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Go south, young man By Avner Bernheimer Tags: israel news Our families were very dissatisfied in 1996 when my husband and I purchased an apartment in the Geula neighborhood, which separates Kerem Hatemanim from the seashore. We are both originally from Petah Tikva, and good families from Petah Tikva did not go south of Allenby Street when they visited the big city. South of Allenby was the district of the prostitutes and the drug addicts; as a child I remember my parents warning me about criminal activity taking place in the courtyards there. I don't know why they bothered: In any case we didn't even get as far as Yona Hanavi Street, the first street parallel to Allenby to the south, but their fears sparked my imagination. Every time we got off the bus at Ben Yehuda-Allenby and walked in the direction of the beach, I would peek at the posterior part of the big city with a mixture of fear and attraction. "Absolutely not, it's a neighborhood of drug addicts," my mother said when she heard about the apartment. "And prostitutes," added my father. They both spoke about the "big mistake" and about "throwing your money down the drain." My husband's parents, who had moved two years earlier to a good neighborhood in the "old north" of Tel Aviv, also opposed the purchase in their more polite way. "Why not stay in the area where you're living? It's much greener there," they said, praising pleasant Masaryk Square. But what can you do when, with the money we had from donations and a mortgage, we were able to buy 30 square meters on the ground floor in the "green" area, but 80 square meters in the neighborhood that borders on hummus and Yemenite soup on the east, and on the seashore on the west? In spite of the opposition we decided to go for the apartment in Geula. Advertisement There actually weren't any masses of prostitutes and addicts here, and in any case, they didn't bother anyone. Geula was, and to a certain degree still is, what is called a mixed neighborhood, which combines veteran residents, most of them Shasnik families with a lot of children, agile surfers and all kinds of guys like us, who wanted the combination of the sea as their backyard and the city center within walking distance. Today I know that even if we have more money we won't exchange this neighborhood for any other, we're ready to die here. But at the time we felt that we were making a certain compromise between the real and the ideal. The north of the city and the city center were already too expensive, leaving Tel Aviv was not an option, and the possibilities in light of our financial situation were east of Sheinkin up to the old Central Bus Station, Florentin and Geula. There's a reason why I'm relating all this: My dear cousin decided recently to move from Modi'in to Tel Aviv, and he didn't stop complaining about the prices of housing that don't allow him and his girlfriend to live in a reasonable location in the city center. And what do they consider a "reasonable location"? "The streets near Kikar Hamedina, near Dubnov Park, near Sheinkin or near Meir Park, but not too close to King George or Allenby." They even voted for that young people's party - hoping that that would enable them to find an apartment above a park, a meter from the local bar that would be open all night, but would not disturb the neighbors, on a verdant and quiet street. I'm really trying not to get annoyed. "You two little pishers," I say to them. "You just got out of the army, you're living on a shoestring, you're a barman, she's a waitress in a restaurant that's about to fold - what exactly are you complaining about?" As the responsible adult I try to explain to my cousin and his sweet girlfriend what they don't have: They don't have work, they don't have money and the global economy has collapsed now because of people who were unable to tell themselves that they don't have, and yet continued to consume more and more things that they don't need on credit given to them by banks, which also don't have, as it turns out. But my cousin isn't interested in the economy. He doesn't understand supply and demand. He is a first-year student in computer sciences, and he wants an apartment in the most popular area in the country. He doesn't care if it's too expensive for people like him. That's exactly why he voted for that party. I had no choice but to tell him "pioneering stories" in the hope that maybe it would help. I told him how in "my generation" - God, how is there already my generation and his generation? - we came to "north" Tel Aviv. Sheinkin and areas to the east of it were full of small workshops and Holocaust survivors who screamed at night; Florentin was a collection of carpentry shops and metal workshops; and Geula and Kerem Hatemanim belonged to prostitutes and drug addicts. But we didn't insist on living in the Migdal Ha'ir tower: We dried up the swamps, built "compounds," renovated houses, yards and stairwells, spent all our money in new cafes and galleries that turned into boutiques, which cropped up to serve us, and managed to turn deserted streets into the wonderful places where he wants to live now, but is unable to afford, and rightly so, "because you're just a kid," I say, pinching his cheek. My cousin is amazed at me. Where do I want him to go? He is almost in tears, as though I sent him to Rishon. "I don't know where, start looking," I shout. "Did anyone tell me about Geula? Did anyone direct the young people of Manhattan to Williamsburg, Brooklyn? The refugees from the East Village to the Lower East Side? Be adventurers, discover new areas. Be the Columbus of real estate. Try Jaffa on the border of Bat Yam, try Bat Yam, the area of the old Central Bus Station south of Salameh, rent there, buy there, renovate there, start cafes, galleries that will turn into boutiques, move your asses and stop complaining that they don't let you live on Sheinkin or at Kikar Hamedina. You two nudnik pishers! Now bring me my walker because Uncle Avner has a lot of peepee from his prostate, thank you." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Back in the Mideast Carter may meet with Hezbollah officials during his visit in Lebanon. Bush's final days Olmert has a thing or two to learn from Bush about an exit strategy.

Read & React Obama to offer Israel 'nuclear umbrella' against Iranian attack Responses: 59 Report: Israeli envoy to U.K. accuses church service of being anti-Semitic Responses: 48 Akiva Eldar: Israeli legal system going soft on settlers Responses: 8 Netanyahu to Haaretz: Likud is behind me; Feiglin will soon disappear Responses: 23 Amira Hass: Shalit campaign should join forces with families of jailed Palestinians Responses: 2 More Headlines 09:33 Obama's atomic umbrella: U.S. nuclear strike if Iran nukes Israel 09:00 Hamas official: Shalit could be freed in a day if Israel were brave enough 03:26 Netanyahu to Haaretz: Likud is behind me; Feiglin will soon disappear 10:00 After controversial release, settler who shot 2 Palestinians to be charged 09:35 60 years on, Israel-bashing diminishes message of UN human rights council 08:23 'Winning the war on radical Islam will be tough, but can be done' 07:17 ANALYSIS / Israeli legal system going soft on settlers 06:47 Build yourself a house at the Dead Sea and live in the lowest community on earth 00:36 Report: Israeli envoy to U.K. accuses church service of being anti-Semitic 09:07 JEWISH WORLD / The Jewish people is becoming its own enemy 06:49 Who benefits from Holocaust victims' money? 07:47 Serial sex offender has Jaffa women on edge 07:51 Anti-Terror Bureau warns Israelis not to travel to Goa 04:46 Israeli students lagging behind in math, science 21:21 Comedian Gil Kopatch to lead Green Leaf party in Knesset elections Previous Editions Select Day 10 dec 09 dec 08 dec 07 dec 05 dec 04 dec 03 dec 02 dec 01 dec 30 nov 28 nov 27 nov

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