Henin hopes to run for Tel Aviv mayor

"The Knesset is important and worthy and I don't feel like I've exhausted myself there," Hadash MK tells 'Post'.

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
hadash mk dov henin 248 (photo credit: Knesset Web site)
hadash mk dov henin 248
(photo credit: Knesset Web site)
Hadash MK Dov Henin announced Monday at a press conference in Tel Aviv that he would be running for the top spot of the City4all (Ir Lekulanu) list and subsequently for mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo if elected to head the list. Internal elections for the list's candidates for city council and mayor will be held on Thursday. Henin told The Jerusalem Post Monday afternoon that while he did not feel that he had accomplished all that he could at the Knesset, he could also do a lot of good as mayor of Tel Aviv-Yafo. "The Knesset is important and worthy and I do not feel like I have exhausted myself there, but Tel Aviv-Yafo elections are about the future of the city. I want to offer a different way," he said. Henin was born in Petah Tikva and lives in Tel Aviv. City4all is a local political list that crosses party boundaries. According to Henin, its main issues will be housing, environment and equality. "Tel Aviv can't be just for the rich. [I will work towards a city where] youth can still live there despite the rental crisis," he told the Post. Rental prices in the city have become astronomical, forcing the younger generation to look elsewhere for affordable housing. Henin, the 17th Knesset's premier environmental legislator, also plans to continue his environmental agenda if elected mayor. "My main issues will be preference for public transportation, solving the parking crisis, air pollution, protecting open spaces and green spaces, the beaches and encouraging everyone to live environmentally, including the municipality itself," he said. City4all stresses equality between the southern neighborhoods and Yafo and north Tel Aviv, he added. His platform would also stress transparency at the municipality. Henin explained the nature of the City4all list. "I am running for Ir Lekulanu, a nonpartisan movement; there are religious, masorti, and secular members. There are environmental and social activists. There are members from Likud, Meretz and Labor, although most are not members of any party," he explained. According to their platform, City4all also advocates better city streets, a return to community life instead of more skyscrapers, a proper education system which has a subsidized informal education component, equal treatment for all residents and a vibrant cultural life. Asked who would replace him as the top environmental legislator in the Knesset, Henin responded "that's a tough question. I hope there will be competition for the spot."