(haipo) Hanita Street, one of the central streets in the Neve Sha'anan neighborhood in Haifa, is in a dismal state of neglect, safety hazards, and daily dirt that harms the quality of life of the residents. Despite repeated appeals to the municipality, nothing changes. This article opens the "Street of the Week" series, and demands answers.
Neve Sha'anan – a neighborhood the size of a city
The Neve Sha'anan neighborhood is one of the largest and oldest neighborhoods in Haifa, with about 70,000 residents – more than the number of residents in several medium-sized cities in Israel. Hanita Street, which runs through the neighborhood, is a major transportation artery that also includes an active commercial center, making its maintenance a particularly serious problem.
Mimi Peretz, a member of the neighborhood committee, talks about Hanita Street ◄ Watch
Mixing of uses and resulting maintenance chaos
Hanita Street is characterized by a mix of uses – residential and commercial – that existed there even before this concept became a planning trend. In practice, the result is chaos: stores dump trash into the street, merchandise is placed on the sidewalks and blocks the passage, and a general feeling of neglect. When the store owners are responsible – the street is clean. But that is not always the case.
Business owners throw up their hands
"I was part of the merchants' committee that used to operate here," says one of the shop owners on the street, who asked to remain anonymous. "But today I'm alone. A few months ago, a street cleaner came and cleaned the passage next to my shop. A city inspector passing by ordered him to stop, claiming that it was private land. Since then, I've been cleaning alone. This shouldn't be my responsibility."
Dangerous sidewalks and repeated lawsuits against the municipality
The main problem on Hanita Street is not just the dirt, but also the safety hazards. "The paving here hasn't been replaced in fifty years," says the same shop owner. "People fall all the time. One of the foreign workers who passes by fell, was seriously injured, and a lawsuit was filed against the municipality. This happens again and again, and no one in the municipality is fixing it."
Residents report – but nothing changes
Mimi Peretz, a resident and member of the neighborhood committee, describes a series of incessant reports to the municipality. "I send messages to 106 all day long. The workers answer and deal with the specific point, but the general situation does not change. When you walk around the street, you see amounts of dirt that are simply embarrassing."
The road to school has become a garbage trap
One of the most notable areas of neglect is the road that leads from the residential buildings to the Yizre'aliya Elementary School. The steps and the public area around them are covered in cigarette butts, dry leaves and debris. "I remember walking down this road as a child - today it is unbelievably neglected and dirty," says Mimi.
A central street with high property taxes – but without basic services
Another surprise is that residents of Hanita Street pay the highest property tax rate – Level A. “It doesn’t matter how much we pay,” says Mimi. “Even if we paid less, we deserve a clean street. But when we pay a lot – it’s even more outrageous.”
A street in the middle of the neighborhood
In the middle of the street, you come across street vendors collecting alms. The street vendor phenomenon exists throughout Haifa, but when it happens in the heart of a residential neighborhood like Neve Sha'anan, the feeling is of a loss of control on the part of the authorities.
Another safety hazard: the dangerous stone fence
The stone fence that separates the sidewalk from the road was previously equipped with an iron fence intended for sitting. After children fell from it and were injured, iron bars were added to prevent climbing – but these themselves are dangerous in the event of a fall. “These bars do not prevent climbing – they can only cause serious injuries,” warns Mimi.
Hanita Street has potential – but no one will realize it
The street has clear transportation advantages: wide sidewalks, lanes in every direction, accessible public transportation. It could have been turned into an active and well-maintained neighborhood commercial center. Instead, the feeling is one of abandonment. "A street like this should be a street that is a pleasure to walk on," says Mimi. "Right now, that's really not the case."
Call to the municipality: It's time to wake up
Neve Sha'anan residents expect the municipality to take responsibility. This is not an expensive project or a complete renovation – but rather basic maintenance work: cleaning, repairing sidewalks, enforcing against dirt and merchandise on the street. "We are not asking for luxuries," concludes Mimi Peretz, "just that the municipality does the minimum required so that we can live here with dignity."
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Yona Yahav wake up!!! Haifa is sinking and deteriorating. We thought that after the ill-remembered cliché you would take care of lifting the city from the brink. You were all promises before the elections. It turns out that you are not much better than your predecessor. Simply disgraceful!!!!
Haifa looks bad,
Something is rotten in the municipal apparatus.
And both the previous mayor, Kalaish, and the current mayor, Yahav, are not adamant about changing the situation.
The council members and the neighborhood committee, unfortunately, are not active enough to improve the situation.
Last September, I initiated a tour with Avihu Ann, Deputy Mayor, and the department managers of Hanit Street. I presented to everyone on the tour the problems on this section of the street. I removed the always-cleaning of the entire street every year, even where the paving stones are snake-like, which turns out to be the private area of the residents and a picturesque area adjacent to the road that this area is cleaned.
I explained that it doesn't make sense that an area that is considered private is public and is used by people, children, and adults.
There have been many cases of people falling, especially in winter, due to broken flooring and lack of lighting.
It doesn't make sense that on the one hand, property taxes are taken from parking lots and on the other hand, it is considered private space for the tenants.
The situation has worsened over the years and during the previous mayor's term, budgets were already allocated for the renovation of the street, but this fell to the lot of the so-called committee that you were in at the time.
It's time to renovate this complex after 100 years. We also deserve a safe place to shop, not a backyard.
I have been sending smears and photos to townspeople for over 4 years and unfortunately there has been no movement...
Thanks
Akiva Nofa
When I was a kid, about fifteen years ago, Hanita was a street with homeless people (the dirty grandfather who sat on the benches above the dog park), there was also graffiti and there was probably less dirt.
The dangerous fence in the article caused me to have surgery at Rambam because I climbed it and fell with my foot on the iron and my knee opened up.
In short, if a decade passes and it only gets worse, nothing will change, thanks to the municipality.
What a neighborhood looks like doesn't just depend on the municipality, it also depends on the residents. Once upon a time, Hanita Street was like a shiny, clean promenade. Today, something has apparently changed in the population.
The entire city is one big garbage can. The municipality knows how to collect taxes but doesn't care about the residents' environment.
We need to increase enforcement, cleaning workers, and education.
Systemic conduct.
Why only for Hanita? On other streets, there is no cleaning worker, and if I don't call 106 to ask for a cleaning worker to be sent, the alley where I live remains filthy. According to the cleaning worker who was sent in response to my request, they don't have enough workers. So why don't they hire 5 paid deputies and increase the sanitation budget?