'Refuse to be a "fiction"' - the neighborhood committees in Haifa demand their power back

(live here with the neighborhoods) - The neighborhood committees in Haifa have received recognition for their activities over the years. Even if everything did not always go smoothly or easily, the committees worked in cooperation with the municipality and were an address for residents' inquiries and consultations with municipal officials.

Over the past four years, since the incumbent mayor, Dr. Einat Kalish Rotem, took office, the situation has changed immeasurably. The neighborhood committees found themselves removed from the municipality against their will, when all the connections they had, as a committee, with the mayor - were severed. If that was not enough, The list of neighborhood committees has been removed from the municipality's website, as it did not exist.

If anyone still has doubts about the attitude of Kalish Rotem to the neighborhood committees in the city, this is exactly the time to mention her statement, which is actually unforgettable, from one of the council meetings (4/11/19): "There is no such thing as neighborhood witnesses, it's fiction".

Since that statement, 4 years have already passed, during which time attempts were made to restore the organization of the committees, among other things through a proposal for an order submitted by the opposition, with the aim of organizing for the election of neighborhood committees in a democratic manner and continuing to recognize the existing committees. " who assisted and still assists in the re-establishment of the neighborhood committees in the city.

The last activity that has been done so far is a meeting together with the Israeli movement and the Haifa Neighborhood Council, with the goal that the neighborhood committees will work together to put the status and recognition of the committees on the agenda of the local elections.

What do the chairmen and members of the neighborhood committees say?

Mimi Peretz, active in the Neve Shanan committee, who participated in the meeting, tells Lahi Pa that the ambition is for the neighborhood committees in the city to be strong, and this will be done by establishing institutionalized committees, with regulations and a budget, similar to the Kiryat Haim committee, which is actually the only institutionalized committee as of now.

Regarding the meeting, which dealt, among other things, with the definition of the relationship between the citizens and the government, Peretz says that the main goal was for us to reach a situation where the residents would elect the committees, and that they would be institutionalized and budgeted, as mentioned. "We intend to demand that the next mayor start working with the committees. Unfortunately, the current mayor called the committees "fiction", did not address them and did not allow cooperation. Although I was not on the committee during Yona Yahav's term, but Yahav recognized the committees, his door was always open , and he was attentive to the residents, from the single and 'simplest' resident to neighborhood representatives," she says. "Now we intend to invest all our strength in the residents and call for mayors to contest."

She says about the current period: "I still work and help the residents. Many residents contact me with complaints about pigs, cats, hazards, sewage, dirt and more. I contact the various departments in the municipality independently and know all the people who work, and the truth is, I manage to help as well Without the cooperation of the mayor. I manage to help because the municipal employees know how to do their job," says Peretz.

"Today the situation is catastrophic - a complete disconnection on the part of the municipality"

Carmelia neighborhood committee member, Eran Shulman, tells Lahi Fe that during the time of Mayor Yona Yahav they had a listening ear, there was responsiveness and that the mayor and his deputy, Hadva Almog, always came to meet them and cooperated. "Today the situation is catastrophic and there is a complete disconnection," says Shulman.

"Today we have no one to work with, the professionals tell us that they can't help because their hands are tied. They simply don't recognize us. If I call, I introduce myself as a social activist and not as a member of the committee, otherwise they hang up on me face to face. We are in favor and more than happy If indeed the committees will be organized and will be institutionalized and budgeted and will hold elections by the residents of the neighborhood."

"To inherit the city in relations with the residents"

Liat Halpern, field coordinator at "Movement Israel", says Lahi Pa, today there are several committees in Haifa that operate in several neighborhoods independently and in cooperation with the residents. "We in the Israeli movement help neighborhood committees and establish neighborhood committees, and part of what we do is connect the committees and give them training."

"We want the next term of the mayor to be elected or to be elected in the city of Haifa, the committees to be strong and institutionalized. In order to do this, a member of the council should be responsible for the committees. Haifa should be divided into districts and in each district a manager will be appointed on behalf of the municipality, with those district managers working in front of The neighborhood committees We plan for the committees in Haifa to demand their needs, Haifa is a big city and the mayor should have the ability to inherit the city in relations with the residents.

If the situation remains as it is and the elected mayor does not want to cooperate, the committees will have to unite, so that the mayor will have no choice but to cooperate with them. The purpose of the meeting we held was to connect the various neighborhood committees and train them for the purpose."

"Before the elections, everyone wants us"

Chairman of the Bat Galim neighborhood committee, Yuval Busin, tells Lahi Fe: "Before the elections, all the contestants want us and treat us as kings and collaborators, but as soon as we are elected, they forget us along with all their promises."

"In the current term of Kalish, it is very difficult for me to promote and move things for the benefit of the residents of the neighborhood. It was not easy during the time of the previous mayor Yona Yahav, I was also with him in 'Kasah' and I fought a lot for the improvement of the situation in the neighborhood, but he took us seriously. We were a committee Relevant and familiar and not the way the current mayor treats us, who immediately upon her election claimed that we are a fiction. Many times we, as committees, fail in our activities because there is no cooperation from the municipality. If they do something in the neighborhood, they do it on their own, without consulting us, and when we complain that That they are doing badly, they answer us with the same well-known phrase: "Even when something is done to you, you have complaints," he says.

"I want the committee to be strong, but I personally don't want to mess with finances, I'm not a politician, I want to help the residents of the neighborhood without messing with the budgets. I will continue to serve as chairman as long as the residents want it, ask for it and elect me. It is important to note that most of the committees were elected legally and properly. During Yahav's time, elections for committees were held in the presence of two lawyers, elections and polling stations for residents. A week before the elections, meetings were held and flyers of the candidates were distributed in all languages ​​and in all buildings
and the houses in the neighborhood. We were registered on the municipality's website in an orderly manner. When Klish took office, we were deleted from the municipality's website.

Member of the Ein Hayam neighborhood committee - Wadi Aljamal, Padua Srouji, told Lahi Fe that the last time elections were held for the neighborhood committee in the Wadi Al-Jamal neighborhood - Ein Hayam, it was in 2011... "There were successful elections, with a high turnout of residents who came to vote, but very quickly the success of the elections faded away due to disagreements between the members The chosen ones, and not only."

"The municipality, headed by Yona Yahav at the time, had no interest in intervening and settling disputes, but on the contrary, they occasionally interfered, not in the right way, between the members of the committee, and unfortunately it was felt that they sided with Yona's supporters compared to those who did not. Since 2011, there has been no organized committee in the neighborhood, there are activists A neighborhood where most of them only enjoy the title of "active" with almost zero action, in contrast there is a small group of cohesive activists, of which I am a part, and we work for the common good on various levels," says Saroji.

"I can testify to this since we received a specific response and cooperation on certain issues related to our neighborhood, but the complexity of the city council, and all kinds of other matters, had a negative impact on the neighborhood and the city in general. In the various departments we received and we receive, an adequate response, such as in the sanitation department, drainage department and more, whether from the director of the department and/or various employees, the spokespeople, the urban renewal department, etc.

On the other hand, the public inquiries department, which is supposed to be the face of the city, has disappeared from the service landscape for the citizen," says Saroji. "Not to mention the neighborhoods and districts department. I even received inquiries from certain residents with answers to the purchases they received from public inquiries, and only after I got the direct departments involved did they receive an answer."

I personally am not in favor of the establishment of committees, unfortunately there are committees and members of committees appointed due to political proximity to one or another mayor and this is not good for the neighborhoods in general, because the municipality is supposed to provide us with service on a community basis and according to needs per neighborhood, and not due to political proximity. Regarding the budgeting of the committees - the same. From past experience, when the committees used to be budgeted, there were also disputes over the budgets. Committees that established themselves as an association and request a budget from the municipality based on that - that's a different issue."

Saroji says that in her opinion it is still too early to decide whether to talk to one or another candidate, or about the requirements that should be placed on the next mayor or candidates. "After the lists are finally closed, then it will be decided what is the right thing to do."

"What's more," she adds, "most of the candidates as of today are known to most of the activists in one way or another. Unfortunately, some of them have taken political moves under the auspices of "technical malfunctions" or "legal claims", which clarify their positions towards us as an Arab-Jewish neighborhood and especially their positions towards the Arab public, so it seems that in advance any "future promise" from these candidates is already known as an empty promise whose entire purpose is to garner votes."