From the opposition bench: An interview with Hitorerut's Ofer Berkovitch
Berkovitch spoke to In Jerusalem via phone for this interview.
By PEGGY CIDOROFER BERKOVITCH: From obscurity to credibility. (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Nineteen months after he lost the mayoral race to Moshe Lion by 2,990 votes, Ofer Berkovitch and his Hitorerut Party (the largest list at city council) are still in the opposition. Berkovitch is adamant that he is not to blame for this embarrassing situation. He points to Lion calling himself mayor of all Jerusalemites, while keeping seven pluralist representatives on the opposition bench. Berkovitch spoke to In Jerusalem via phone for this interview.Jerusalem is slowly coming out of a massive economic hit. How would you attack the problem if it was in your hands?First of all, we are taking action, even from the opposition. We have submitted to city council a detailed plan of action to boost the economy. But let’s remember that Jerusalem was not very strong even before coronavirus. Let’s remember that under former mayor Nir Barkat, we dropped from cluster 4 to cluster 3 [the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry’s index of poverty], and during Mayor Lion’s first year, we dropped even more to cluster 2.This is a very poor city, and the virus crisis only aggravated the situation. Reopening bars and restaurants, including the plan to enable a display of tables and chairs in the streets, is a nice idea. I am not against this, although I hope it will be done transparently, involving sharing with residents. But that won’t save Jerusalem.So where should the emphasis be, in your opinion?We urgently need a plan to lift Jerusalem out of poverty and economic stagnation. We need to give much more support to the medium and small businesses. We need a much larger outlook of what the city needs. My impression is that for now, most of the attention is on the level of listening to residents, trying to find solutions to local issues, and the like.This is good, I do not disregard it, but it will not save Jerusalem. For example, the area per resident in Tel Aviv dedicated for business and employment stands at 25 square meters. In Jerusalem, it is 4.5. How can one expect things to improve here? And there is much more of that.We need more employment centers, especially for two of the more underprivileged sectors: haredi and Arab. But that is not being done at the moment. So yes, I am worried about the chances of Jerusalem to overcome this crisis.
