The latest pashkevil in Bet Shemesh

The latest pashkevil in Bet Shemesh.

It refers to a building that is being constructed at the edge of RBS B and was going to be some sort of mall. I do not know why this pashkevill came out now. This project has been dead in the water for over a year already because of previous protests against it. Maybe a new contractor is trying to take it over and get the project back on track.

The pashkevil basically calls for the cancellation of the construction of the mall in project Rasido. It claims that a mall there will attract people "distant from the style of our neighborhood", it will hold municipal and government offices and large stores, all that will bring people from the moshavim and kibbutzim in the area, etc.
It is a danger to the holiness of the neighborhood, etc.
Whoever can assist in getting the plans changed and canceled, and have the building put to use only in something appropriate and useful for the neighborhood, and definitely no government offices or large places of business, etc...
We call upon the builders who owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of people who have bought apartments with the hard earned money (my translation - the Hebrew says ,"b'meytav kaspam"), listen to our request - do not pay back good with evil, etc.
We call upon anybody interested in buying or renting in the project: do not agree to anything in the current format, as we will not allow the Kanyon to be built there. Anybody who invests his money there is as if he is placing his money on the horns of a deer.
Beware - you have been warned. Don't say you did not know, etc...
Signed, by a bunch of local Rabbonim.

I am not sure what the big deal is, as the whole road leading up to that site is probably the largest shopping area in all of Bet Shemesh. The whole street is lined with every type of store imaginable (well, not every type). I guess the government offices might be more of an attraction for people who are not already coming to the area for shopping, and maybe that is the greater threat..

From what I understand from people who live in that area, this campaign is being run by the kannoim of RBS B, even though it has some of the Rabbonim from RBS A signed on it as well. They basically signed, supposedly, because of their connections to Rav Kupshitz.

Anyways, so the local residents, non-kannoim, are against the idea of a mall, but they do want a shopping area. Right now it is very difficult for them. The whole area is surrounded by Haredi projects - Yefeh Nof, the Kirya Haredit, the projects at the edge of RBS B, and others. There is almost no shopping, even for basic things, in the immediate area. the Kiryahhas just a small amount of stores, and small ones at that. There is the Gur makolet across from Yefeh Nof. Heftzibah has nothing. Even RBS B has nothing in that immediate area - just further down the road.

So in the meantime, all the residents - lower income Haredi families - have to take taxis to and from either Birkas HaRama shopping area or the supermarkets in RBS A. This causes them a burden, both physically and financially. They really want a shopping area in that immediate area.

Granted, they do not want a mall, and all that it includes. They want something more like a Merkaz Mischari Haredi, something similar to Birkas Ha'Rama in RBS B or even the Merkaz Mischari in RBS A, with the ability to do their shopping locally.

The problem is that the kannoim want no shopping area there other than the small local makolets and they have adopted this as their fight. They want to usurp the building for a shul and a school (possibly the school Tuv Yerushalayim, I hear, that just sent out brochures across RBS A) and not allow it to be used for anything else.