Weekly Update 81

April 17, 2026

Hello everyone,

Summary:

• First Topic: The Council Chair’s Indifference to Residents’ Hardships
• Second issue: The Mofet Club for Holocaust survivors must continue to operate even if the government cuts its budget
• Third issue: The piles of trash, the stench, and the swarms of pigs in the Operations Department compound continue. There is no response from the hotline. Trash was also found on the pedestrian mall on Friday morning.
• I would appreciate a few volunteers who are native English speakers to help me review the English translations of several documents that have already been translated by AI. This would only take a few hours this coming week and would be a great help to the community.

First issue: At the council meeting, in response to residents’ questions that I raised on their behalf—the mayor evaded answering and his responses were dismissive of residents’ lives

At the last council meeting held on March 23, we were asked to approve a special budget (funds from the council’s reserves, not the regular budget) to renovate the Hazon Ish complex in the Yaakov neighborhood—including paving, resurfacing, and adding sidewalks and railings.

At the meeting, I raised the plight of residents of Hadas and Tomer Streets, which are adjacent to the Chazon Ish complex. Additionally, work was carried out on these streets, leaving them with only sidewalks—without any markings on the sidewalks or roads (red and white lines, road markings). And because there are no markings, people are parking everywhere, putting pedestrians and drivers at risk. Therefore, at the meeting, I asked a simple question: “Residents of Hadas and Tomer Streets are asking when the sidewalks and other markings will be painted.”

The council head replied shamelessly and without batting an eye, saying, “There were no markings on the sidewalks there. They can park wherever they want.”

This is not only a failure of proper administration, in that the council head constantly lies in response to questions raised by a council member on behalf of residents.

It’s also a life-threatening situation!! You can’t park wherever you want. There are turns and intersections there where parking is prohibited by law. And because there are no red-and-white markings—people do park there, and the entire street is a life-threatening hazard for both pedestrians and drivers. There are also no markings for dividing lines, speed bumps, or crosswalks.

Question: Why does the council head lie during meetings, especially regarding residents’ life-saving concerns?

Answer: Because he simply doesn’t care about the residents. And this is what we’ve learned so far in his two years in office:

• When they build a massive project with an underground parking garage beneath your homes—a construction project lasting years that involves a lot of noise and disturbances—the council head doesn’t care. Even though he could easily look out for the residents here, since this is land the council is selling to the developer, and the council can set conditions in the agreement with the developer to protect the residents.
• When they tear up your street to pave the road and then, without notice, decide to replace the drainage pipes as well—without securing funding for the project—which will halt the work for months. Months during which their street was unpaved, with potholes and mud in the rain—and all appeals to the council head will be in vain, and he will continue to ignore them even after someone fell and was rushed to the hospital for surgery. Ask the residents of Shikma, Tapuach, and Shazif streets.
• When they turn your street over to replace pipes and Mey HaEmek closes the road, they’ll put in a sidewalk. But the council won’t mark the sidewalks or restore the red-and-white markings at every intersection or turn. And the street will become a trap for pedestrians and drivers. Ask the residents of Hatomer and Hadass Streets. The council head will lie at the meeting instead of simply saying, “We’ll look into it and make sure to mark them as soon as possible.”
• When a council member asks questions on behalf of and for the benefit of the residents—not questions on behalf of and for the benefit of developers and contractors (who, one can assume, are being paid because they don’t come to me)—then, in response to the council member’s questions, instead of evading or lying, The mayor could answer truthfully and add: “Thank you for bringing this to my attention; we’ll take care of it.”

From my investigation, it appears that nothing has changed on these two streets. There aren’t even any markings, and lawlessness reigns.

Second topic: The Holocaust Survivors’ Club

This week we marked Holocaust Remembrance Day; survivors from the Zichron Yaakov community shared their personal stories and lit the memorial torch. Meanwhile, on Holocaust Remembrance Day itself, a post was published on the Open Forum suggesting serious concerns and doubts about the future of the club, which meets at Beit Gil Paz three times a week. This is due to the small number of survivors and the Ministry of Social Affairs’ intention to halt funding.

The Holocaust Survivors’ Club was established by the local council in 2017 with funding from the Ministry of Social Affairs, under the supervision and management of the local council, and with a nominal contribution from the participants. The club provides social gatherings, recreational activities, a hot meal, and above all, warmth, a hug, and a little comfort to those who endured and survived the Holocaust.

Even if the Ministry of Social Affairs intends to cut funding, the Council has the right to cover this amount from its current budget of nearly 250 million shekels per year. I believe there isn’t a single council member who would refuse to fund such a club, even if only two survivors remain. And even if it requires cutting back on other activities in the current budget. Because this is our duty and our right toward them.

I intend to submit a motion at the next council meeting, which will be held on May 12, and I will certainly fight for the budget for this activity. I am confident I have your support.

Third issue: The piles of trash, the stench, and the packs of pigs continue in the Operations Department compound. There was also trash on the pedestrian mall on Friday morning.

I wrote about this here last week and contacted the hotline. But nothing has changed. I saw it there during the holiday weekend that just passed and also last Thursday.

This is the Operations Department compound—the department responsible for cleaning the town, but which has itself become the town’s dumping ground.

And what’s most infuriating—look at the photo: there are boxes scattered there, mixed in with regular trash. Zero concern for recycling. Residents go to the trouble of sorting and separating their waste, carrying it all the way to the recycling centers—and the council just throws it all together and mixes it up. And yes, the pigs are a permanent fixture there.

Even if there is a shortage at waste disposal sites or a lack of trucks for transport—this is certainly not the solution. The solution is to increase trash collection to organized sites. And we also need large, permanently closed containers where trash can be sorted by type until it is taken to the sites.

My calls to the 106 hotline also went unanswered and unaddressed.

This morning I shared a post by a resident on the Open Forum—on Friday morning, trash in the center of the pedestrian mall in front of people walking and sitting in cafes. Why isn’t it collected at night? Why does Zichron Ya’akov’s tourism center look like this? I also wrote about the dump at the operations center. It’s important to go in and comment.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1B1NAAQm7k/

Yours,

Limor Zar Gutman