About six months ago I started posting Articles In "Live Here". As an avid lover of Haifa, my goal was to make information available to you residents, so that on election day you can make an informed choice. As I explained before, the "just don't (fill in the blanks)" approach led to the sad state our city is in today.
Therefore, I wrote a lot about "what if" and offered data and points to think about that will help you make an informed decision on election day. I reviewed the city's problems and what they are extracts, I focused on the subject employment Which in my eyes is one of the strategic problems of the city and my proposal 10 commandments to choose the most suitable mayor.
Unconditional support
Over time, the list of candidates gradually took shape until it seems to have stabilized almost completely. During the time I met with most of the candidates and got to know them, who more and who less. I got to know their character, their abilities, the plans they formulated and in some cases also the team around them. Some of the candidates asked for my support and even wanted me to join their list.
I gave everyone the same answer, that the time is not yet ripe for me to decide. I also said that in any case, when I decide who I support, I will do so without any conditions. I will offer my help without any consideration when the good of the city and its success are what stand before my eyes.
Go with your head and not your heart
I received many inquiries from residents asking my opinion and who I suggest they choose.
I replied to everyone that it is recommended that they read the articles, learn from the variety of information sources and form an independent and well-founded opinion. in brief, Let them go with their heads and not with their hearts.
Today, as far as I'm concerned, it's about closing a circle, when, after forming my opinion, it's important for me to share it with you readers in consideration of my debt to you. I am sharing my opinion because after explaining a lot about the considerations in choosing a mayor, it is fitting that I share my choice with you. Also, in my eyes, it is basic integrity that a writer in a media will share his position, if only so that his words will be evaluated twice.
Some confuse what is available and what is desirable
The choice of each of you should be in the candidate who is the best of the existing ones. Not the best candidate in the world, not the one you would fantasize and want to be the head of the city, not a magical figure who will save us from an evil hand but a flesh-and-blood candidate from the well-known list.
I insist on this point, because some confuse what is present with what is desirable. And for those of you who think that: "There is no one to choose", he says, choose the least bad candidate for you.
The biggest mistake you can make is not choosing at all and thus harming your interests. After all, some of the candidates and lists are expected to be further from your worldview and by not voting you are strengthening them. Also, the more Haifaites vote, the better it is expected to be The governmental stability in the city. The percentage of blocking will increase, fewer small lists will enter and the chance of a stable and functioning city council will increase.
The candidate I support is:
After spending a lot of time studying the city's problems, in meetings with candidates, past and present office holders and countless conversations with staunch Haifaites, I decided to support Yona Yahav for mayor.
Considering all the candidates, their teams, ability to be elected, experience and ability to function, the state of the city and risk reduction, I believe that Yona Yahav is the most suitable to be the mayor of the city at this time.
Were you surprised? I am.
in my articles I visited Yona Quite a few mistakes he made, and until the list of candidates was established, I was debating who to support. But as the election date approaches, it becomes easier and easier for me to accept A calculated decision.
Of the other candidates, in my opinion, there are some who are worthy, there are some who would have been better off not running and there are some who are not known enough, in terms of "the rabbi of the hidden over the visible". In my opinion, Haifa cannot gamble again. The last time it ended very badly and it seems that at least on this issue most Haifaites agree.
Extensive experience in city management
Rest assured, I really don't think that all of Haifa's problems will be solved tomorrow morning and I'm not walking around blindfolded. The decision I made was made as coolly and thoughtfully as I can. Yona Yahav brings a lot of experience that was conspicuously missing in the last four and a half years.
In my impression, the former mayor was able to understand his conceptual areas and is more open and sharing. The team forming around him is one of the main considerations in my decision and includes experienced people as well as new people, professionals in fields such as financial management, education, business entrepreneurship, technology, real estate, etc. In addition, factually, Yahav leads by a considerable margin over the other candidates and this clearly in all polls.
But what about his age?
Criticizing anyone's business, certainly Yona who was the mayor for 15 years is not only legitimate but really desirable. I personally did this and of course I also criticized Klish in a matter-of-fact manner in my articles. What is illegitimate and must be condemned in any form is Attacks on a person's body Instead of arguments on the merits of the matter.
The favorite argument of some people is against Jonah's age, the complementary argument is "you need someone young".
Would anyone think of disqualifying a candidate just because he is a man? wife? Brown skin? low? Is it conceivable to disqualify someone due to a biological characteristic? Does anyone really think seriously about supporting a candidate just because of the year he was born? I can understand an argument that at a certain age there is an effect on cognitive abilities. But that is not the case here at all. We all see Yona speaking eloquently, with love for the city and a strong desire to win. You can support him and you can not but When the issue of age is brought up here, it is blatant discrimination, stemming from ignorance or self-interest.
Proper behavior precedes the Torah
Finally, this morning I informed some of the candidates of my decision, out of respect for them and a desire to update them personally and not for them to find out for the first time by reading the article. I received very respectful answers and I am grateful for them. This is how we should treat each other. You don't have to agree on everything, disagreements are welcome, but "the way of the earth came before the Torah". I would like to wish everyone a substantive, clean and good election, the city will continue to be at the forefront of our minds.
Yona Yahav did his thing, sorry, there is a limit to every trick!
I'm debating between 2 candidates, Yahav is definitely not one of them.
Irrelevant pigeon Better to ask who among the others can restore the ruins of the last 20 years. We lost two critical decades in which metropolises - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Netanya and Sharon - leapt forward and with them the managements, the high tech, the start-ups, the advanced industrial plants...
Haifa needs an experienced businessman who ran a factory as mayor
Yona Yahav is the disaster of Haifa. It's amazing that there are people who miss this disaster.
Your article completely ignores Yahav's failed terms in which the massive migration of young people to the center of the country began, the state budgets began to bypass Haifa, entrepreneurs left Haifa and the city gradually became older, poorer, sicker, more violent and a magnet for weak and backward populations. Yona Yahav left behind a bleak economic, social, occupational, cultural and demographic horizon. Cliché made this horizon depressing.
The position of mayor of a large city requires immense physical and mental strength. To put it mildly, a faltering city that shows advanced signs of dying like Haifa that in order to rehabilitate it needs to do a pageant, backflips and figure eights in the air - these are not exactly the capabilities of someone who is entering his ninth decade of life!
When you write: "When the issue of age is brought up here, it is blatant discrimination, arising from ignorance or self-interest" in your opinion you are dismissive. You are the one who doesn't really know and is probably acting out of self-interest. Age, unlike skin color, height, etc. is a chronological matter and not a genetic variation. We were all babies and we all strive to reach a good return - unfortunately not all of us have a self-awareness developed enough to understand when we should retire. Ask any beginner geriatrician and see the comparison tables of the natural decline in cognitive and physical abilities, which accelerates from the seventh decade of a person's life!
After the failure of the current mayor, we must strive for someone with enthusiasm and passion for action, someone for whom this is going to be his life's work, a career and a mission of at least 10-15 years. And not someone who came for a single term that is not enough for anything and nothing and is beyond his prime, at the end of the road. We are not the playground of a candidate who comes to restore his damaged image (and I really understand his feelings after being defeated by such an unsuccessful mayor) and asks for some action during his retirement - we don't need that.
I expect from Hav (and from any other candidate in his eighth decade - yes, there is another one like that) more self-awareness and discernment between passions and desires and between objective and real abilities and potential.
And to end a question - you are introduced as a Haifa hi-tech entrepreneur, an expert in business development. Would you advise a business company that is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy to put its trust in the hands of a person with a mediocre resume (at best) who is entering his ninth decade of life? Would she have chosen him so that he would build recovery plans and long-term development plans and lead them for years to come towards stability and prosperity? I am satisfied.
I hope that in your words about new blood, you are not targeting young people like Etzioni and especially Nir Shuver, who in their vision will build a kind of Manhattan on the Carmel ridge. My vote will be given exclusively to Abihu Han and the Greens.
His father Han. The lovable man whose opinions disrupt his mind and dictate his actions.
Abihu Han, because of his green dogmatism, is the sure way to slow down to a halt urban development and renewal, and a proven recipe for economic, occupational and demographic shuffling. Exactly what Haifa needs!
It is hard for me to understand that there are those who think that his father, just because he is painted green, can be a suitable candidate. Don't need a little flight? could you listen Cooperate and delegate powers? Connections in the corridors of the central government? Ability to conduct yourself in a world of multiple interests, constraints and pressures? A little zeal and passion? After 20 years in local politics, what did he do? For Matt, the creation of many swirls of hot air, what significant project is named after him? What real achievement did he achieve that changed Haifa positively?
God's ways are wonderful, and the responses on the keyboard of a sheep from his pasture are incredibly superficial and automatic.
In addition, the fact that you mention Etzioni and Shovar in the same breath reveals that you don't really know either of them.
Are you aware of the passion and zeal for action and innovative thinking that Zion brings with him? Do you know his resume of managing billions at the national level (at the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Housing and Construction)? And an introduction and an open door in the corridors of the central administration? And no less important - are you aware that Zionist is egoless, unlike most of the other contestants who come wrapped in their ego cloak which is an obstacle and a stumbling block to collaborations, innovation, progress and thinking outside the box? (And if you're grinning or giggling, it's again because you don't really know the people working and are impressed by superficial and trending publications).
I know my chance of changing your mind is like my chance of reaching the moon at 18. Yet if I planted a shadow of doubt in your heart, enough.
A person who failed in his role and because of that was not elected for another term, with all due respect does not deserve to be elected again. Just because a cliché is worse than him doesn't mean he has to come back. And we also deserve an energetic mayor and new blood, and I say this as a woman over the age of 65.
Yahav, stay at home and make your home.
Beyond the candidate, he is the head of a faction. Do you know who is on his list? Who is on the others' lists? I would love to receive the list in the faction as they are no less important than the person at the top of the list and usually reflects their interests
Hanan are you kidding?
In 2018, at the end of his tenure, Yona Yahav pressured and pushed to approve the 3-fold increase in refineries without even a risk and earthquake survey
It is urgent to approve another crack device for the Ofer family (the Shakshuka). Another fuel farm in the northern lands. Another increase in polluting production.
There was no push to take them out - push to give discounts to polluting factories and ease the approval of hundreds of percent of fast-track construction.
This is Yona Yahav
This is Hadva Almog
This is Ariel Waterman
People who should not be anywhere related to the future of Haifa after destroying a signal endlessly.
Compared to the cliché you might be right. But there are also other comparisons. There were lights in Yahav's time, but there were also shadows, and above all there were fatal misses that you are not aware of, because you are skimming superficially over the surface, and ignoring the main point.
For the purpose of a substantive discussion, you are welcome to write in detail about the main point, citing facts and sources. Please also write who is the right candidate in your opinion and what were the considerations that guided you.
The construction of the stadium in the southern entrances instead of in the check post area, which benefits from full public transportation including heavy rail and light bus. There are no parking problems here and disturbance to the neighbors.. Until the factories are evacuated, a short gathering will not interfere and after that a neighborhood park can be planned along the Kishon that will be integrated into the stadium. It is interesting to check who is the delusional architect who fought with all his might to disqualify the excellent and worthy position in Check-Post.
In a kind of defiance against the words of Yona Yahav, who promised to handle the pig problem sensitively but resolutely, yesterday Einat Kalish revealed another delusional figure who joins her list, a central activist for the rights of private individuals who strongly opposes the thinning of wild pigs in the city. Nicely written Hanan, it is important to carefully check the close circles and the teams and advisors in which each candidate surrounds himself. Those who want to continue living among pigs for another five years should vote for Klish. But it seems that most residents are fed up. Tired of the pigs, jackals, rats and crows that fill the city streets. Tired of the dirt and neglect, tired of the dysfunction, the administrative chaos, the constant conflicts in Lishcha, improper administration and the bad spirit that prevails between the mayor and the municipal employees, the council members, the government offices and the saddest, between her and the residents of Haifa. Klish is simply not suitable, neither in terms of skills nor in terms of personality, to run a city like Haifa. Unfortunately, what the public has long understood, Klish still does not internalize, it is not suitable and the residents of Haifa are paying the heavy price.
I don't know Adv. Avital Ben Nun, but I think I made it clear again and again that Klish is not suitable for her position. Therefore, whoever joins the team is not relevant in this case to making the decision, in my eyes.
Definitely one should dwell on the teams of the candidates, I think it makes it easier to choose the right candidate.
Because of all the candidates for mayor of Haifa, he is the only one who brings experience in city management, an impressive track record of action, proven ability to execute, and good connections with government ministries. A team of good and professional people who have vision, responsibility, concern, and great love for the city is forming around Yona. Considering the difficult situation Haifa is in after four and a half years of Klish in power, we are in an emergency situation and cannot take a risk. The elections this time are fateful for the future of the city, will it continue to sink or will it recover and return to its rightful place. The election of Klish, an unknown candidate, with no relevant experience, with a criminal conviction for a construction offense, and with very problematic human relations, which are reported by almost everyone who worked alongside her, taught the Haifaites that not all change is for the better. Yahav brings with him extensive experience in the management of the city, which has been so lacking in the last four and a half years. Even if he made mistakes and errors, he still has many achievements and rights to his credit. Good luck Yuna! Haifa needs you!
Thank you Hanan - for closing the circle, for sharing, and for expressing your position. It is always interesting to read what you write, the balanced and clear analysis of the administrative situation and the main problems in the city, the thought-provoking insights you share with us readers, and the respectful dialogue you have with the commenters, those who support as well as those who disagree with your opinion. So you convinced me. Like you, I also decided to support Yona Yahav for mayor, because the good of the city, its well-being and prosperity should be the basis of our discussion and considerations in the election. It is true that Yona Yahav is not without shortcomings, but when you make the required and necessary comparison between the candidates, there is no escape from giving up the desirable and choosing the best, even if it is not perfect, and it is clear that Yahav is not perfect (but who among the other candidates is?) Yona Yahav may not be the best candidate Good in the world, but under the given conditions, he stands out as the best and most suitable candidate among the existing ones.
I think you wrote my article better than me 🙂
There is a lot of logic in Hanan's position. In the situation Haifa is in today, we do not have the privilege to waste time. Haifa needs to be put back on track as soon as possible, and of all the candidates it seems that Yona Yahav has the best chances to do so. If he chooses, there will also be a kind of closing of the circle here. An opportunity to complete what he planned and didn't get to accomplish, what he started and didn't get to complete, all the projects that were already in various stages of planning and execution, all the cultural and sports events that were a tradition for years, and which Klish stopped or canceled, for the most part without any reason, Reasoning or justification, just like that, because she can, and because they were attributed to the previous one. Yona Yahav has already stated his intention to work in cooperation with anyone who wants and is ready to work for the city. The other candidates will do well, some of them are certainly good and worthy, if they give up their egos, put the good of the city before their eyes and do their best to create good collaborations and connections, for the sake of creating a better present and future for the city and its residents.
Thanks for the summary. I guess people tend to let past (justified) feelings cloud their judgment to some extent.
By the way, closing a circle in my eyes is not a reason to support a candidate.
Hanan I look and see that young mayors are very successful.
Roy Levy Bensher. Rubik Danilevich in Beer Sheva. Raz Kinstlich in Rishon Lezion. Asif Isaac at the Carmel beach. Ido Greenblum in Kiryat Tivon.
We need a replacement. It is not possible to appoint an 80-year-old person, it is not ageism.
A new generation of leadership needs to be developed in Haifa. Yona Yahav also in this sense
It is not to deal with the change of generations and let the eye degenerate for 5 years
And in 5 years what? Again we were asked how there are no experienced young people
In the leadership of the city?
You say it's not ageism and give examples of young people only.
By the way, the names you mentioned:
Rubik Danilovitz served as deputy mayor of Jacob Turner for 5 years between 1998 and 2003 and served as acting mayor and head of the education department between 2003 and 2008. That means 2 full terms in significant positions and he also had achievements.
Raz Kinstlich began his municipal career in 2003 and established the Youth and Movement portfolio and served as a political advisor to the Mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman. 5 years later, in 2008, he entered the council again. In 2003 he served as deputy mayor and later as acting mayor.
Here are two examples of young people, one experienced *10 years* and the other *15 years* before being elected mayor. Not only this, but they played significant roles during the period. These are also good dogmas because these are large cities similar in scope to Haifa.
The rest of your examples are of small sized cities! Haifa with about 290,000 inhabitants Nesher with 24,000 inhabitants (less than the number of inhabitants of Neve Shanan, Jezreeliya, Kiryat Chaim and Kiryat Shmuel) Kiryat Tivon with 20,000 inhabitants and the Carmel Coast with about 37,000 inhabitants.
I have no problem with you disqualifying Yona and anyone else. The point is that until now you have not presented a single candidate for medicine and you certainly have not reasoned in a well-founded and matter-of-fact way why any candidate is the right one.
You try to convince us not to disqualify Yona because of age, but you disqualify the women candidates.
It would be better if you didn't convince anyone to vote, but only the general part you wrote, calculate who suits you according to parameters, etc., this is simply election propaganda.
I did not disqualify the women candidates, I am presenting my opinion regarding the degree of best suitability for the position of mayor.
I'm not trying to convince anyone. I wrote for months about guidelines for electing a mayor and now that I have formed my opinion I share it with the readers. In my opinion, it is only fair to act transparently.
Come on, you say a bad cliché, others have no experience, so we'll go back to the familiar evil of Jonah. Yahav sold the city to businessmen, he must not be allowed back!!
You convinced me not to support Yahav. Thanks.