Paying property taxes like on a prestigious avenue and running businesses on a paralyzed street • Business owners on Herzl Street in Haifa are crying out

(haipo) – For years, there has been talk of "bringing Hadar back to life," but on Herzl Street, business owners claim that the reality is only getting worse. A commercial street that has become a busy transportation artery, sidewalks that are being taken over, a shortage of parking and unloading areas, a sense of insecurity, and properties that are desperate for customers. At the same time, business property taxes A continue to be collected in full, according to the business owners.
Property owners talk about investments of millions of shekels in the restoration of buildings, but claim that precisely after investing their money to save the street, they were left to deal alone with the public space outside the door.

The cry of the business owners on Herzl Street in Hadar ◄ Watch

Following numerous inquiries from business and property owners, we set out on a tour of Herzl Street in Hadar. Along the street, we heard the same argument over and over again. The business owners are not asking for preferential treatment, but for basic conditions that will allow them to work. Access to the business, short parking for customers, a place to unload and load, cleanliness, enforcement, and a presence that will allow employees and customers to feel safe. According to them, the gap between the amount paid to the authority and the service they actually receive has long become unbearable.

A street that was a commercial hub and became a transit route

For years, Herzl Street was one of the most recognizable commercial thoroughfares in Hadar. Shops, businesses, historic buildings, and pedestrian traffic made it a central part of urban life in the neighborhood.

But business owners claim that over the years the character of the street has changed dramatically. Instead of a street where pedestrians, businesses, and transportation coexist side by side, they now describe a busy transportation artery, where transportation systems take up a significant portion of the space, while businesses struggle to benefit from passenger traffic.

"People walk down the street, but they don't necessarily go into the stores," says one of the business owners. "The street has become a transit route. We need customers to be able to come to us, stop, buy and return, not just pass by us." According to the business owners, the metro and public transportation do serve a broad urban and transportation need, but they also argue that the impact on local commerce along the street should be examined.

Before

They invested millions in restoration and then discovered that the street was left behind.

One of the examples presented by the property owners is at 67 Herzl Street, on the corner of Sokolov Street. The building, which combines commerce and residences, was previously defined as a dangerous structure. The property owners banded together and invested, they say, significant sums of money from their own pockets to carry out a comprehensive restoration and return the building to a proper condition. The investment was not easy. The store owners had to deal with periods when business activity was affected, with lengthy work and with losses incurred during the restoration period.

But, they claim, after the structure was restored, the moment came when they looked outside and discovered that the problem was not over.

"We invested millions to save the building," says Adi Perez, owner of the method business"But what good is a renovated building if the customer can't get to it?" The sidewalk and public space next to the business have become a factor that hinders activity instead of supporting it. There is no parking for the customer, there is no place to deliver, and there are people who occupy the bay all day. One of the main problems that arose during the tour is the issue of parking and unloading.

According to Perez and other business owners, the unloading bays that are supposed to allow suppliers to reach businesses during designated hours are often occupied throughout the day by private vehicles. According to them, some of the spaces are actually used by vehicles associated with institutions, organizations, and non-profits in the area.

The result, they claim, is that a supplier who arrives during hours when it is not legally possible to stop has difficulty unloading goods and is fined, and a professional who arrives to handle the problem is forced to look for a stopping place far from the business.

After

"A business that cannot be reached – has difficulty existing"

The situation is not easy for customers either. According to business owners, places where it would be possible to operate short-term parking for customers are not currently utilized in a way that helps commerce.

They want to examine the creation of parking spaces in a "30-minute move" format, in sections where this is possible, especially in the Herzl and Sokolov corner areas, where this does not exist at all, and to arrange unloading and loading spaces that will actually be available to businesses throughout operating hours.

"The sidewalk has become the street's backyard"

Along with transportation and parking, the business owners raise another issue that occurs in the public space. According to them, the area has a concentration of apartments, where people who are eligible for housing assistance and support from welfare agencies live, and in some cases these are people dealing with addictions or complex life situations.

It is important to emphasize: The mere fact that people receiving assistance or support live in apartments in the area does not indicate that any person belonging to this population has committed a crime or is in danger. However, business owners claim that in practice a different phenomenon is created in the public space: meetings, prolonged stays, and friction that are concentrated near the storefronts.

According to them, in some cases this creates a sense of insecurity among employees and customers and harms shopper traffic.

"We are not against anyone who needs help," Perez and Ira Stoch emphasize. "But social care must exist alongside preserving the public space and the ability of businesses to exist. There are a lot of drug addicts who inject in public.

When the patrols were on the street – the business owners felt the difference

Another recurring theme among business owners is personal safety. According to them, during a time when Hadar's patrols were more continuously present on the street, the mere physical presence created a sense of security and deterrence.

However, they claim that recently, and precisely with the investment in the Oz unit, the scope of patrols has been reduced and all the effort is directed to the Talpiot Market area, while Herzl Street is left behind, they say, neglected and lacking sufficient presence. Business owners say that after the reduction, they feel a decrease in personal security, and even present security camera footage of a theft from a store during the day.

Their central argument is simple: if the presence of patrols helps create deterrence, it should be reinstated throughout the trading hours.

The Great Absurdity – Property Tax A

But perhaps the most difficult argument from business owners concerns the annual payment, property taxes. According to them, businesses and properties on the street are charged a "Business A" rate, while they feel that the street's conditions do not match what they expect from an active commercial environment.

They point to empty properties, stores that have difficulty attracting customers, parking, unloading and accessibility problems, and a sense of insecurity, and ask how it is possible that the charge continues to be full when the street, they claim, is having difficulty functioning as a commercial street. Private property owners who have renovated buildings with their own money also want to examine whether it is possible to provide relief or incentives to those who invest in renovating properties and returning buildings to a proper condition.

For them, the question is not just how much they pay but what they get in return.

"Want to bring back the glory? Let businesses work"

The business owners are not content with criticism. They are presenting a series of demands, which they say could help bring commercial activity back to the streets.

• Returning the street to commercial use: Reexamining public transportation traffic on the street, especially lines that do not directly serve local commerce.
• Short-term parking for customers: Create "30-minute move-in" spaces where possible, to allow customers to stop, make a purchase, and move on.
• Regulating unloading and loading: Ensuring the availability of unloading bays for businesses and suppliers throughout operating hours and enforcing against their use as permanent parking.
• Reinforcement of Hadar Directorate patrols: Restoring a continuous foot presence throughout the hours of operation, with the aim of strengthening the sense of security and deterrence.
• Examination of the welfare policy in the area: to allow housing and support for populations in need, but at the same time to ensure that the treatment does not harm the public space, businesses, and the residents' sense of security.
• Property taxes versus service: Examining the adaptation of services, cleaning, maintenance, and enforcement to the reality on the street, while simultaneously examining possible relief in cases where property owners invest in renovating buildings.

The street is not asking for a miracle – it is asking for a chance.

At the end of the tour of Herzl Street, a clear feeling remains. Behind every storefront is a person who has invested money, time, and energy to keep a business going. Some property owners have invested large sums in renovating buildings. Store owners continue to pay expenses: wages, electricity, insurance, and of course property taxes. But when a customer has difficulty arriving, a vendor cannot unload, the sidewalk is uninviting, and the business owner fears what is happening outside the door,

The question is not just how to "revive Hadar"? The question is whether the conditions that allow commerce to exist still exist. The business owners are asking the local authority not for more slogans about renewal, but for steps on the ground. Because ultimately, it is impossible to bring Hadar back to life without returning its streets to commerce.

The Haifa Municipality responded:

The Hadar neighborhood has been undergoing a facelift in the past two years in terms of commerce, visibility, business, and security. As part of this, the municipality is investing significant resources in promoting the neighborhood, strengthening the commercial streets, and improving public space, with the goal of giving Hadar a more well-maintained, safe, accessible, and attractive appearance. To this end, the municipality is currently formulating a comprehensive plan to continue the rehabilitation and upgrading of the commercial streets in the Hadar neighborhood, including Sirkin, Hachalutz, Nordau, and Herzl streets. The plan examines, among other things, transportation arrangements and bus lines on the streets, the issue of vacant properties, and ways to revive commercial activity. Upon completion, the plan will be presented to the public in an orderly manner.

The issue of cleanliness and personal and public safety are high priorities for the Operations Administration. The Sanitation Department invests a lot of effort in cleaning the neighborhood, with some areas being cleaned three times a day and others twice a day. On Herzl Street, in addition to regular cleaning, cardboard boxes from business fronts are collected three times a day, at 12:00, 17:00, and in the evening.

As for parking arrangements: There are already "30-minute-move" parking lots along Herzl Street, and enforcement is carried out using cameras. In addition, the Municipal Supervision Division enforces the issue of parking in the parking bays designated for loading and unloading. As stated, personal and public safety are also a high priority. Security activities are carried out in cooperation with the Israel Police and all security agencies in the municipality, including the supervision and municipal policing divisions, through foot and motorized patrols.

As for property taxes, the City Council has set a reduced rate of approximately 15% (from the full rate for businesses in Zone A) for the ground floor areas of business buildings on Herzl Street. An exemption for vacant properties is granted for a period of up to six months, in accordance with the criteria set out in the law. In addition, an exemption is granted to property owners who are carrying out extensive renovation work that does not allow them to be used.