Grapevine: A social bombshell?

Eli Yishai quashed Yoram Marciano's plan's to be mayor; Rishon Lezion mayor Dov Zur imagines day when all roads lead to Rishon.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Eli Yishai 311 aj (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Eli Yishai 311 aj
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
■ WILL THE policy of the Finance Ministry lead to a social bombshell?
The person who has the courage to address the question is none other than ministry director-general Haim Shani, who will be the luncheon guest of the Commerce and Industry Club, today at 12 noon at the Council for a Beautiful Israel, Sderot Rokah 80, Tel Aviv, which is in the Ganei Yehoshua section of Hayarkon Park. The CIC preceded the creation of the state by a whole decade, and despite the many clubs, organizations and institutions that have since come into being as vehicles for networking for the business community, it continues to attract businesspeople, industrialists, bankers, senior company executives and members of the liberal professions.
■ PROLIFIC BROOKLYN-born prize-winning artist Yitzhak Greenfield, whose home and studio are in Ein Kerem, and whose main artistic focus and inspiration is Jerusalem is currently having a retrospective exhibition in Tel Aviv. Visitors to the city that never stops can see his work at La Minotaure Gallery in Rehov Ben-Yehuda. Greenfield’s works can also be found in permanent collections in museums throughout Israel including the Israel Museum and the Tel Aviv Museum, as well as in museums, galleries, libraries and universities in Israel, the United States, England and France.
It’s said that no prophet is heard in his own city – but apparently this does not extend to art. Not only is Greenfield’s work in the permanent exhibition of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, his city of choice, but also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the city of his birth, and in the Brooklyn Museum. He’s also represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and has exhibited in several other countries.
■ RISHON LEZION Mayor Dov Tzur is contemplating the day when all roads lead to Rishon – at least for movie lovers. Hot on the heels of the Cinema City mega complex of 26 movie theaters, 23 restaurants, bars and cafes, plus concept stores and other attractions, is YES Planet, a similar mega complex with 25 movie theaters, conference, halls, restaurants, shops, etc. which will give impetus to the slogan that competition is good for business. The two mega complexes are in close proximity and together will attract tens of thousands of non-residents to Rishon Lezion. It’s a safe bet that the majority will spend more in the city than just the price of movie ticket, which means that economically Rishon Lezion will skyrocket.
■ FORMER LABOR MK Yoram Marciano had his nose put out of joint last week, when his plans to run for mayor of Lod were quashed by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who appointed former long term Rishon Lezion mayor Meir Nitzan to succeed acting mayor Ilan Harari, who is in the process of winding up his term. Harari also came to office by appointment and not through elections. Marciano, who had hoped to take the troubled town out of its morass, is incensed that the opportunity has been seized from him without fair contest and has declared the continued practice of appointing rather than electing a mayor to be anti-democratic. Marciano and some other concerned residents have filed a petition against the appointment with the High Court of Justice.
■ PREMATURE BABIES are thriving on the miracles of modern medicine at Ichilov Hospital, where some have to spend several months before they are healthy enough to go home. For Ariel Einstein, who was born in early December, home is a long way off. Ariel’s parents, David and Miranda Einstein, from Sydney, Australia, were on their honeymoon, and had flown in to Israel from Vietnam. Miranda was pregnant but still had plenty of time to go – or so she thought.
Ariel had other plans and was impatient to enter the world. She arrived 16 weeks early, the day after her parents landed in Israel. She’s been at Ichilov ever since, and doctors told her parents that the overall length of her stay would be around four months. Meanwhile they’re getting to like Israel a lot and are seriously contemplating aliya. After all, they already have a little sabra in the family, even though she’s so tiny that she still weighs less than one kilo.