Last update - 00:00 20/11/2007
Neglect and abandonment at Jerusalem's Talpiot promenades
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
One afternoon earlier this month, a 60-year-old man stood in the middle of the Haas Promenade, opposite Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood, and urinated on the white paving stones. None of the hundreds of visitors, many of them tourists, taking in the view from the adjacent observation veranda seemed to take notice of him or his actions.
"There are no restrooms anywhere around here," he tried to explain - even though there are in fact nice, clean public washrooms just a few dozen meters away. The stench of the urine mixed with the odor of sewage fumes: A municipal pipeline had backed up and flooded the area around benches in the park that connects the Haas Promenade with the Sherover Promenade to its north.
It is hard to believe that this is how the promenade compound, in Talpiot, looks today. Since the opening of the three walkways - the Goldman Promenade, which stretches from the hill that houses the UN Middle East headquarters (Armon Hanatziv) in the east; the Haas Promenade, the first of the structures, which is perched with a stunning view directly north toward the Old City; and the beautifully landscaped Sherover Promenade, which connects to the Haas on the west and extends all the way north to Abu Tor - they have suffered the indignities of budgetary constraints and intifada, when many potential visitors shunned them.
The Gabriel Sherover Promenade has been consistently well tended, since its opening in 1989. On the weekday that we visited, four gardeners in special uniforms spent the day caring for the park, and all of its the garbage cans were empty and clean. The Haas pathway, for the most part, also looked clean. Even so, the site, which has become one of the city's landmarks since its inauguration in 1988, and a charming place for a family stroll, suffers from severe neglect. Just a few dozen meters away from the wide stone walkway, which overlooks the walls of the Old City from the south, mounds of garbage have accumulated and the municipality does not seem to be in a hurry bother to clean them up. The adjacent lawns are strewn with the remains of picnics, and empty hummus and pudding containers sit on the ground under signs reminding the public to keep the area clean.
The garbage doesn't detract from the breathtaking view: a panoramic landscape of Jerusalem, with the Temple Mount, the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Old City walls at center stage. In recent years, however, a visitor who veers off the main stone paths is likely to find him or herself alone. This day, for example, not one of the hundreds of tourists who filled the promenade's impressive observation point continued on down the paved trails that meander down the hill into the so-called valley at the foot of the promenades. Practically everyone had come off a tour bus, stayed long enough to take a picture with the city in the background, eaten at the restaurant below the promenade, and then reboarded. During that entire time, even the three main walkways - Haas, Sherover and Goldman remained almost empty and devoid of human presence.
The Jerusalem Foundation is the organization responsible for raising the funds for the construction of both the Haas and Goldman promenades (the latter, which opened in 2001, wends its way through a grove of trees, and incorporates a number of archaeological finds). Its spokesperson, Liat Rosner, told Haaretz that she is familiar with the situation, and blames it on the municipal government.
"Unfortunately, the maintenance of most of the city's parks is poor, and the promenades are just part of this. It is a source of considerable dismay for both the Jerusalem public and the donors. We are doing our best to get City Hall to live up to its obligations, but with only partial success."
A city spokesperson said that the matter would be examined and dealt with accordingly.
The private Gabriel Sherover Foundation, which invests considerable effort in maintaining the Sherover Promenade, had this response: "The Sherover Foundation maintains the Gabriel Sherover Promenade meticulously and efficiently and it is not neglected. We are not responsible for what happens beyond the promenade."
Hagihon, the municipal water and sewerage company, also responded to Haaretz's queries. "The moment we received the complaint about the sewage pipe and the promenade," said a source at Hagihon, "we immediately sent a team to repair the damage. Hagihon maintains 1,000 kilometers of sewage pipeline infrastructure in the Jerusalem region and strives to fix all problems as soon as possible. The company as a call center that operates 24 hours a day, and area residents phone in complaints so that Hagihon can handle all problems efficiently."