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!
