David Etzioni in the Walla Studio!/Walla Studio!
David Etzioni, the candidate for mayor of Haifa, in an interview at the Walla studio!
We are in the last gospel before the elections, still in the days of a hard war, how do we re-motivate an election campaign at a time like this?
"It's definitely not easy to run an election campaign at a time like this. The public's head and thoughts are in Gaza with the abductees and the soldiers. Everyone is looking north to see where it will develop. The public's attention goes first and foremost there. From here I send all the warmth and love from me - we want to see the abductees at home and that our soldiers will finish the job and return in peace.
However, there are elections, I think that elections are one of the most important things in democracy. Our victory as citizens and as residents is to go and vote and show Hamas and Hezbollah and all our enemies that we cannot be defeated. We are recharging the batteries and working in every A platform so that the public will come out to vote and, of course, vote for me."
David Etzioni is a candidate for mayor of Haifa/Walla! system, Walla!
What actions did you take during the war?
"At the outbreak of the war, our headquarters became an operational headquarters for the evacuees, the soldiers and more.
We raised many donations and funds and established important projects.
One of the projects I am most proud of is the Shelter City project in which we took part together with KKL-JNF and JNF, the Home Front Command and many other professionals. In the span of several weeks, we cleaned and trained hundreds of shelters in Haifa and made them useful. Something that the municipality failed to do for years. In addition, we helped the soldiers with food and conducted additional activities for the women of the reservists as well. I have a staff of amazing people who knew how to put all their day-to-day lives aside and go to enlist and help those who really matter, and that is our residents and soldiers who protect us until victory."
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How do you think the Haifa municipality functions during an emergency?
"First of all, the city was a total failure during the emergency. In fact, the city has been failing for over 20 years on many issues. In 2006, the Second Lebanon War took place in which people were killed in the city. Yona Yahav received billions of shekels in aid in order to protect the city with shelters. It was not built One. Even when the threat from the north increased in the last five years, it was not done.
The Carmel tunnels, which could become a huge shelter for the residents, were not trained. One of the first things we will do is train them. The city needs budgets to be brought to it and funds to be invested in it. Today we understand that this is the most important issue. It is impossible Not to mention the fact that schools and kindergartens received permits without MMDs.
This is a total failure and not only in matters of war - there is a shortage of police officers, manpower, half of the Haifa police station has moved to Nesher - a very small city in relation to Haifa's challenges.
It is absurd that we lost police officers to another city.
We will return all these things and together with this and with extensive action for the personal security of the residents, the feeling of personal security in the city will return to everyone."
David Etzioni in the Walla! studio/Walla! system, Walla!
What are the three most important issues for immediate attention in the city in the near future?
"First, training shelters and protected buildings - this is before everything. In addition, immediate budgeting for the Carmel Tunnels and turning them into a shelter that will provide a response to over 30 thousand residents and also building new shelters where there are none.
Second, treatment of the entire explosive area in the Haifa Bay. There can't be any yet Polluting substances here in the Gulf, it is impossible for the mayor not to stop all activity until the polluting substances, certainly during wartime, are not there. The
third thing - improvement and restoration of all the infrastructure. It starts with the destroyed roads, flooding in the winter, broken chairs, lack of benches, dirt in the streets , pruning, until the pigs run amok. The resident's four-meter yard has been abandoned over the past five years. We will return both this and many other things to the resident."
In the field of education - where is the city located, and what do you intend to do?
"Unfortunately, education in Haifa has deteriorated greatly in the last 20 years. We were a leading city in education and today we are a city in a deep educational crisis. Over the years, not enough schools were built neither for the Jewish society, nor for the Arab society, nor for the religious and ultra-Orthodox society. This is criminal neglect. But more than anything, it's the investment in the resident. It can't be that in our neighboring city of Nesher, we invest twice as much as Haifa in education for a child.
I guarantee that the students in Haifa will receive the highest budget in the country. We will invest hundreds of millions in the education of our future generation. From chess and English lessons already in kindergartens and tutoring From elementary to high school to the establishment of new schools in neighborhoods that yearn for it, such as Naot Peres and Ramat Hanasi. We will take care of all these things. Education in Haifa will once again be our top priority both in terms of investment and attitude. I commit to this."
Haifa has been suffering from negative immigration for many years, how do you keep the young people in the city?
"In Haifa there has been negative immigration for over 20 years. The young and the strong populations are leaving the city. In their place, the weaker populations are entering. The young is the key word, a city without young people has no life. The most important thing in keeping young people in the city is employment. We We will also open Matam Park and other parks, we will call on entrepreneurs from all over the country to invest in the city.
We will also open the check post area and Shemen beach and the entire bay.
We will take care of any area that can enable and lead to employment.
In addition, we will take care of housing for young people and subsidized housing for students.
It cannot be that new neighborhoods have not been built in recent years in Haifa.
People and young families should know that if they want the best education in Israel for their children, they come to Haifa and stay there.
It's time for the city to grow."
What are your plans for promoting real estate and housing programs for young couples?
"I have managed projects worth billions of shekels, among them the 550 plan of the Arab company in the amount of 3.5 billion shekels. I am very familiar with the material, I know and know what needs to be done. The
first thing that needs to be done and it will happen already in the first year we will see cranes and tractors on the streets. This means that we have started and we are coming to work. I commit to this. If we get down to the details and action, then we are talking about urban renewal and we have to say that. Haifa has the greatest potential in Israel for urban renewal. It is about hundreds of thousands of potential apartments and the time has come to promote it and I am the one who will promote it.
You have to understand, Everyone benefits from urban renewal. The residents get new, bigger apartments, with better facilities and better infrastructure with schools and parks and public parks, any infrastructure a resident needs. On the other hand, the city receives budgets, fees and more which it uses to reinvest in the resident in education, sports And more. Everyone benefits. In addition, subsidized housing and the company "Dira for Rent" that I know and have collaborated with on the project across the country - we will also work together in cooperation with the Haifa municipality - more apartments for rent, more subsidized apartments for young people and also special benefits for reservists. It is already working elsewhere, With my friend, the mayor of Rishon Lezion, Raz Kinstlich, who gives incredible funding and subsidies to reservists - this will happen in Haifa as well.
And no less important, the establishment of offices, mainly for high-tech but not only.
We will create more jobs period.
The cranes will be seen on the streets of the city within a year.
What are your plans to strengthen the security of the residents?
"We will strengthen the sense of security in the city with a number of actions - first and foremost, cameras. Today there are no cameras in the city, the city needs to be equipped and photographed. In addition, manpower in the end everything starts and ends with manpower. Giuliani cleaned New York with manpower, he Call it "a policeman in every corner" that's what will be in Haifa. We need our policemen back in the city. We will go to Jerusalem and demand it from the minister, whoever it is. Haifa has been deprived of security in the last 20 years. We will also establish an integrated police unit. Manpower is the name of the game Beyond that, we will make sure that the pollutants and the potential for the destruction of the city leave Haifa. It is not possible for the factories to remain in the city. Today, quite a few residents are afraid to walk around the city. This will end. The personal security of every resident will return.
Haifa is sitting on a barrel of explosives, it's not a cliché, what are you planning to do?
"The days are over when Haifa raises a white flag neither in front of Nasrallah nor in front of the polluting factories. It is not possible for materials that endanger the residents of Haifa to remain in the city. We will work with all our strength to ensure that these materials are not in Haifa. We will do this while preserving the rights of the workers, the compensation they deserve And the compensation that goes to the factories. The factories will not continue to endanger the residents of Haifa. Who will stand in our way? Will be kidnapped."
How do you see the city in ten years?
"In ten years, Haifa will be the leading city in the State of Israel, both economically and educationally. Haifa will be a city you want to live in, a city you want to raise your children in, a city where people go downstairs, under the houses with a smile on their faces."
Why has Haifa's branding deteriorated in recent years?
"The city of Haifa has the best people, the best beaches and the best restaurants. I can go on and on like this. Haifa must return to being a city where the residents come out in the morning and smile. I am a proud Haifai and this is the feeling I will give back to the residents. Haifa will eventually be and will continue to be a symbol For co-existence, pluralism, liberalism and cooperation. Haifa will promote everyone who wants to succeed in it. People will know that if they want a better future and a better life, they come to Haifa. In addition, even a marginal problem, really marginal like the wild boar problem, will be solved immediately. In a few months this problem will no longer disturb the rest of the residents of Haifa. The new branding of Haifa will lead it forward and its residents, who are already the best, will help us in this leading."
What is your message to the residents of the city?
"Dear residents, I love you and I come to work for you. Just like I said, I believe that we will live together in Haifa with all the different populations, this city will continue to be a city of shared existence, a pluralistic city, a liberal city, a city that takes care of each and every resident, I love you And I come to work for you."
We will end a decade of failure.
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