The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

Little Prince – Working in Kiryat Hayovel to Clean Up Ad-Hoc Garbage Dumps

We’ve described here, here and here the work the Little Prince project has done over the past few years to forge partnerships with city employees.

One recent example was in the Kiryat Hayovel neighborhood in southwestern Jerusalem.

Over the years, more and more abandoned vehicles have been left on an unused area of Kiryat Hayovel, known as the Warburg complex (since it borders on Warburg St.), which is also used as a parking lot for local residents. Although it is a large lot, there is not enough space for all residents to park their cars, and the abandoned vehicles take up very critical parking spaces.

Continuing to build public-private partnerships with Little Prince

Usually, the process of handling an abandoned vehicle, from the moment the request is filed until towing, is very long (at least 6 months) and requires contact and cooperation with the municipal inspectors office and especially, with the neighborhood inspectors. Thus, it’s so much easier when responsible and dedicated inspectors help residents deal with complex cases.

Kiryat Hayovel has two amazing inspectors who help the city to function and to be cleaner: Shirley the utmost professional who walks the beat non-stop and who is in contact with residents and helps solve problems; and Maor, who is responsible for the area of abandoned vehicles in the area.

Maor was very matter-of-fact and pleasant as Little Prince activists addressed the abandoned vehicle issue at Warburg. He informed them about the process, explained why it takes more and more time, enlisted the help of residents (who sent photos from the field and made a list with vehicle numbers and models). Maor updated when the crane will arrive and how many vehicles would be collected.

Getting rid of old abandoned cars

Many thanks to Shirley for connecting the Little Prince to the right person and to Maor for understanding the need expiditing the process, and for maintaining continuous contact with residents and assistance in returning the Warburg lot to the residents. Here’s the description of the process by our Tal Kligman in her Facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/351842318545451/posts/1376155942780745/

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan for their continued support of the Little Prince!

Naomi Roff2021-12-21T06:58:20+00:00October 14th, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince – Continuing to Lead Processes toward a Clean City in Jerusalem

The Little Prince (and its website)has been leading processes of cleanliness in Jerusalem since 2017. One of its main objectives has been to engage the Jerusalem Municipality in adopting policies and practices to make Jerusalem a cleaner city. Indeed, the Municipality has followed suit and made a clean Jerusalem one of its highest priorities. In mid-December, the Jerusalem Municipality opened its own clean city page:

https://www.jerusalem.muni.il/he/residents/environment/

The page describes the Municipality’s efforts to make Jerusalem a cleaner city as well as the entire Municipality’s commitment, including that of Mayor Moshe Lion.

Municipal web page on clean city

It also includes links to different areas that contribute to a clean city – recycling, city beautification, sanitation, parks, composting, and more.

Ways to help make Jerusalem clean

And it was reported on here, by JICC director Hagai Agmon-Snir:

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

Naomi Roff2021-02-13T10:03:51+00:00February 5th, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince – Making Jerusalem Clean through Public-Private Partnership

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:

Satisfied residents. Very satisfied!

Many compliments to the Operations Division, all its departments.

A much cleaner city.

Quick and efficient response to public inquiries and complaints.

A system that functions professionally and with seriousness.

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!

Naomi Roff2021-02-13T10:14:37+00:00January 13th, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

The Little Prince brings about an Increase in Enforcement of Clean Streets

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!

Naomi Roff2020-11-20T14:03:57+00:00November 20th, 2020|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince – Continuing to Forge Public-Private Partnerships in Jerusalem

We’ve written here, here, here and here, about how the Little Prince initiative, through the JICC’s mentoring of activists from all parts of the city – Arabs, religious, secular and Haredi Jews – are helping to make Jerusalem a clean city, even during corona times. Over the past 3 years, by helping grassroots leaders 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. Part of this work is facilitating partnerships with the Jerusalem Municipality and its professional leadership as a way to make work more effective. On October 14, we took one more step to strengthen this partnership.

This was the quarterly meeting with the Director of the Operations Department. The meeting included a number of division directors: Eitan Levy, Director of the Beautification Department; Ilan Sasson, Director of the Municipal Supervision and Policing Division, and Gili Gorni, Director of the Sanitation Division; ), a number of quarter supervisors and unit directors, together with the residents and activists. In the meeting, all participants were treated with respect and all claims and arguments were taken seriously. This meeting was another example of the importance of working together, where each of the partners brings their own piece to the puzzle, creating a beautiful, varied picture.

Much of what we do is putting the puzzle pieces together – together

This feeling was strengthened when Itzik Nidam gave his presentation, which showed the significant progress that was done as part of the Jerusalem Municipality’s cleaning reform:

Street sweeping reform: 600 new cleaning personnel were hired.
Sanitation Division responds to residents’ queries until 22:00 at night!
50 new and sophisticated street cleaning vehicles have been introduced, enabling a high degree of street cleaning.
Regular collection days for old cars and scrap metal, as well as pruned branches and leaves in each neighborhood.
Cleaning of 1,250 acres of open private spaces. These spaces are technically the residents’ responsibility to clean, but de facto are public eyesores. Over the past year the Municipality took responsibility for many of them (You can read more about that here.), and as a result, thus far 10 tons of garbage (!) were added to the regular garbage collection in the city.
Placement of 3 huge compactors in the downtown area for the use of business owners and residents.
Replacing garbage bins with underground bins, and upgrading existing underground bins to new models that have bigger openings and a larger capacity.
Investing in educational and social activities in schools, kindergartens and community centers to advance clean city principles, when possible in light of COVID-19 restrictions.
Reinforcement of cleaning in gardens and playgrounds.
Establishment of residents’ forums in the neighborhoods that work together with the neighborhood professionals.
And much more….

After the presentation we had a long discussion in which residents responded to the issues presented, brought up additional needs and issues that require continued focus and effort. We thought together about ways to deal with vandalism, supervising residents and more and came up with ideas for implementation.

And yes, all this cooperation took via Zoom.

We have been introduced to many desirable changes that affect how the city looks and our quality of life, which brings us closer to our original goal – to make Jerusalem a clean city. What fun it is to work with our partners from Operations Division, who invest so much in turning Jerusalem into the cleanest city in Israel.

Here’s the link from the original 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!

Naomi Roff2020-11-18T15:07:57+00:00October 24th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince – Even Rosh Hashanah Greetings Have a ‘Cleaning Up Jerusalem’ Theme

Every year, the Jerusalem Municipality wishes its Jewish residents a Happy Jewish New Year for Rosh Hashana. We’d like to take a minute to do the same:

Happy New Year from the JICC

This year, in keeping with his promise to make cleanliness in Jerusalem a top priority (you can read about that here, here, and here), even the Municipality’s New Year’s Greeting has a ‘Cleaning Up Jerusalem’ Theme. It was written about in the Ma’ariv daily online newspaper, here. This main priority of the Municipality towards cleaning the city, is the result of the effective cross-cultural activist group gathered in our the Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together initiative.

You can see the short Municipality Happy New Year video here:

We’d like to express our appreciation to the Municipality on all levels for their cooperation on the issue of clean streets. We’ve shown that, together, change is indeed possible!

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

Naomi Roff2020-10-23T10:55:19+00:00September 25th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince – Building Partnerships with the Municipality in Cleaning Up Jerusalem

In mid-August, we reported here about developing the joint work between residents from different neighborhoods and the municipal Sanitation Department. This is the result of the effective cross-cultural activist group gathered in our the Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together initiative. The goal is to promote the common goal of cleaning the city, while maintaining the principles of public participation: transparency, fairness, broad and informed decision making, and more.

Every meeting is a Zoom meeting these days

On Thursday, September 10, 2020, we held a second working meeting (via Zoom, of course!) with municipal officials, this time with the Enforcement and Policing Division. Ilan Sasson, Director of the Department, explained the current situation to the residents, and all spoke about wanting to employ and train many more city inspectors who oversee not only construction, parking, and business regulations, but also make sure that municipal ordinances for clean streets are also being followed. (There is currently a shortage of manpower in the department.)

In order to change residents’ habits from dirtying streets to maintain clean streets and supporting the work done by the Sanitation Department, it was agreed that it is necessary to significantly increase the number of tickets given for littering throughout the city. In order to streamline the work of the inspectors and keep Jerusalem clean, we were asked to assist the Municipal Supervision Division, by making a list of public places where residents regularly dump garbage (for example: playgrounds, parks, bus stops, street benches, etc.) and the times of day there are usually people there who are littering. The municipal inspectors will make sure to send inspectors to those places.

We are very grateful to the Jerusalem Municipality, which sees the residents as a resource and uses them to promote common interests such as cleaning up the city.

And here’s the post that was published in the Little Prince’s Facebook group:

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

Naomi Roff2020-10-23T11:15:08+00:00September 18th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

A New Web Site for the Little Prince

The Little Prince has a new web site!

In May 2020 the Little Prince (well – the full name is “The Little Prince – Cleaning Jerusalem Together“) was 3 years old. This group of Jerusalemite activists – Jews, Arabs, religious and non-religious) is the main impetus for making Jerusalem a cleaner city a top priority of the Jerusalem Municipality. We are proud to be helping this activist community from day one and be the facilitators of many of its processes. In honor of this occasion and of the development and growth of the initiative, we decided to develop a website in Hebrew and Arabic.

Screen shot of Little Prince website

The site describes the project, presents its stages of development, success stories, and materials we created over the years. You can learn about our different methods, view pictures and articles about our work and achievements as a result of the work of our dedicated members.

We can final refer people to read about our accomplishments and enable them to contact us. You, too, are welcome to enter!

Here’s a link to the site: https://www.littleprince.org.il/

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-08-29T05:42:45+00:00August 30th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince Begins Professional Partnership with Municipal Sanitation Department

The Little Prince ( “The Little Prince – Cleaning Jerusalem Together“) and the municipal operations department began their partnership about a year and a half ago.

The Little Prince activists established an extensive network of forums in which residents from all over the city met with the operations department, the division directors, the regional directors, the director of the 106 municipal hotline, the Community Services Department, and more.

Historic meeting with sanitation department

Through these forums residents and professionals could present plans, raise issues, devise solutions, develop initiatives and more.
In parallel, 5 working groups of residents were established together with: the Enforcement and Policing Division, the Sanitation Division, the Beautification Department, the 106 municipal hotline and the municipal PR and Spokesman’s office.
They created an empire of cooperation! Meetings, joint planning, consultation, carrying out projects.

And then came the coronavirus.

And, like nearly everywhere else, everything stopped.

After the lockdowns were lifted, there were those who said that this situation would not return, and that it was impossible to meet now and that it would not work via Zoom.

But this mutual partnership was important to both sides. Both the operations department and the members of the Little Prince friends did not give up. On Thursday, August 6, the first working meeting between members of the Little Prince and the Sanitation Department took place. It was an excellent meeting – professional, well organized and full of compliments and jokes. So if you’re wondering, it is possible to partner with the Municipality via Zoom. And it’s even fun!

Here’s a Facebook post about it (in Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-08-29T05:53:52+00:00August 18th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Little Prince: Inspiring Municipal Support Neighborhood Cleanup Projects

We’ve written here about how the Little Prince has been the impetus for making Jerusalem a clean city a top priority of the Jerusalem Municipality. A new initiative, calling for neighborhood-based programs, is another example.

This initiative, published on August 7 in the Jerusalem-based Kol Ha’Ir newspaper as a call for initiatives:

The Jerusalem Municipality calls on city residents to join forces and help municipal authorities improve the city and its urban landscape through funding for initiatives to clean up the city, which will be operated in residential neighborhoods across the city.

Municipal call for initiatives

As part of the municipal reform led by Mayor Moshe Lion, the municipality invites residents to propose neighborhood initiatives to clean up and improve the appearance of the city. Initiatives that are selected will receive full long-term funding, with the goal of becoming permanent community initiatives.

The purpose of the new project, noted the municipality, “is to create a clean and pleasant public space that enables a good quality of life, while promoting and encouraging residents’ involvement, growing neighborhood leadership and strengthening the sense of partnership in the city in general and in the neighborhood in particular. Keeping Jerusalem’s public spaces clean is a high priority of Mayor Lion.”…

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion, said: “This project is part of the cleaning reform that I announced when I took office. The purpose of the project is to create cooperation and involvement of residents, in changing the face of the city, along with continued municipal activities in the area of cleaning up the city. I call on all residents to submit their proposals. And be a partner in the city’s cleaning revolution. “

You can read the full article here.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-08-09T16:00:53+00:00August 11th, 2020|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|