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New mayors turn focus to local agendas By Haaretz Service One of the initial steps taken by Jerusalem's new mayor, Nir Barkat, as part of his efforts to bring about a "secular agenda," was a significant change in the municipal budget: the budget for cultural institutions in the city was doubled from NIS 10 million to NIS 20 million, and the budget of the youth movements and sports associations in Jerusalem was significantly increased. In an unusual step, Barkat succeeded in bringing all the factions of the city council into the coalition, with the exception of a single city council member who has remained in the opposition. For the first time, the administration of the city includes a deputy mayor from Meretz and alongside him a deputy from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism faction. Advertisement Barkat's city council has taken away those portfolios from the ultra-Orthodox that they have held in recent years: the finance portfolio and the planning and construction portfolio, have remained in the hands of Barkat's Jerusalem Will Succeed faction. The members of the ultra-Orthodox factions received sectoral portfolios, which deal with the education and culture of the ultra-Orthodox population. It is still too early to tell whether Barkat will manage to continue to hold on to the fragile coalition he has formed, which has more dividing than uniting it. The secular mayor, who expressed right-wing opinions during the elections, has still not been required to make controversial decisions, such as constructing a Jewish neighborhood adjacent to the Arab villages in the north of the city or hosting the Gay Pride march in Jerusalem - which are liable to arouse opposition to him within the city council. Many city residents are of the opinion that the elections in Carmiel were held under the shadow of the violent confrontations between Jews and Arabs that took place in Acre in September. Thus two of the slates that ran in the elections for city council - Carmiel Beitenu (Carmiel is Our Home - which even had a female candidate for mayor, Rina Greenberg), and Habayit Sheli (My Home), headed by Oren Milstein - expressed the desire to deepen the "Jewish nature" of Carmiel as their top priority. In other words, to prevent Arab residents from purchasing or renting an apartment in the city. Carmiel has a population of about 51,000, about 6,000 of them non-Jews. However, most of the non-Jews are new immigrants and the percentage of Arabs in the city is no more than 2 percent. The results of the city council elections clearly indicate the strengthening of the right. Although Adi Eldar was elected as mayor for his fourth term, Carmiel Beitenu, which was supported by Yisrael Beitenu, received six seats and Habayit Sheli won three seats, whereas the mayor's slate, Carmiel Shelanu (Our Carmiel), won five seats. Eldar, who for the first time faced the possibility of a blocking majority, chose in the end to sign a coalition agreement with My Home, the NRP and Agudat Israel and has a 10-member coalition, versus seven. His associates remark that the distribution of the seats in the city council did not leave him a chance to maneuver and that joining up with Habayit Sheli does not indicate a change in policy when it comes to the issue of housing for Arab residents of the city. Ron Huldai, the mayor who has been serving since 1988, won the recent elections and was re-elected for a third consecutive term. Huldai's main rival was Dov Khenin who, although he did not succeed in defeating Huldai, received a relatively high percentage of votes (34 percent as compared to 51 percent for Huldai), and the faction he headed, Ir Lekulani (City for All) received the highest number of votes and won five seats on the city council (as did Huldai's faction). Khenin, in accordance with his declaration preceding the elections that he would not serve as a member of the city council if he was not elected mayor, is not a council member but serves as the chairman of the expanded faction of Ir Lekulanu. Although an attempt was made to bring it into the coalition, it remained in the opposition where it is trying to promote issues that are central to its agenda (such as a battle against real-estate trends that it claims are taking over the city, the expansion of public areas in the city and a reduction in the gaps between the various populations). In effect, although Huldai succeeded in reaching coalition agreements with most of the factions serving on the present council and has a large coalition majority (23 members out of 31), the work of forming a coalition is still not over. (As opposed to his previous term, when there were two city council members who consistently remained in the opposition, and Huldai enjoyed almost total consensus on the issues he promoted, at present there is a larger and more belligerent opposition, with a clearer agenda.) In his third attempt, opposition city council member Dov Tzur, defeated veteran mayor Meir Nitzan (Tzur enjoyed about 52 percent support from the voters). Immediately after the elections Tzur worked to keep his election promise: a parking revolution. As part of this revolution, the city residents can park near sidewalks marked in blue and white without a fee (the municipality is still waiting for final legislation by the Interior Ministry). There are about 1,000 parking places marked in blue and white all over the city (about 500 of them on central traffic arteries, where free parking will be limited to two hours in order to channel the traffic). In addition, the municipality is planning to paint another 4,300 parking places in the city in blue and white, most of them in industrial areas. Moshe Lipetz (aka Moshik from the Israel version of "Survival") was elected as city council head by a large majority (about 75 percent), after serving as acting council head of Savyon from the beginning of May (when the previous city council head passed away, and Lipetz, a council member until then, was chosen to replace him). Since beginning the job in May, Lipetz has carried on with Savyon's main project (begun by the previous city council head) to link Savyon to a sewage system; it is one of the only authorities in the country that uses cesspools instead of sewage pipes. Lipetz came to local politics without experience, and therefore starting in May he employed a mentor - Nimrod Tzah, who was the director general of the Shoham local council ("He has given me a better understanding of public processes," says Lipetz). On Wednesday the subject of the mentor will come up for approval. Savyon has nine council members (four of them from Lipetz's faction), and there is no official opposition. Last week in Safed four demolition orders, issued due to building violations, were implemented - after years during which not a single such order was carried out. As far as new mayor Ilan Shohat is concerned, this step symbolized the new policy that he plans to carry out in the city - from now on there is someone in charge in Safed and he will impose order in it. For that purpose there is also a box for public complaints that has been placed in the municipality, instead of the previous box which nobody opened for five years. Shohat, 34, is the youngest mayor in the country. During recent elections he ran on an independent slate and was identified with Kadima. After defeating incumbent mayor Yishai Maimon of the National Religious Party (NRP) in the second round, he managed to form a coalition that includes 12 out of 15 city council members. However, Shas (2) and Likud (1) remained in the opposition. There are several issues on Shohat's agenda: to restore to Safed its status as the capital of the Galilee, to change the city's image as "unfortunate," a kind of Bnei Brak of the Galilee, and to turn it into a strong city whose sons do not abandon it. This is not an easy task. Forty percent of the city's residents are registered in the municipal welfare department. Nor did the central government help when it canceled tax benefits that the city enjoyed in the past and transferred them to Hatzor Haglilit. Moreover, Safed is forced to compete with the kibbutzim and moshavim in the area who attract the strong population that is seeking quality of life and good education. Another challenge facing Shohat is the rehabilitation of the wounded from the Second Lebanon War, the war in which the weakness of the municipality and the social systems in the city were fully exposed. Although the city was founded 52 years ago, Shimon Gapso is only the third mayor of Upper Nazareth. For 32 years the job was held by Menachem Ariav, a Mapai and Labor Party man who went over to Kadima. His decision to not be a candidate in the recent elections paved the way for 49-year-old Gapso, a member of the opposition in the city council. Gapso won against all odds, without a supporting party behind him, running on an independent slate and identified with the Yisrael Beitenu party. Since his election he has succeeded in forming a broad coalition, which includes 14 of the 17 members of the city council and represents a broad political array, from Zev Hartman, a member of the radical right, to the two doctors, Ra'ed Getas and Shukri Awada, members of the Arab Joint Party for Coexistence, representing the Arab residents, who comprise 15 percent of the population of Upper Nazareth. Gapso's municipal agenda includes a reform of the organizational structure of the municipality after years of stagnation; restoring the residents' sense of belonging to their city, even by means of a symbolic step such as cancellation of parking fees for city residents, and publicizing the city in a manner that will emphasize its uniqueness, even by changing its name. Gapso claims that many of the residents of the center of the country are unaware of the existence of Upper Nazareth and do not distinguish between it and Nazareth. Among the names that have been proposed: Irusit, after the iris flower that symbolizes the city, Illit (upper, superior), Tzurit, Tzofit, Lev Hagalil (Heart of the Galilee), Sha'ar Hagalil (Gateway to the Galilee), City of Hope, Hayetzira (the Creation) and Bat Haim (Daughter of Life). But Gapso's main efforts will be devoted to changing the demographic situation in the city. In the 1990s the city grew quickly thanks to the absorption of new immigrants, most of them elderly. But in recent years the intermediate generation, those with means, have left the city; many of them have moved to the communal settlements in the region. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Following Chavez Bolivia cuts ties with Israel, says it seeks war crimes charges. Who needs the Knesset? Arab parties: We'll establish an alternative Arab parliament.

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