Parking, dormitories and construction: Representatives of the Jerusalem Association of Local Government Organizations at a meeting with residents in the Geula neighborhood

February 15, 2024   

Members of the Agudat Israel list in Jerusalem continue to work with great vigor to assist and help the residents of Jerusalem. Last week, a meeting was held in the Geula neighborhood in the city with the head of the list, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Barim, and city council member Rabbi Yochanan Weizmann, who spoke with the residents about the problems and hardships that the residents are facing. Among other things, Agudat Israel representatives heard that there is a great deal of delay in obtaining building permits, a delay that has lasted for several years, during which no one will speed up the process, which ultimately causes many residents to act through 'implementers' to act and speed up the process. In addition, the residents expressed great disappointment regarding the construction work being carried out throughout the neighborhoods of Jerusalem, work that involves great suffering for the residents in terms of traffic congestion, and in terms of various damages caused to vehicles, as a result of the work. During the meeting, Rabbi Weizmann said that as the preservation portfolio holder in the municipality, he was the one who worked and succeeded in the last term in reducing the number of waiting days for preservation from 219 days to only 54, when there is no doubt that there are still many things that can and should be improved. Another issue that residents complained about is the issue of parking spaces in the Geula neighborhood and the area. According to the residents, in recent times, alongside all the work being done in the area, parking spaces have been cut from several areas, and as a result, many residents, and even others who come to visit the area, are forced to deal with a parking shortage that has become very acute. Another hardship raised by residents at the meeting is the fact that there is a severe shortage of daycare centers. One resident said that he was forced to send his children to a daycare center located in the Sanhedria neighborhood every day, due to the fact that there are not enough daycare centers for the residents in the Geula neighborhood. The head of the Agudat Israel list in Jerusalem, Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Brim, emphasized during the meeting that "our vision is to ensure that a representative will be responsible for handling all of the above problems. We very much hope to ensure that dozens of coordinators are appointed whose role will be to handle any problem that arises from the residents, thereby changing the current situation." City Council member Rabbi Yochanan Weizmann added that "we hope to reach approximately 35,000 voters in Jerusalem, after which 35 coordinators will be appointed, each of whom will be responsible for 1,000 residents, thus creating a situation where every request from a resident receives a proper response.".