21 years coming...
Internationally acclaimed poet Yehuda Amichai was born in Jerusalem, grew up, taught and wrote his poetry in the city, celebrating its streets and monuments. Shortly after his death in 2000 at age 76, the municipality under mayor Ehud Olmert approved honoring the memory of one of the most important poets of our time by finding an appropriate street to name after him.
The plot originally designated for that purpose was on Emek Refaim St. near a daycare center. The center was shut down to enable the construction of a 14-story hotel. Due to opposition from residents, architects and activists, the plan was canceled. The daycare center – by then evacuated and demolished – became a deserted lot with wild vegetation.
Mayor Moshe Lion recently resumed the dialogue with Amichai’s family and an alternative spot was found near the preliminary one, where a signboard (already quite rusty) has long been announcing that the site will be named in memory of the poet. The square at the intersection of Graetz and Martin Luther King streets will therefore be named after the poet who wrote, among other delightful verses, “It is very hard to be the mayor of Jerusalem.”
Silicon Wadi underway
The ambitious project to launch a “Silicon Valley” in the Wadi Joz neighborhood in the city's east side was announced by the municipality more than a year ago, but has remained thus far just a project on the planning desk. But no more. Last week the local planning and construction committee, led by Deputy Mayor Eliezer Rauchberger (United Judaism), approved the first step in its implementation. A vocational college that will train young adults in the Arab sector and pave their way into the hi-tech world has been approved and will be soon built. The project will include business areas, offices, public space for leisure and, later on, new housing units. A daycare center for small children will make it easier for women to utilize the training opportunity and enter the employment market.
Sky scraping
Jerusalem will soon add three new 30-story towers to its ever-evolving skyline. The local planning and construction committee has opted to approve a project submitted by the Treasury. The three new towers will be erected on the way to Har Hotzvim at a junction on Golda Meir Boulevard that will become accessible through a tunnel and will connect the neighborhood directly to the new road to enter the city from the north. Comprising business, commercial and public spaces with a large number of new offices, it is a joint project of the government and the Jerusalem Development Authority.
The high towers accord with the district planning committee’s framework – allowing tall buildings in several locations along the path of the light rail.
Breaking the funding silence
Following its hosting of controversial left-wing Breaking the Silence NGO in 2017, the Barbur Gallery was engaged in a judicial procedure with the municipality and received no financial support. Shortly before the COVID outbreak, the court ordered Barbur's owners to vacate its Nahlaot premises, which has since been repurposed as a kindergarten.
The gallery, which has relocated to a private space on Shlomo Hamelech Street (although this might not be its last stop), has until now been supported solely by the Culture Ministry, but this year a modest contribution will be added by the city. The sum of NIS 36,000 has been approved in Jerusalem's budget for cultural activities.
A new dawn, a new era
The Bililius Group, owner of the Superbus transport company, is joining the public transportation net of the capital, as of this week. There are 36 lines, including 22 new routes – one which crosses all the main tourist sites of Jerusalem, among them in the Old City, and 14 lines added to already existing Egged service, as well as nine more in accordance with the findings of a master plan put forward by the Transportation Ministry. The changes also include three night lines.
This plan was made possible after the ministry put an end to the monopoly of the Egged company. Egged will continue to run buses in the city, but Superbus is planning to enlarge the scope of its own lines in the coming years. The plan is for a total of 150 buses – mini, regular and large – by the end of 202, all equipped with USB and Internet access.