Only two months After entering the mayor's office, Klish already stated in a tweet on Twitter that the municipality suffers from mental decay. That harsh statement was a double-edged sword when it became clear that mental rot was the central narrative of this unhappy tenure. In retrospect, the work planning of Kalish and Nachshon Tzuk for the term of 2018-2023 can be easily analyzed. In light of the results today, it is also easy to understand that the political concept behind this planning simply collapsed, why? Because this planning lacked one important element in which both Tzuk and Klish are incompetent, to say the least, in my opinion - working with people.
Mental decay - link to Klish's tweet on Twitter
Medieval work planning
Based on the actions of Tzuk and Klish, I estimate that the general planning for the term was simple and included two main parts. As part of the first part, and according to Klish's statements in the local media, the mayor was supposed to devote the first years of her term almost exclusively to strategic planning and promoting flagship projects.
Along with the strategic moves, other short-term actions were taken throughout the city (which I will mention later) which, in my opinion, should have caused the residents to dissociate themselves from the past, while eagerly awaiting the results of Klish's strategic activities.
In the second part of the planning, after the ground was sufficiently scorched, I believe we should have seen the gradual return of quality city service (including flowers at intersections), with the strategic projects being implemented in the background to the applause of the stunned residents.
The collapse of the strategic concept
From a strategic point of view, Haifa is currently facing a broken trough.
According to professional standards, proper formal strategic planning has not been published to the public, there are no clear objectives reflected in the work plans, and in fact no work plans based on a vision, which corresponds to the public's expectations, have been published to the public.
Also, the pile of "new" plans are, in my opinion, nothing more than a flightless version of older plans, and the series of "flagship projects", which were declared, such as the airport in the Gulf, turned out to be false visions.
Even the moves that were supposed to make the public forget the actions of the previous government, such as canceling events, rebranding city activities, changing city symbols and fighting anyone who does not align with the government, only caused dire results in the city. The urban development was halted, the service to the resident was compromised and the belligerent behavior, both within the city and in front of government offices, resulted in the shredding of the mayor's ability to govern.
But despite all this, Tsuk and Klish had no choice, despite the collapse of the first part of their plan, they had to activate the second part, especially in light of the drop in support rates for the mayor to a single digit number (according to the latest survey conducted at the University of Haifa and which we published here).
The municipal budget for 2023 - a pointless letter of apology to the residents
As mentioned, the second part of the term planning was supposed, in my estimation, to "celebrate" the revitalization of the municipal activity in terms of service to the resident, but in the absence of any successes on the strategic front, the second part of the term planning was implemented with a weak response as it consists of a series of minor budgetary changes in the regular budget proposal for the year 2023.
On top of that, and according to the finance committee's protocols, the mayor once again failed to plan a development budget for the city of Haifa - because there is no strategic planning, at least not a plan that was presented to the public and convinced the members of the finance committee to approve the budget.
From the minutes it appears that the slight changes in the budget for next year focus mainly on the budgeting of municipal services that have almost disappeared from the area. In light of this, and contrary to the mayor's statements from the beginning of the term, the budget for the restoration of the irrigation systems and the budget for planting flowers at the intersections (which at the beginning of the term was zero) soared and the events budget increased (it turns out that the municipality does entertain). Apparently Tzuk and Klish still believe that residents can be enticed to support them by budgeting actions to which the public is legally entitled.
We left bald here and there
In light of this trend, it is quite clear that the most striking example, in my opinion, of the collapse of the concept of Tzuk and Klish for the years 2018-2023, is the neglect of the public space. In light of residents' complaints and countless articles in the media, it seems that over the past few years the public space in the city of Haifa has been subjected to systematic abuse due to the mayor's policies.
Although micro-spaces, very few, have undergone a kind of minimal and well-considered cosmetic renovation, large parts of the public space are simply abandoned. But that's not the whole story, because according to the proposal of the apologetic municipal budget, submitted for 2023, we can sadly expect that Not only will the restoration be cosmetic, but also insulting, because apparently, the mayor's office believes that the restoration of the public space depends mainly on planting flowers and benches.
Public participation
The truth is more complex. The public space was neglected not only from a physical point of view but also from a human point of view. Therefore, the restoration should include investment in the physical space while investing in creative thinking and a lot of community participation in turning this space into a lever for the development of leisure culture and building the community in the city - that's the minimum.
A public space is more than a bench and a trash can
In the photos I have attached, a public space is photographed that is located between railway buildings on Sherel Lutz Street in the Bat Galim neighborhood.
Over the years, the complex has been stripped of its game facilities and the level of maintenance is zero. Despite this, this space is an unpolished diamond within the housing system in the area, and if they thought of it as more than a place to plant public benches then the population surrounding it could be made to benefit much more from it.
Imagine that even in the preliminary stage of planning, the municipality would have held a simple, but valuable community process, in which it would have invited the residents surrounding the complex to a community meeting with light refreshments. At the meeting, they would allow the residents to knit together a vision and planning for the space, and would consult with them regarding other issues, such as a program of events and community activities in the complex, its accessibility to different populations, the mix of facilities that can be placed there, and they would even offer them assistance in developing a small community garden.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the municipality would commit to a schedule and a joint steering team would be established which would operate under the auspices of the neighborhood community center. And this is only the beginning, as soon as people are returned to the public space - the sky is the limit.
Much simpler than you might think
The thing I describe happens in cities bigger than Haifa, and smaller than it, stronger than it and weaker than it. But in Haifa it doesn't happen. In Haifa, the government is busy with obsessive marketing of the colorful lighting on Ben Gurion Boulevard.
You criticize Klish and dismiss Yahav from criticism, a truly objective article
Klish turned a city into a hermitage
How do you know a restaurant is up to par? Enter to check the services.
When you look at Klish's work in the city by the same standard, you find out how miserable her tenure was and the city was in trouble.
The public space is neglected:
1. Dirty streets, especially the inner streets.
2. There is no enforcement of laws such as sirens, parking, business hours.
3. When you enter the public sports facilities, you see not only dirt but malfunctioning equipment.
4. The young Arabs drive wildly with cars with blown engines and park as they please and the police/municipality has no answer.
5. Crime, thefts, violence only on the rise.
So, no matter how many gardens, the municipal gardens will be established, but the treatment of basic problems.
correct.
Too bad it's true.
Inability to communicate with city residents, media journalists and government offices.
4 years that were lost in the city of Haifa. What a shame..
Yariv Why do you think the city should invest money that is not available in a place that is about to undergo a construction evacuation? You speak smart things and then in one sentence you delete the smart things you wrote.
Hello accountant,
There is no logical connection between the two parts of your sentence. Does it make sense to you that places where children grow up and young families grow up will remain as slums because in years, and sometimes many years, an eviction will take place? Is this the level of service we receive in return for our property tax? Has the ever brave Klish come to the residents and explained to them that they live in the slums and will continue to live in the slums as long as there is no construction evacuation. By the way. Reformed cities even know how to set up playgrounds and copy them to the construction period! And if you want to hear the biggest joke, there is criminal neglect even in places where there is no planning for building evacuation, what will you do with it?
Dr. Yariv Sagi, maybe you will reveal your pre-history with Yahav instead of trying to belittle the reasons for those gardens without facilities that you photographed. I understand that it really, really hurts you that there are people who remember and follow the facts and don't fall for your spins and biases. Ouch. Yes, yes, I have a problem with the enormous failures of Yahav, who left here a huge deficit and a ruined city with tens of thousands of negative immigration and a decline in all aspects of the quality of life to such an extent that two-thirds of the public chose the unknown cliché after his three failed terms... another fact.
It is recalled that the same Yahav was supposed to stand trial after an explicit threat to the municipality's employees during the elections - he was caught and recorded and it is not clear why an indictment was not filed. 4 years ago is not so prehistory, it's still not too late to claim.
You wouldn't recognize a fact even if it passed you by slowly..
Instead of addressing what was written, you threw slime at the writer. How cliché of you.
Hello Eyal, I detailed in a previous answer my activity with Yona Yahav that was terminated at the end of 2008. At the same time, I remember that next to Yona Yahav there was a deputy from the Greens of Haifa who was responsible for the engineering manager, he was paid and even a paid assistant and I don't remember what great output came out of the activity his. Which means that this is a period in which there were problems from various problems. But I, unlike you and Klish, do not specialize in blaming the past, and certainly do not manipulate the facts to fit my personality structure. There are facts on the ground and they are very problematic, even aggravating.
Since the worst mayor in the history of Haifa arrived, the roads in the city have not been leveled and they are full of potholes. 4 years without road stratification!
The worst city irritation in the history of Haifa!
The ornamental corners in Haifa were neglected in an alarming way, they were not watered, so some of them were completely dry and others, only the strongest plants remained at the end of the summer and they are also in dire condition. What's funny/sad is that at the beginning of winter, they renovated the irrigation systems even where there are no more plants... so typical of the decisions of the current Haifa municipality. There is nothing to look forward to.
Thank you Moshe for your words, the worst thing is that the revival of traffic islands now, shortly before the elections, makes the public laugh even more.
Unfortunately, Haifa is in a bad state, shop owners take out their wares on the sidewalks, the cleaning of the streets is on the face of serving the citizen in the municipal offices on the face, and therefore we really must this time think carefully about who to choose for mayor.
Yariv, you photographed empty playgrounds here that were torn down during the Yahav period - not gradually, all at once. Only half of the genes were treated. Dozens of scars of neglect remain in playgrounds and neighborhood gardens throughout Haifa. It's funny that you mention planting flowers in the streets because that's exactly what Yahav did - he planted flowers on his street and neglected dozens of neighborhood gardens with a variety of excuses. For ten years - since incidents such as the collapse of a basketball pole, and the plastic surfaces for braking that turned out to be of poor quality and disintegrated in the sun and rain in just a few years - about 2000 playground facilities were removed in the city and about 500 were returned. what you read In some kindergartens, the facilities are the result of bereaved parents who protected their children's name and financed the facilities. This is when he declares with a complete lie that the development budget in Haifa is the largest in Israel, over 2 billion NIS, of course it was in BLA and referred to salaries and Rothschild Hospital.
In short - a cliché of a failure to correct the severe deficiencies of the Chaim and indeed a rotten municipality left by Mitzna and Yahav. The municipality is still inflated and filled with twice as many highly paid senior officials as from cities of a similar size, for example the mayor. It just became clear that Klish does not know how to bring order, but rather add to the huge mess and the alarming deficit left by the failed Yahav even more. Hifaim have a short memory, that's what the election polls show. Yahav was no less than a disaster for Haifa, in almost every area we examine.
Hello Eyal, it seems that you have a very difficult problem with Yona Yahav. Go take care of it. No one seems to have a particular interest in this prehistory except King Valklish.
Are you preparing for the next elections for local authorities? That's how it sounds, a collection of slander and steam.
It is very legitimate to criticize, and there is always something to say, but the way you phrased things is that of election propaganda of the cheap and spiteful kind, which is not based on real data, but on personal-political interests.
You are not asking for the good of the city of Haifa and its residents, you are simply promoting someone else to the position of mayor, and you don't care who you run over along the way.
Dear Dror, beyond your baseless slanders, and the burning love for a mayor who specializes in quarreling with everyone, I did not hear a single operative statement. Too bad.
In the next elections...just not Kalish.!!!
Hello, Yariv Sagi. He who own imperfection invalidates. What have you done all your life that you have the audacity to make such claims to Einat Klish?
It is very, very easy to sit there in the academic tower and submit a written review. There is no easier way than that. You keep making claims! I don't know if you offered your help to the mayor, but just passing criticism without any self-criticism is a bit too much. Einat is fighting people who only have their own interests in mind and all they do is to disrupt her work, and this is because she exposed many scandals. It seems that you are deliberately closing your eyes very tightly so as not to hear or see the 3rd plague that has befallen our dear city. Please open your eyes do you want Haifa to return to the dark days? Maybe Soch Soch to give her a hand and help her in eradicating evil and doing good. Einat is entirely for the benefit of the city of Haifa. Woe to us if he elects a mayor who will bow to the pressures of all kinds of real estate agents, etc. I think we have a clear example of what is called if we look up to Jerusalem.
Maybe it's time to say well done to Ainat!
Best regards! Dr. Shoshana Shankar
Hello Dr. Shoshana Shankar,
I'm sure it's very frustrating trying to support a mayor that you elected, believed in, and maybe even worked to elect, and in the end we all got a ringing slap in the face. I'm sure that a person who doesn't care about me will come and attack the writer instead of facing the facts, and I'm sure that if you knew me a little and were interested in my activities you wouldn't stick your tongue in front of me in such a blunt way.
At the same time, I choose to treat your words matter-of-factly. Did Klish expose corruption? Hahaha!!!! Did she reveal corruption (as you wrote)? Wild boars are definitely being slaughtered in the streets left and right. help her? You don't know this, but at the beginning of her term I offered my help through Nachshon Tzuk, he said they would get back to me.. hahahaha!!! But I'm not angry, I choose to present the reality I see so that residents won't fall into the trap again, and won't be as frustrated as you in five years and under a different leadership.
We let her work and nothing happened! The truth is that we will even become more greedy...
The initial problem-eq tends to 0
Again dealing with closing accounts.
Haifa needs roads and the demolition of all the old houses.
Dr. Yariv Sagi, let Mrs. Kalish work. Shabbat Shalom
Haifa is among the largest and cheapest cities to live in, in food, in the service of professionals, those who don't believe, have never lived in the center. So what has gone wrong over the years that you only read and hear negative articles? Haifa? Haifa has not gone bad, it is the same Haifa with a gorgeous view and a lovely sea. In my opinion, some people have gone bad, maybe the economic well-being, boredom, jealousy make them angry. My wife once called me because she saw a flattering article about Haifa. It was a rare thing that we enjoyed. But how often does this happen, in most places people only read negative. And maybe it's not a problem for us Haifaites, but ours as Jews? We've lived in the north for 50 years and almost never We have heard in the Arab sector, for example, that they slander the settlement where they live or want to leave because of minor issues like ours. I have a request from the editors of the sites: Please also give light to positive articles about Haifa. This is very important and pleasant for the health of all of us to hear and read. Shabbos Shalom
In the Arab settlements in the north there is a feeling of personal insecurity that causes families with children to move to Haifa! See Naot Peres neighborhood
Well done Rival,
I always enjoy reading your articles.
It's time to present the policymakers with the sad truth about their actions and the failure of their decisions, not all the wisdom was given to Kalish at Mount Sinai
Sherl Lutz is an environment for total urban renewal. Therefore, any investment in one corner or another is a waste. For this you need to know the plans of the "Greens Plus" and not just write strategy articles.
I really expected such a response!! This is such nonsense!! Construction eviction is expected for this complex maybe in another ten years!!! According to what you say, all beach neighborhoods have to stand their ground until they may be upgraded in decades. Do you understand what you are saying? Probably not, so maybe explain your cliché to the residents because it seems no one has the courage to do it and meanwhile children are growing up in this abandonment.
Excellent summary and analysis and I would say that I am not forgiving with the devastating reality that the cliché and the moustached operator threw at us
A city authority is cut off from the residents. They gave me a totally ridiculous parking report in front of my house, I wrote dozens of letters to the mayor's office, I asked for a response, I asked to talk to her, they didn't treat me at all, a leadership that is cut off from the residents is a leadership that will end up going home left right left on October 23, 2023.