(haipo) - The German colony in Haifa was closed to vehicles at the beginning of the month (August 2023) to prevent improved vehicles from making noise and endangering those coming to the colony. But instead of channeling the closure to make Ben Gurion Boulevard a lively place, the municipality decided to leave the vehicles parked and station policemen who ride back and forth on motorcycles and give the feeling of a disaster area.
I walked around the evening hours of Thursday August 24.8.23, XNUMX in the abandoned German colony and the bustling Turkish market in contrast. Here are some simple and some complex steps that the municipality can take to give the German colony its rightful place.
It is not enough to block a road
When the police motorcycles pass every few minutes and there are cars parked on the sides of the road blocking it, you can understand why few people walk on the road, even though it is blocked. To change this, the municipality needs to remove the parked cars (at least in some sections), add lighting and stalls and allow restaurants to open tables on the road. This way you can easily make the road inviting. Just blocking the road to cars and leaving it dark, blocked and flooded with policemen does not turn a road into a pedestrian street.
Treatment of the streets that feed into the German colony
In the event that it is not possible to reach by car, the residents near the settlement would come on foot. But the condition of the streets surrounding the colony is bad. The Independence Road could link the Bat Galim neighborhood, but the sidewalk stops and sends pedestrians through a tangle of traffic lights and unpleasant sidewalks to reach the German colony. The Jaffa road could have brought pedestrians from Carmelite and the port area, but it is dark with potholes and it is not pleasant to walk around it. Part of the reason these problems exist is because the renovation of the Turkish market was done as a "complex." The Turkish Market' and therefore they renovated only the complex itself without connectivity to the urban environment. In order to revive the entire downtown, you need to think about the network of streets and not just about bounded complexes.
The Hasmona train station is closed to pedestrians
Worst of all, the pedestrian access from the center train station is nothing short of appalling. It is hard to think of such an important asset that Haifa has as the Central Hasmona train station which is within walking distance of the Turkish market, the port area and the German colony which is so neglected in terms of its urban environment.
Instead of a continuous sidewalk to the matron stations, the entrance to the train station is blocked by a parking lot that holds an amount of passengers that barely reaches two matrons. Train passengers have to walk on the road and zigzag between vehicles to get to the German colony or the port. It is not surprising to find that this is the train station with the least passenger traffic among the Haifa stations. Smart utilization of the area would have made the walk from the train station to the Matron, to the restaurants in the port and to the German colony, continuously and pleasantly accessible.
The pedestrian should feel at home and the private car owner a guest
To make the German colony a truly lively place and on the world cruise map, it should be turned into a pedestrian street where the pedestrian feels like the owner of the house. This effect can be obtained when the asphalt road is turned into a paved road similar to a sidewalk, and this is how the vehicle feels that it is invading an area owned by pedestrians.
Another important element is that the entire street will be on one level allowing pedestrians, strollers and wheelchairs to move freely in the space. This principle has already been implemented on Natanzon Street and has been an incredible success.
The parking along the boulevard must be canceled
The parking lots along the boulevard take up valuable space that is barely enough for a few dozen people and should be canceled while taking care of the residents and providing unloading and loading solutions for businesses at specified hours, as is customary in other places. The boulevard could be a good place for a permanent pedestrian street with very limited entry for vehicles (only local residents and businesses) or a public transport only street where silent electric buses will run. The solutions exist, the colony just needs a brave leadership to come to realize it.
Don't believe it's possible? Walk around the Turkish market area and see what happens when vehicles are cleared, lighting is added and a new sidewalk is put in.
Everything is already in the German colony: the Baha'i gardens, the stunning buildings, the restaurants, the sea and the port, all that remains is to turn the street into a real pedestrian street and let it flourish.
Even on Yaffe Nof Street, enforcement and prevention of dangerous driving and wild driving is necessary! Intentions are not enough - action is also needed.
Thank you very much Jonathan. Very interesting to read.
As usual, the newspaper only publishes black stories about the city of Haifa.
Everything is known - the mayor is bad, they know it and that is why she will not be elected, and in all the articles defaming the city - you are shooting yourself in the foot and all this to promote publicity about new candidates for the city authority.
Your postings are excessive!
Haifa is a charming city, in the evening Sderot Ben Gurion is illuminated and impressive, Bat-Galim is a unique neighborhood that will be repaired and cared for and despite that it is still fun to walk around, and more and more harmful slanders.
You are a newspaper editor who only portends bad news and is really fed up
Absolutely right
Hi Jonathan! I agree with her in everything! brother. Ben Gurion I find myself feeling that I have arrived in Palestine! Everything is written in Arabic!
Probably hijacked the place forever! Can it be returned to what it was?
No desire to travel there!
Thank you and I wish you much success in the fight for Haifa!
Just an explanation when I say that Haifa has a gap of 30 years from Tel Aviv, it means that if a mayor in Haifa succeeds in bringing in huge investments in the rehabilitation of Hadar, Talpiot Market, Arad El Yehud, Jaffa Street, Kiryat Havlat within which even in 2023 there are still ten empty lots .. Kiryat Eliyahu..
Even then, it will take 30 years to get to where the heart of Tel Aviv and the urban centers plan is today because it started in the mid-90s and it took them 30 years and more to upgrade areas like Allenby and Knesset Square.
So if they start working seriously in Haifa - it will take 30 years of serious work on infrastructure, traffic, sidewalks, conservation, signage, regeneration, nurturing local businesses, taxation, policing, enforcement, in continuous work until 2050 to bring it to the point where Tel Aviv is in 2023.
And with the economic forces and the failed planning and neglect of the city in the national budget for mega projects - it is not certain that there is anyone who can even lift it.
What a Turkish market. At the time of the Ottomans there were no Turks and there was nothing there.
During the time of the British it was the commercial center.
With the establishment of the state it was actually dedicated to the community of Greek origin.
Again, no Turks. There were maybe 2-3 merchants from Turkey who opened bastas. Not a non-Turkish market.
The place works on weekend nights because clans come to hang out there over beer and crack and is deserted most of the day with dozens of empty shops.
Is this called a good employee?!
The colony was a wonderful place, people walked and ran and walked on the sidewalks until the municipality Damicolo allowed the restaurants to take over the entire width of the sidewalks and leave a few meters. in which they also stick signs, sculptures, planters and vulgar decorations.
Regarding parking spaces, the entire street should be two hours away. After all, who parks there?! business owners The woman was afraid to even sign a blue and white sign so that they wouldn't beat the inspectors. In all seriousness.
Pedestrian is to kill the street like Nordeau. All the pedestrian streets in the world work on 50 times more traffic of people and shoppers and even then there are many hours and nights when they are open to residents and supply vehicles.
In the settlement there are no sidewalks, there is no bicycle path, there is too little shade, there is no uniform design and the restaurants are running rampant. What used to be a holiday month has become a blinding and ugly regularity. Like a place without supervision and without rules and without enforcement. The problem is not the parking lots or the type of street, but a lack of enforcement, policing and rules. And the sidewalks around the colony are frighteningly dark and blocked by vehicles because this city is delusional and does not want a quality of life.
Haifa is 30 years behind Tel Aviv in urban management and planning.
Perhaps Borowski can take care of police enforcement.. this is also critical in the crime jungle that accompanies wild driving and the nuisance of exploding engines
Hello Eyal
I agree that the sidewalks are too narrow on the boulevard, but clearing the parking lots can help with that. Regarding parking for two hours, it is not effective in the place of restaurants and only stresses diners. The parking lots along the boulevard simply take up a huge area and provide very few parking spaces. Regarding enforcement, enforcement is indeed needed, but today's perception of urban planning is that where the planning is correct, less enforcement is needed. If there was a traffic slowdown on the road, the vehicles would have more difficulty flying on the boulevard.
The comparison to Nordau is not out of place because here the boulevard is next to a train station, a matron, in a flat area that can be accessed by hawkers and in an open space under the Baha'i gardens. This is not just a street that is blocked for vehicles on the side of a mountain
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Thanks for writing. It was interesting to read it, as well as your other articles. One note. I live in the German colony. The colony is different from the lower city because it is a more established neighborhood where many middle class families live. We enjoy the restaurants and cafes on Ben Gurion Boulevard and we are happy when people visit the neighborhood. But we don't want to become like the Turkish market. Our neighborhood cannot originally be a place of recreation. Zot is a quiet and special neighborhood, almost rural in several respects. That's her charm, and I wouldn't want to ruin that.
hello tom Thank you for the response, the angle of the residents of the neighborhood is definitely very important to show a complete picture and a solution to the problems on Ben Gurion Boulevard should come in dialogue with residents and business owners. Regarding the street, I don't think that Ben Gurion Boulevard should be the same as the Turkish market, but that elements from the planning of the urban space should be taken and adopted in the boulevard. The principle is that the urban planning on the boulevard hurts the pedestrians because a large area has been taken away for the benefit of the private vehicle. In all places in the world, on the beautiful and central streets, vehicles are diverted in favor of pedestrians so that it is possible to walk around the place comfortably, while providing a response to the residents
Well done, maybe if it works one day we will visit the place more. Excellent article by someone who cares about the city and its residents. Not "avant-garde" ... cliché, but a living city serving its residents.
Thanks Jonathan, it was interesting to read.
In your opinion, the greens or Sarit?