Here, here I am coming to be mayor, sound the trumpet... (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Who I am
: teacher, mentor, manager.
My greatest satisfaction is to see in central places in the economy people I knew as children, and to hear that I contributed something to them.
Roots
: Mother's family from Thessaloniki.
They immigrated to Israel before the war, when mother was seven years old, and settled in the Florentine neighborhood in Tel Aviv, in the heart of the Thessaloniki community. Grandfather distributed milk and later worked as a laborer, and grandmother raised the children.
On the other hand, I am sixth generation in Israel.
Grandpa was an orthodox rabbi in Safed, who married grandma in a second marriage, they were one of the founders of Yesod HaMa'ale, during the time it was ultra-Orthodox, and from there they moved to East Jerusalem and ran a road hotel.
Because of the occupation of the city, they were forced to move to the Neve Shanan neighborhood in Tel Aviv. The
parents grew up in Tel Aviv, met, and when the Sephardi and the Ashkenazi decided to get married, both families took it hard.
Father studied electrical engineering and established a business to manufacture electrical plates from British mines and progressed to selling stoves and ovens.
"We weren't hungry for bread, but if we took a bus to the sea, there was no popsicle", (Photo: Reuven Castro)
My childhood
: I was born 60 meters from the new central station, a traditional house, living with my nose at water level.
We weren't hungry for bread, but if we took a bus to the sea, there was no popsicle.
I had a hammer for anything that rises in the air and it remains to this day, I assembled airplanes, I took pictures of airplanes flying over the house.
When I was at the Air Force Base, they found out that I was color blind, and I realized that I would not be a pilot in Israel, so years later I got a civil license.
There was a fight between father and mother whether I would go to a vocational or theoretical high school.
Dad almost won: I was supposed to go to Ort Singlovsky and they didn't accept me, because I behaved "presumably".
I was a brat and went to "Shleva" high school, a second chance high school, and thanks to the teachers who were there, I didn't find myself on the street.
Since then the belief burns in me, that every child deserves a chance.
After I had my matriculation, my father took me for a talk and said that a person needs a profession and I should go to the air force technician.
I heard the Air Force and agreed immediately.
I postponed the draft for a year, graduated with honors and stayed there as a teacher during my military service.
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"I asked him what a marketing manager does, and suddenly I thought it was interesting to me" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Career
: I never connected with what dad did, but I didn't have my own dream or ambition.
One day, in the army, I caught a ride from Haifa to Tel Aviv with someone who told me he was a marketing manager at Tambor. I asked him what a marketing manager does, and suddenly I thought it was interesting to me and I wanted to work in sales and marketing.
While flipping through the newspaper in the guidance room, I saw an ad: 'Needed Sales people for the 'Southern Company'", today Snow.
I sent her an application and they invited me for an interview.
Bruno Landsberg who interviewed me, asked, when can you start?
I was in the army and he said he would wait for me.
After the release, I started working in cleaning products and polishing floors in Sano, I traveled from Haifa to Tel Aviv, and at the same time I studied engineering and started a degree in economics. After two years, I moved to become a salesperson in Hogola.
Hogola
: I was responsible for sales in the northern region.
I remember the first time I arrived at the offices, I had a very cold and took out the cloth handkerchief to blow my nose.
The CEO told me as soon as I work at Snow I use paper napkins and gave me a package of personal tissue, which was a luxury product at the time.
I started to move up the job ladder, until I was appointed CEO, when the ownership was American through a chain of IDB companies owned by Leon Recanati.
Together with Yaki Yerushalmi I brought in Kimberly Clark as a strategic investor and we launched Hagis in Israel.
On the fight against the cost of living: "The chains want to portray themselves as Robin Hood fighting the rich, but raise the price of their private brand" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Kimberly Clark, the increase in price
: I don't want to refer to their specific case, because I try not to be in the position of the expert outsider giving an opinion.
You have to understand that a business is measured in economic terms, in the field and everywhere, in the end they ask what is the return on capital.
What can influence the decision to raise prices is one of two things: either regulation or pressure from consumers.
All players play a game.
The chains want to portray themselves as Robin Hood fighting the rich, but raise the price of their own brand and the manufacturers absorb the price increases, the electricity price and the interest rate rise.
How long can you push a manufacturer, whose target price is increasing and he is not raising prices?
This is how we get to the situation of Golan Heights dairies that are financially collapsing.
From an economic management point of view, the ambition is that each product will justify its existence.
Al Al
: I managed the company for three years and I am proud of the slogan we launched then, "The most at home in the world".
El Al made money during my time, even though fuel prices went up and it was privatized without any labor disputes.
Cellcom
: I served as CEO for six years, during which I launched "Kochavit Amos". I published my phone number, so that customers could call me directly to solve problems. Danny Kushmaro called me to check if I was answering. Then I was the president of the University of Haifa for four years.
"Fewer people came to Tel Aviv to shop, to get to work, because it became a hybrid" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Mayor of Tel Aviv
: The first time the issue of mayor came up was in Haifa, when I finished my position at the university.
Members of the public asked me to run in the elections, but I told them that I don't live in the city and my children and grandchildren are in Tel Aviv, that's out of the question. During the Corona closures, I'm sitting on the bench in Milano Square with a cup of coffee and he tells me, Huldai announces that he's running for Prime Minister And there will be flash elections in Tel Aviv, you will run for the municipality.
I announced that I was running and then Huldai retracted it, but I was deeply in the understanding of what was happening in the city and that I had the experience, the ability and the chance to succeed.
There is absolutely no possibility that I won't be mayor, I don't act on a whim.
I get echoes, do surveys, meet with experts, and don't come on par.
I don't see myself as a deputy, because I don't need a salary and I will contribute to the city in any way possible.
small businesses
: I met with businesses and asked, what hurts them.
They talked to me about the bureaucracy in the city, the property tax and the excavated city.
But these are not the real problems of businesses in Tel Aviv. Every business has an income side and an expense side. A few months ago a survey was published that showed that the turnover per square meter decreased in 2022 compared to last year, while in other cities it increased between 5% and 20% .
Fewer people came to Tel Aviv to shop, to get to work, because it has become a hybrid, and they don't go down to eat dinner. There is a danger to the city in terms of income. Tel Aviv is an amazing city, which I wouldn't trade for any fortune in the world, but the whole city is excavated at once, the excavations They last way longer than planned, and someone pays for it.
"I would stop the construction and digging of the bike paths, we don't need everything together" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Excavations
: There is a common assumption that when you renovate, you suffer.
But if the repairman starts damaging the kitchen, and then the living room, there comes a time when he needs to be called to order.
I don't accept the premise that you have to suffer for the future, you have to make it easier in the short term.
Just think that Ibn Gvirol will be excavated at the end of the decade.
I would declare a state of emergency for the public space in the municipality and I would appoint someone to be the owner of what is being done in the city, because the NTA failed.
I would do everything to speed up the works, put the electric scooters in order, take away all the inspectors, who will not give reports Parking on my side, and giving reports to the scooters that will ride on the sidewalks and to their operators - and letting the pedestrians walk on them safely. In addition, I would stop the construction and digging of the bike paths, we don't need everything together.
Congestion fee
: I claim that it should not be done before there is full public transport.
The congestion of half a million cars a day is not caused by the residents of Tel Aviv, who are responsible for perhaps 20,000 of them. Even those coming from outside should not be charged a congestion fee. The people who enter the city to work or spend time support businesses, theaters, restaurants and hotels.
The main focus You have to be on buses. The leading transportation strategist in Israel is with me and he says that it is possible to bring traffic relief in the city within a year or two with proper management, you don't have to wait for the light rail or the metro. You can use "trains on wheels", buses with a larger capacity and without the need for special infrastructure.
Ron Huldai
: Tel Aviv needs to move to the management of the 21st century. I don't want to refer to Huldai, who did good things for the city in the first years of his tenure, but 25 years in the position is far beyond what is needed and they have a price in the test of the result.
In the last year I have been meeting with experts and residents and one of the repeated complaints is that neither they nor the neighborhood activists are listened to.
The municipality's attitude is, we know better than you what is good for the residents, as if they are subjects who need to be shown the hidden light.
There are studies that prove that the reason for success or failure is the lack of listening ability.
I promise that in the first six months I will conduct a survey among the employees, to what extent they can express their opinion contrary to the opinion of the managers.
"Lately I haven't been flying, because if you don't maintain flying fitness it's dangerous" (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Khali
: My wife, a special education teacher, we have a happy relationship.
She says that what helps her deal with me is her skill in special education and handling objections.
I have three children and nine grandchildren from my first marriage and I am in a healthy relationship with my ex-wife.
We live in Tel Aviv.
Leisure
: riding the motorcycle.
Lately I haven't been flying, because if you don't maintain flying fitness it's dangerous.
Khali and I like to travel together, she prefers New York and I prefer Paris.
It is twice as dense as Tel Aviv and has no towers, only inner courtyards and small gardens. A city is judged by the amount of interactions it generates per day. When there are towers, isolation is created.
Vision of the future:
After I finish two terms as mayor I want to be the CEO of NASA And now seriously - to fulfill my plans in Tel Aviv and make it attentive and humane.
Of money
Tags
Amos Shapira
Tel Aviv Jaffa
Ron Huldai
Electrical scooters
