Jerusalem mayor Lion promises housing and cleanliness
"It's not possible that in Tel Aviv dog owners collect their dogs' excrements, but in Jerusalem they don't," Lion said.
By URI BOLLAGMoshe Lion receives gravel and key to Jerusalem, 2018.(photo credit: EHUD AMITON/TPS)
Jerusalem mayor Moshe Lion promised to clean up the city and add housing units to attract more young people, while speaking at the Association of Municipal Corporations held in Eilat on Wednesday.Lion said that Jerusalem doesn't attract new residents because not enough living space is being built."In the past five years, about 10,000 housing units have been built," he lamented, pledging that he would add 9,000 units in the Talpiot neighborhood alone, by building high-rise towers to attract more youngsters.The new mayor also vowed to build hundreds of thousands of meters dedicated as work spaces."The big problem I'm dealing with is that there are a lot of start-ups and high-tech companies in the city, but there are no offices to put them in now," Lion said, adding that he will do so on a sped up schedule.The second major problem Jerusalem is dealing with, which Lion promised to solve, is cleanliness.Lion said he would add cleaning personnel and street bins, and work to change public awareness about preservation of clean streets."It's not possible that in Tel Aviv dog owners collect their dogs' excrements, but in Jerusalem they don't," he said.Lion said he took the sanitation and improvement of the city portfolios under his personal management and would be ready to use enforcement measures, if necessary.Talking about Jerusalem's economic situation, Lion said the city was in less dire of an economic situation than attributed, and said he had the ability to put it on a growth track.
