Weekly Update 43

July 4, 2025

Hello, everyone.

Two topics in this week’s newsletter.

First, a sharp increase in the prices parents pay for summer camps in our community. One of the main reasons for this is the budget passed a few months ago, which completely eliminated the subsidies provided in recent years to families who enrolled their children in community center summer camps (approximately 260,000 NIS).

I’d like to remind you that I was the only one who warned at the time that this budget was anti-social and harmful to families—the council head ignored my remarks during the meeting and claimed I was “lying.” It turns out I was right.

The second issue: what happens when the council head boycotts an opposition member in a way that harms residents. This time, it concerns the Environmental Quality Committee, which I chaired for a year without any real ability to make progress due to the council head’s treatment of me. Therefore, this week I submitted a motion requesting that the full council approve my replacement by a coalition member close to the council chair. The council chair bluntly refused to discuss the motion (citing irrelevant reasons) and passed a resolution stating that he would replace me and chair the committee.

First issue: There is funding for paid deputies to help lower summer camp prices, but none for the camps themselves!

The council’s summer camp prices have risen due to budget cuts—specifically in this social sector

This summer break is more expensive for young families, including many families of reservists.

If your child or grandchild is attending Zamarin summer camps this year, in the summer of 2025 and you’ve registered them for the morning session (since there’s summer school in the mornings), and for the afternoon session you’ve registered your child for a full day (i.e., morning activities + afternoon session), you’ll pay about 300 NIS more compared to previous years, and in the afternoon session there will also be one fewer day of camp (only 13 days instead of 14 like last year).

Why is that? The answer, as the data shows:

Funding sources are needed for deputy mayors’ salaries in this year’s budget (and this is one of the reasons I voted against the 2025 budget).

The council head allocated “zero” shekels to fund summer camp subsidies in the 2025 budget.

Yes, “zero” shekels.

They completely eliminated 260,000 NIS from the summer camp subsidy budget line, a budget that made it possible to reduce costs for every child who attended summer camps and after-school programs.

This year, you will pay 290 NIS more for both sessions!

It is important to emphasize that this budget line item, which includes municipal subsidies for summer camp costs, was included in the budget starting in 2022 and has been eliminated in the 2025 budget!!!

And if you have two children or grandchildren in kindergarten or elementary school whom you have enrolled in summer camps, your family will pay approximately 580 NIS more this year. If there are three children in summer camps or specialized camps (such as dance camps), the increase could reach 900 NIS per family. In the past, discounts were also offered for specialized camps.

In previous years, there were joint discussions with representatives of kindergarten and school parents to determine the price and cost of the camps. It is unknown whether this was done this year as well.

As I noted in my objection to the budget:

There is money for salaried deputies, but there is no money for the community or to assist young families and families of reservists.

A failing grade for the council administration.

See below for the comparison table I prepared and registration announcements for summer camps from previous years.

I raised this issue today on the Open Forum—it’s important to respond

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15A9EnMoWE/

Second issue: I stepped down as chair of the Environmental Quality Committee due to my inability to function and advance important issues because I was blocked by the council head

Until this week, I had served as chair of the Environmental Quality Committee for nearly a year. Environmental issues are central and vital to the daily life and development of a community. But in light of the climate crisis we are all acutely aware of, the committee’s functioning and success have become critical.

During my tenure, the committee met seven times. This is more than the minimum required by local government regulations—one meeting per quarter. The main reason was my genuine desire, and that of all committee members, to advance important issues such as mitigating the urban heat island effect through various means, encouraging tree planting and preservation, proper recycling, reducing the hazard posed by fireplaces, and more.

However, the committee was unable to carry out its important work due to overt and covert lack of cooperation on the part of the council chair. At the last plenary session—and I knew this even before it took place—we all heard that the council chair had explicitly instructed council staff not to respond to my inquiries, and that he himself did not intend to respond to my inquiries on any matter. I will cite just two examples of this boycott (which is, in fact, a boycott of the public I represent) in the context of the Environmental Quality Committee’s work:

• In February 2024, the committee secured a donation of 100 trees from the JNF to be distributed free of charge to residents of the community so they could plant them in their yards on the side closest to the sidewalk. The reason is clear: to create additional shaded space as part of residents’ well-being and to mitigate the urban heat island effect. All that is required of the council is to fund the transport truck that will bring the saplings to the community. To date, funding for this has not been secured. And we are talking about just a few thousand shekels.
• The committee, and particularly committee member and architect Yael Gilad, has been working on preparing a draft policy document on green building and urban heat mitigation. To advance the policy proposed in the document, the committee needed to hold another meeting with the council head. I am aware of the council head’s health issues (and we wish him good health) and his busy schedule. But, strangely enough, the only time he suggested for the committee meeting was in the morning on the very Wednesday that I am lecturing at the faculty, and presumably the other volunteers are working during those hours.

Generally, committee meetings are held in the afternoon because we are all volunteers. But I was told that this was the only available time. I relented and allowed the committee to proceed even though only two members were present at the meeting. Four committee members, including myself, did not attend. But I agreed because the issue is critical and must be addressed quickly. I also realized that a date suitable for me would never be set.

I have never sought a position or honor for myself. Only the good of the community and its people guides me. Therefore, for the council meeting held on Tuesday this week, I submitted a motion explicitly requesting that a council member close to the council chairman be replaced so that the committee and its esteemed members could function for the benefit of the entire community.

At the meeting, the mayor claimed, in an unacceptable manner, that this was not a motion but my letter of resignation, and he refused to discuss the motion!!! This is serious in and of itself; perhaps he didn’t want me to read out the truth about the high-handed and undemocratic conduct. Finally, he passed a resolution stating that he would replace me as chair of the committee. His proposal was accepted by a majority vote. I hope he will advance environmental issues in accordance with the law, with transparency, and with concern solely for the residents.

Time will tell.