Effective Activism

The Little Prince began almost four years ago (in the spring of 2017) with a goal: engage all of Jerusalem residents in one goal – making Jerusalem a clean city. Part of that goal – engaging the Jerusalem Municipality as a full partner in the process.

Not just any Zoom meeting

Yes, indeed that has happened. This picture is ‘just’ a screen shot of a Zoom meeting waiting to begin. But it means the world  – a recurring meeting, together with the Director of the Operations Division of the Jerusalem Municipality, demonstrating the true partnership that has developed, together with residents from all parts of the city. Here’s what our Tal Kligman, Director of the Little Prince initiative, had to say:

There is nothing like seeing the name of “The Little Prince” on the Zoom of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Director of Operations, to open the morning! This means that the partnership of the senior staff from the Operations Division (department managers, district managers and Itzik Nidam at the head) and the members of the Little Prince are significant and contribute to advancing processes.

This means that both sides understand the necessity of our partnership, and it means we are already deep into a work routine.

In general, residents can’t meet in the morning. But, see – yes we can! And senior municipal officials dedicate the morning hours to important issues and lo and behold! Residents are important.

This again shows the investment of of the Operations Division in public engagement, and its many successes:

1. Satisfied residents. Very satisfied!
2. Many compliments to the Operations Division, all its departments.
3. A much cleaner city.
4. Quick and efficient response to public inquiries and complaints.
5. A system that functions professionally and with seriousness.
6. Services and efficient functioning of the Operations Division.

These are significant accomplishments that took place as a result of the public participation. This has translated to:

• Significant increase in the provision of reports by the municipal inspectors on cleanliness issues (littering, not picking up after dogs, leaving garbage bags outside of trash receptacles, and more).
• Cleaning of many Public Private Spaces throughout the city as part of the Sanitation Department’s work plan. (The Municipality is not required to keep these places clean, but has agreed to do so. You can read about it here.)
• Supervision of the work of cleaning subcontractors.
• Adding compactors and cartons receptacles in shopping centers.
• Cleaning of bus stops
• Construction of rooms to hid trash bins in building complexes (in coordination with residents)
• Regular days for clearing pruning and scrap

This is a small list of changes. We have no words to thank you, Operations Division, there’s no one like you.

Here’s Tal’s Facebook post in Hebrew:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

We’d never thought we’d be so happy to talk about tickets, especially tickets and fines to enforce clean streets in Jerusalem. This past week, we’ve seen real change on the ground, thanks to the continued efforts of the Little Prince activists, hand in hand with municipal professionals. These activists come from all parts of the city – Arabs, religious, secular and Haredi Jews, and through our mentoring have been able to forge intercultural connections with each other and with Municipal professionals and officials on numerous levels. We have empowered them to create change on the ground, starting with one of the most basic services – garbage and clean streets. (You can read about the Little Prince’s work over the past 3 years in the blog category here.)

Beginning to enforce littering and polluting laws in Ramot

There have been countless changes in Jerusalem in advancing clean streets over the past two years. Much of this is in the operations division, but one thing is clear: all the efforts of the sanitation department and the beautification department to clean up the city and make it more aesthetically pleasing will come to naught if residents’ behavior is not changed. Residents will continue to throw garbage in the streets and gardens as long as the municipal authorities do not give tickets to every person who breaks the law, so that it is clear: Littering = ticket.

Changing habits in Ramot

Take, for example, the Ramot neighborhood on Jerusalem’s northern end.

Neighborhood activists, led by Haim Paniri, joined together with the local enforcement personnel to increase enforcement to stop bodies and residents who pollute the neighborhood. The ramped-up enforcement efforts include opening garbage bags to identify the polluters, placing cameras on streets, tracking dog owners, inspectors in gardens and commercial areas and more.

The enthusiastic reactions from neighborhood residents came quickly. It started with a happy message announcing: “A ticket was written for dumping garbage!”

And continued with an endless trail of messages and letters. Here are a few:

“No words!!!!”

“Thanks so much to the municipal teams. You’re creating a makeover in the neighborhood! Now, there’s someone to turn to, people who take care of things. Ramot residents feel the change, we appreciate the work and are committed to keeping the neighborhood clean. ”

“Listen … I’ve lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and this is the first time I can say that I appreciate the municipal enforcement department. My hat off to you! Please keep it going!”

Thank you and wish us all a clean and pleasant neighborhood to live in, while increasing enforcement in order to preserve the desired result. ”

“I have family and friends all over town. And they are jealous of us. Today’s Ramot is becoming much more cleaner and old Ramot…Every day the situation is improving…We have an excellent connection [with the municipal teams] and their willingness to work to help and improve. The Ramot team – each and every one are champions and they give everything for the residents and for a clean neighborhood.”

It was difficult to pick from the dozens of messages, recognizing and appreciating the work of the municipal teams.

We hope that municipal enforcement teams will take the work in Ramot as an example, and start giving tickets to litterers and polluters in neighborhoods throughout the city. Thank you too to Ilan Sasson, Director of the Enforcement Department, to Sasson Numa who connected between residents and municipal workers and made the magic happen, the regional coordinators, and to Itzik Nidam and Shai Moshe Moshe for the constant supervision.

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew:

And another post, from Haim Paniri, re-posting Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion’s post about the new enforcement efforts:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!