This week in Jerusalem: Marching with Pride

Marching with pride

The 21st Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance will be held on Thursday, June 1, under heavy security, with roads closed, parking of vehicles prohibited, and changes in public transportation routes. Thousands of police officers in uniform and plain clothes, with the assistance of volunteers, will operate along the route of the march, in the assembly areas, and in the streets adjacent to the parade to maintain the safety of the participants and to direct traffic.

Parade-goers can gather at Liberty Bell Park starting at 3 p.m. From 5:30 p.m., participants will march along the following route: Liberty Bell Park – King David Street – Plumer Square – Keren Hayesod – King George – Hillel – Menashe Ben-Israel – Independence Park. Roads will be gradually opened as the parade progresses. The roads that will remain open are Derech Hebron, Hativat Yerushalayim, the IDF Tunnel, and Haim Bar Lev – in both directions. Disabled parking is available in the disabled parking lot at Liberty Bell Park.

Landing atop the holy city

The municipality approved the construction of a helipad in Har Hotzvim on the roof of the Mobileye building, as recommended by the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee, which is set to submit the plan to the district committee. The helipad will be accessible from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. One of the local committee’s conditions for approval was that the helipad could be used in emergency situations as well.

Jobs wanted

AllJobs Group, which owns the youth jobs website Sahbak, recently revealed that 46,000 Jerusalemites – most of them aged 18-25 – are looking for work, according to its recent survey on the city’s employment market. The survey also revealed that the average salary in Jeruaalem is 16% lower than salaries in the center of the country.

A majority of job-seekers are looking for work in customer service, engineering and software, followed by frontal sales and back office jobs. Other sought-after fields are account management and banking, student jobs, building committee administration, construction and infrastructure. In addition, many are looking for work in the hi-tech field as software engineers and full-stack programmers. Other fields include social work and distribution.

The fields that had the biggest increase in the number of new jobs in the last year were architecture, with a 124% increase; building engineering, with 121%; back office, 100%; and civil engineering, 77%.

The fields with the lowest number of new jobs in the last year were mortgage consultancy, 59%; nursing, 40%; and computer science, 38%.

Ceiling collapse

The ceiling of a synagogue situated in a residential building in Pisgat Ze’ev collapsed earlier this week. Fortunately, no worshipers were inside when the roof caved in. Firefighters evacuated the apartment above the synagogue and closed it immediately. According to a preliminary inspection, they found that the unconventionally designed synagogue on Eliyahu Meridor Street had apparently been built without a permit .

Honoring the Black Panthers

A new street named after the Black Panthers protest movement was inaugurated in Jerusalem on May 22. The municipal naming committee decided to commemorate the actions of the movement, which organized large protests to raise awareness about social issues in Israel in the early 1970s. Although it is only a small alley in the heart of the Musrara neighborhood, it was chosen because, according to members of the movement, it was the alley through which they passed to demonstrate in the city center, mainly in the Russian Compound. Mayor Moshe Lion said, “The Black Panthers are an integral part of the city’s heritage and thus deserve to have their name on one of the city’s streets. It is a narrow alley with a stone wall with a barbed wire fence on one side, and old houses on the other side. Over the years, this alley had already been given the name ‘Black Panther Alley’ by artists and residents of the neighborhood, and they even placed a stone sign [there]. But from now on, it will be official.”

Another link in the light rail chain 

The district committee approved the plan for the construction of a light rail line that will allow for more continuous travel between the city’s southern and northern neighborhoods. The Sky Blue Line will offer transfers to the Green Line and the Blue Line, connecting between Talpiot and Gonenim in the south to Mount Scopus in the north, including Hadassah-University Medical Center and the Hebrew University. The committee stated in its decision that “this is a program of great importance, which is expected to improve the urban mass transportation network by creating the possibility of continuous travel between significant urban sections, while reducing passenger transfers between different means of transportation and light rail lines.”

More Wall space

At a special festive meeting in honor of Jerusalem Day, the government approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to increase by NIS 60 million the budget framework of the five-year infrastructure plan for the Western Wall Plaza. The decision will increase the pace of the site’s development and construction, the excavation of archaeological findings, and the upgrading of infrastructure. It will allow for more visits by students and soldiers, as well as additional educational activities.

Restoring Nahal Zimri Park

At the same Jerusalem Day meeting, the government also approved Energy Minister Israel Katz’s proposal to restore Nahal Zimri Park near Pisgat Ze’ev. As part of the approved decision, the Jerusalem Municipality sent out a request for support from the Quarries Rehabilitation Fund to help restore the abandoned quarry.

The government decision is the follow-up result to a recent meeting held by the minister, the CEO of the municipality and a professional team from the ministry with Mayor Moshe Lion. In making its decision, the government said it saw national importance in strengthening Jerusalem and its urban space, since the park will serve as a green lung fo the residents of the city’s north.

The plan for the establishment of the park includes the development of the natural reserve, which covers an area of 80 hectares (200 acres), alongside the establishment of a visitors’ center, water pools, walking paths, a community garden, sports fields, an educational farm, a parking lot and a public building for community and commercial activities. In addition, a bridge will be built over Gal Street, which will connect the neighborhood’s public buildings and light rail to the park.

Similar to the Deer Valley Park, the largest urban nature site in the country, the new park will enable animals such as deer, hares and foxes to roam there freely. ❖