cats in an irrational way. The moral duty is to feed cats, I myself do it, but you have to feed correctly. You put the food in the dish, and when the cat finishes, you take the dish."

There are many claims that the city is not clean

"I see that over 100 working hands are missing in the cleaning department. I say in the clearest way, until there are no more cleaning workers, the city will not be clean enough. In all the cities in Israel, the cleaning workers are an external company. Only in Haifa the cleaning workers are municipal employees, and I I support this step that the municipality took, when it absorbed the cleaning workers and greatly improved their wage conditions. At the same time, I believe in the business market and I have said this many times. I am in favor of privatization. Nothing will happen if external cleaning workers help the cleaning workers. If we want For the city to be clean, there is a lack of cleaning workers. We need more working hands here."

Compared to other politicians, sometimes you don't seem to mince your words.

"I'm not an ordinary politician, I say what I think. Sometimes I regret it. Because I'm emotional, there are things that can drive me crazy and then I say things that maybe in retrospect I shouldn't have said. For example, what happened to me with Councilwoman Sharit Golan Steinberg, I have since apologized for that. She threw something into the air that hurt me. I started talking to her badly and I regretted it very much. She said that I went with a ticket from the municipality, which is intended for the lone soldiers to the Maccabi Haifa game. I took a picture with the soldiers in a booth in the stadium and they made a salad there. Of course , I paid full price for the ticket. It was important to me that they know that I paid for the ticket and God forbid I took tickets intended for single soldiers, who does such a thing...? It's not my style.

I'm sorry for the way I spoke to her. When things are thrown at me that are lies, I sometimes get angry and say things that would be better left unsaid. I'm not disrespecting anyone, but sometimes the opposition council comes ready to film a section of things and use it one after the other, and it seems that's what's most important to them. They say things according to what interests the public that day. When I hear all kinds of populism, it bothers me. There are those whose dosage is excessive. Sometimes I get angry, but I'm already much calmer than I was, I think I've grown up."

Which of the things you've done are you most proud of?

The proposal for order that I am most proud of is the rescue of Nahal Saadia. Thanks to this proposal, we received almost two million NIS for the restoration of the river. I am a friend of the environmental activist Eric Drobot, who fights for the river. Thanks to this, the complex will become a nature reserve. In order for sewage not to flow into the creek, they closed a pirate factory, which was on the banks of the creek. There were criminals who connected to the municipal sewer and poured contaminated materials there, and we worked to put an end to it.

If in another year there will be a mayor and not a cliché, will you cooperate with him?

Currently, of all those who have announced their intention to run for mayor, no one can be mayor of Haifa. With all my love and respect for them, they will not be mayor. I am a member of Mapai, we know how to work with everyone. Obviously, no matter who the mayor is, I will work with everyone. Right now, in front of all the contenders, I have no doubt that Klish continues for another term. There is something I don't understand. What is this section In the rule of coalition and opposition in the city council. There should be a coalition of 31 council members, what is an opposition in the city council? Everyone should cooperate with every mayor. Anyone who wants to be a partner in the action, enters to be a partner.

Klish appreciates the Greens and also the other members of the council. Klish is a green herself, that's how she started, this was her motivation to enter local politics. Sometimes it seems to me that the greens because they argue about every project, in the end they cause greater damage to the environment. Let's just look at the street I live on, Megiddo Street. Here is a project by Gad Zeevi. There was supposed to be one tall building and that's it. Because of the objections of the greens, there will be 3 towers and a half in Megiddo and not one tower. It would have been much more correct to build one or two towers rather than four buildings, which would hide the entire view from us.

You probably know that there is talk in town that you owe money to people

The business conflict that was in Haina, the cafe I was one of the owners of, is over. It's a company's debts that I took responsibility for. I could go bankrupt in a minute, and I decided to pay everyone down to the last shekel. The situation I found myself in, I deal with it like a big one, and I will continue to pay whoever I owe to get the money. These are shekels, nonsense.

Are there other areas in the city that you would like to see as recreation areas?

I think the night life should be helped to flourish more. It's a bit of an innovative idea, but I would like to develop an oil beach. Shemen Beach is near the sea and without houses and neighbors, who might be disturbed by the noise and smell of cooking. It could become the Haifa station complex. This area can be an integral part of the downtown. There can be clubs and hangars. Currently, Achi Eilat street in Kiryat Haim is more busy than any other street in the city. Kiryatians know how to enjoy themselves.

The Haifaites compared to the residents of Kiryat Haim and the Kiryats in general spend their time in restraint. Waiting for Friday. Precisely in Kiryat Haim it is stunning. The theater there is flourishing. You walk on the beaches, it's fun, a lot of people on the streets, they know how to have a good time. Businesses should be supported. There are places in the world where the municipality offers 100,000 NIS to 10 people who will set up clubs, and this is how you can start entire complexes. For a city, a million NIS is not a lot of money.

Any more ideas?

I am working to bring Zara to glory. I want Zara to open a branch in Hadar, it will contribute a lot to the local economy. We need more chains in the streets. Put some big chains in the streets and take them out of the malls.

In a month, an offer will be made to my order for the establishment of a night market on Halutz Street in Hadar. Business owners will start renting all the abandoned shops on this street. Actually the dying of Rehov Halutz is its advantage. I am investing a lot of resources in order to connect this street to other complexes. Herzl and Halutz Street, which breaks the consumer, it was our Grand Canyon, and there is no reason why it should not flourish again.