Ramat Hasharon circus fights for its life

CityFront: Parents of children participating in the Florentine Circus have called on the local municipality to help keep the circus open.

By BARRY DAVIS
Central Region:
Parents of children participating in the Florentine Circus at Hakfar Hayarok, near Ramat Hasharon, have called on the local municipality to help keep the circus open.
The circus closed down following what Mayor Itzik Rochberger explained as “the failure of the circus owner to satisfy the requirements of the District Committee by holding events at the place, such as bar mitzvas and birthday celebrations.
“The District Committee told us to close the circus.
If the circus owner had followed the District Committee’s guidelines, the circus could have carried on working,” the mayor said.
After a letter protesting the closure was submitted to the Ramat Hasharon Council members by parents of the children in the circus, Rochberger said that he and the municipality “are doing everything we can to keep the circus going.”
Cities in urban policing pilot
Eleven cities have been chosen to take part in an urban policing pilot scheme involving the use of municipal enforcement facilities designed to address misdemeanors in the areas of quality of life, violence and anti-social behavior. Each municipality in the scheme will also use an advanced technology unit with a control room and a large number of strategically located cameras.
The towns included in the scheme are: Eilat, Netanya, Ma’aleh Adumim, Ramat Gan, Arad, Givatayim, Migdal Ha’emek, Bnei Brak, Nazareth, Lod and Tira.
Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said that the scheme represents a dramatic operational change for the Israeli Police working alongside civilian elements and local leadership.
Housing tax cuts approved
The Rishon Lezion Municipality has approved a series of housing tax cuts for families with children having a disability rating of at least 75 percent.
A municipality official added, however, that the reduction was not obligatory.
If implemented, the cuts will increase the reduction on housing tax from 25 percent per 100 square meter to 33% per 100 sq.m. The increased discount will now also apply to disabled children over 18.
A municipality official said that there are around 400 families in the city with a disabled child under 18, and around another 350 families with a disabled child over 18.
Senior citizen to stay in apartment
A lawsuit brought by the Amidar public housing company against an elderly woman to have her removed from her Herzliya apartment has been rejected by the local magistrate’s court.
Amidar claimed that the woman was not eligible to live in the apartment and demanded payment of NIS 6,456 in unpaid rent from the time the company asked her to vacate the premises.
However, the court ruled that the pensioner was eligible for public housing. The woman’s lawyer added that his client’s parents had also lived in the apartment – which gave the woman “continuing tenant” rights.
The court instructed Amidar to pay the woman NIS 1,000, make a further payment of NIS 1,000 to her son for his legal costs, and pay NIS 10,000 to cover lawyers’ fees.
Street repairs bother Rehovot traders
Rehov Herzl, one of Rehovot’s main thoroughfares, is due for a serious makeover in the near future. The plans include a public transport fast lane and bicycle lanes. But while Mayor Rahamim Malul calls the plan “a real revolution” and says the street “will become the gem of the city,” local businessmen and traders have expressed concern that the construction period, three years, might kill off their businesses.
Malul says he is aware there may be complaints about the plan, and that local residents and traders will suffer while the work is in progress.
But, he says, the inconvenience and investment – of NIS 245 million – will be more than compensated for by the end result.
Ramat Gan gets Bible Quiz lead
Two students from Blich High School in Ramat Gan put on an impressive performance at the recent regional Bible Quiz run by the Education Ministry’s Tel Aviv Youth and Social Administration.
Ziv Greenblat from Blich won the regional quiz and progressed to the national phase of the competition, while fellow school student Stav Cherkasov placed fourth.
Blich High School principal Gil Parag praised the students, adding that the school regularly performs well in national championships in fields such as mathematics, physics, computers and sport. Parag also commended the school’s Bible studies teachers for imbuing their students with interest in the subject.
NorthStudents help out at mental health clinic
About 90 10th-grade students from Hadera High School spent a day at the nearby Sha’ar Menashe Mental Health Clinic last week. The students took part in a range of activities with hostel residents, who included Holocaust survivors and inmates of various rehabilitation departments.
The activity day took place under the aegis of the “To Be A Citizen” initiative of Education and Interior ministries, designed to promote a sense of allegiance to the country and encourage youth to take an active role in society and their own communities.
The YiddishSpiel Theater was also on hand to brighten up the Sha’ar Menashe patients’ day.
Help for traumatized students
A group of students who have experienced emotional crisis are about to complete a special program designed to help them deal with the demands of their everyday life and studies. The program, run by the Haifa branch of the College of Management (COM), is tailored to address the individual needs of each student, providing skills that will enable them to get a professional qualification and subsequently find employment.
The program includes teaching learning skills, refresher courses in basic subjects such as mathematics, computer skills and basic English. The students also attend workshops which train them for the job interview process.
The program is supported by the National Insurance Institute, Health Ministry, the Public Health Association and the COM.
Weather closes Haifa Airport
The extreme weather conditions earlier this week brought air traffic to a standstill in the north and led to Haifa Airport bring shut down on Sunday. The strong winds that started on Saturday brought large quantities of sand to the region from Egypt and Libya, with wind gusts of up to 70 kph recorded.
Meanwhile further south, the sandy haze reduced visibility on roads, though the subsequent rain – particularly along the coast in the region of Netanya and Herzliya – helped clean the air.
Ben-Gurion Airport operated normally despite the adverse weather conditions.\
SouthTaxi drivers seek clearer signs
Taxi drivers in Ashdod claim they have to contend with unnecessary work problems due to poor signposting in the city. They say that some streets lack any name signs, and there are buildings without numbers. The drivers point out that with the recent gas price hikes, the extra mileage they do to find the right streets and buildings translates into extra costs and reduced income.
Meanwhile, an Ashdod Municipality official said that “Ashdod has excellent urban planning, extensive road infrastructure and clear signposting offering easy accessibility to every location in the city.”
The official added, however, that any specific problems should be referred to the municipal call center, and that taxi drivers who experience difficulties with finding specific addresses should obtain an up-to-date map of the city.
Kastina Junction to get traffic light
Despite plans to build a pedestrian overpass at Kastina Junction near Kiryat Malachi, a tender has now been issued for the placement of traffic lights at the dangerous crossroads.
Kiryat Malachi mayor Moti Malka said, in response, that the Transport Ministry had delayed the building of the pedestrian bridge “and has now canceled it. If it were up to me, the bridge would already be in place.”
Around two weeks ago, a 19-year-old man was killed when he tried to cross the junction. This prompted Malka to write to Transport Minister Yisrael Katz to ask him to speed up the pedestrian solution for the spot. Katz responded that the ministry was doing “everything in its power to bring about a speedy solution for the junction.”
Harried police catch hurried tourists
Last week traffic police officers caught two tourists from France driving at high speed on Highway 90 to Eilat. One driver was doing 170 kph, while the other was clocked at 194 kph. The licenses of both drivers were revoked and fines were imposed.
The first driver’s license was suspended for 11 months and he was given a fine of NIS 3,000. The faster of the two drivers had his license suspended for seven months and he was ordered by the court to pay a fine of NIS 3,500.
Mati Sofer, Eilat regional head of the National Traffic Police, termed dangerous drivers on Highway 90 “a time-bomb waiting to go off.