Mayors aim to join city parks, create 'green corridor'

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
The mayors of Ra'anana and of Herzliya, Nahum Hofree and Yael German, have come up with a plan to create a giant "green corridor" by uniting the two municipal parks in their cities, reports www.nrg.co.il. But with the plan contingent on the cities' winning their long-running struggle to close down the Herzliya airfield, the "green lung" may remain nothing more than a pipedream for some time to come. According to the report, Hofree and German have produced a joint vision in which the troublesome airfield in the north-east of Herzliya is removed and a green corridor is created between Sderot Yerushalayim and Rehov Habrigada Hayehudit, joining the large municipal parks in Herzliya and in Ra'anana. But the report said the struggle to close down the airfield is one of the oldest in the area, with numerous mayors having tried and failed to get it removed as a safety and environmental hazard. A Transport Ministry committee has been selected to discuss the issue, but the airfield is still functioning as usual. The report said the two mayors were saying that as soon as the airfield was removed, they would act to advance plans to create a green corridor between the two parks that would create a giant green zone for the benefit of both cities.