A few days ago, I wrote an opinion piece in Haifa about the struggle against the operators of the Carmel Tunnels. The article came out at precisely the right time, as our Home faction in the Haifa City Council, where I work together with my partner, Zeev Sonenzon, simultaneously submitted a motion of order to the Mayor's Office demanding increased transparency on the issue.
Discrimination after discrimination
The column sparked heated debate and emphasized the need for many of the city's residents to understand the purpose of the struggle, but not only that. Fundamental questions were also raised regarding other struggles that the municipality has been waging over the past year – struggles that are also shrouded in mystery from the public's perspective. Chief among them: the municipality's struggle against electrification of the railway and the struggle to evacuate the petrochemical industry from Haifa Bay. By the way, judging by the statements of the city's leaders – the city of Haifa is also suffering defeat in these struggles.
“Coffee shop smashed”
All of this is happening precisely at a time when Haifa’s financial situation is, according to the mayor and the data we have, one of the most serious crises it has known in recent decades. The mayor even called Haifa’s financial situation “a shattered coffers.” And yet, instead of seeing dramatic moves for economic rehabilitation, we hear mostly declarations of war, bombastic statements, and slogans. It is clear that these struggles are important, but when the way to manage them is unclear to neither the city council members nor the residents – and the results on the ground are not visible – this is a sign of a serious problem.
As members of the opposition, the tools we have to investigate the state of the city include submitting queries and motions of order. Just as we submitted a motion of order on the Carmel Tunnels to understand what is happening there, we also addressed the issue of the struggle to electrify the railway and regarding the evacuation of the petrochemical industry.
Alongside this, we continue to promote critical issues for Haifa's development – foremost among them transparency in urban renewal and promoting the local economy. In our view, the most important question is how the current moves will improve the quality of life and level of service for Haifa's residents. The trick is not only to build new housing units, but also to ensure that both old and new residents benefit from them, and that the municipality succeeds in restoring its depleted coffers.
Vague struggles
There is no doubt that Haifa's budget envelope is very short. But instead of conducting a transparent and in-depth discussion about the priorities needed to restore the city, the public is mainly exposed to long-term and vague struggles - ones whose nature is unclear, the strategy behind them is unclear, and most importantly, it is unclear why Haifa is losing in all of them.
The October 7 massacre is tiring for us because we are a corrupt society. We will receive a lot more massacre and blood because we are corrupt and we deserve it and I am happy about everything.
Y. Y.'s Haifa municipality collapsed financially even 16 years after he was mayor
Took huge debts from the banks with interest payments that required hundreds of millions to be transferred every year to pay principal and interest without closing the hole, only deepening it.
Instead of streamlining, and not for nothing did the city hall employees dance and rejoice at his election, he surrendered to Amnon Ido's powerful committee and is unable to make any move to reduce the costs of senior officials in the city hall - 400!! They established a city hall within the city hall a long time ago and are managing the city hall manager around their little finger, because he will resign long before them.
This way, Yahav will drag out the situation until the end of his term, and his successor, like Kalisch, will be forced to spend another 3-4 years dealing with a situation of bankruptcy and inability to meet expenses compared to income.
Revenues – Collection during the Y. Y. period was only 60% of property tax debts compared to 90% in all other cities in Israel, so it's no wonder we got into a hole.
To the esteemed lawyer, peace and blessings. I am new in Haifa and when I came to live here there were elections and I chose you but you were not elected and you did nothing for me. It is a shame. You take money from the residents by force and there is no service and no response. There are thousands of lies. When will you really take care of something and indicate that it was taken care of and that there was a reference? Every time I contact the public inquiries, they lie to me two weeks later with the answer "the matter was taken care of to the satisfaction of the resident" and they did not even touch on the problem. Enough with the automatic false messages.
but
He was not elected.
The problem is that the elderly and tired mayor came back only to restore his honor, and not to really work. The people around him are also completely incompetent. The only thing he and they are interested in is public relations and honor.
It was in Haifa.
The Haifa municipality has no work ethic, so it needs a large workforce that eats up budgets. The municipality employees do shopping and errands while they work, so it's clear that 2-3 people are needed for each position. One to work and two to do their own things. More than that. There are employees who work somewhere else when they're supposed to be at the municipality. I know of a granddaughter of an acquaintance of mine who goes every day around 11 for 2-3 hours to help her father in his private shop. And if that's not enough, then there are contractors who employ municipality employees who are supposed to make repairs. The employee arrives at the site, works for an hour, and disappears for a few hours...
Exactly like that! I loved it!!!
The coffers are depleted because the municipal pensions are eating away at them. I was told that within ten years the expenditure has doubled from 200 million shekels to 400 million today. So it's no wonder that all the municipalities, universities and hospitals in the country are having difficulties. This absurd situation is not being addressed, and the Greek economy collapsed in a boom. The millionaire pensioners bought new Mercedes cheaply from Germany and emptied the public coffers. Doesn't that remind you of the luxury cars we have?
The fund is depleted due to the lack of collection of property taxes from two main populations, pensioners who usually do not need a discount at all, and Arabs who usually do not need a discount at all.
Those who need a discount like air to breathe will spit blood and hire a lawyer and at best will get a 20% discount.