heheh you gonna post that on the Bet Shemesh facebook wall?

(cute - the verification word is "bravoof" !!!)

good idea.
what does bravoof mean?

heh heh. I just posted it. lets see how quickly they take it down

I thought it would be gone first thing Sunday morning. Sure enough it is already removed. i was going to put up a couple other pix so that wouldnt be the only one, but they already removed it.

you're such a troublemaker....

I was thinking "bravo - oof!" Like what the mayor must have been thinking.

First of all I don't like the way Abutbul uses B'layish as a Shabbes goy but having said that I can fully understand him being uncomfortable standing next to women such as the one in the pic. He is after all Haredi and he is trying to balance being mayor of all citizens and not being at places that might be halchicly problematic.

Shimon - it is actually funnier than that because most of the owmen werent dressed like that but had full length tshirts and skirts. Just by this one woman he forgot to move over (or maybe Balaish wasnt in place at the right time).

trying to balance being mayor of all citizens and not being at places that might be halchicly problematic.

these are the pitfalls of being the mayor of a mixed city. gotta make everyone happy.

he could have had Balaish be up there for the whole thing, and he could have left. he could easily have said he was honoring Balaish with that kavod because of his role in arranging the event. The way it was he was so blatant, as he was front and center for the men and then pushed Balaish up for the women..

I like Abutbol. I know most anglos do not support him but I actually am considering voting for him next election. Why? I am generally happy here in BS and I do think the streets look better and the city is better run. Yes there are problems and things can improve but many of the issues we anglos complain about were here long before Abutbol entered. I think we anglos tend to immediately fault him for everything and think "kol biglalo".
Anyway, like I said, I think he has done a fairly decent job given this is his first term and as was pointed out above, this is a very mixed city with many diverse constituencies.

If Abutbol didn't advocate turning this into a 100% Charedi city I might agree with you.

It's even funny, apparently he aspires to make us like Bnei Brak. Yet if you look at the recent Chadash, deputy mayor Greenberg points out that at the very least the transportation mess in Bnei Brak is nothing we want to emulate.

The problem with blaming Abutbol for the charedi migration into BS is that this started long before Abutbol came on the scene. I also find the issue somewhat offensive because, as long as they dont bother us who cares? Isnt opposition to chardeim like ethnic racism? Yes I know there are kitzonim in RBS B who hoist absurd signs and sometimes yell about "shabbos" but what about nachal umenucha they are great neighbors and do not bother anyone. I think the charadei issue is used as a political football to garner votes.
Regardless, like I said, even if you disagree and are opposed 100% to charedi moving to BS this started long before Abutbol.

I didn't say I'm opposed to Charedim living here - I enjoy the religious influence and think it fits fine with the mesorati character of the city. BUT 80% of housing projects are created with explicit intention to grow ONLY the Charedi community, and as I said before Abutbol puts forth a vision to make this city into the next Bnei Brak.

(Never mind that it's quite conceited to compare to Bnei Brak with its Gedolim, but the point is an ALL-CHAREDI city, not a mixed one that you and I enjoy.)

There's a difference between developing the city so it can prosper, versus developing the city along almost-exclusively Charedi visions. Don't you see the difference?

Again, why is this all Abutbol's fault? Arent these plans from years ago that are coming to fruition. You do not address this at all.
As far as 80% - what about all the building going up next to Nofei Hashemesh? I saw signs for like 5 buildings maybe 8 or 9 floors each. What about the new buildings going up next to Nofei Neriah? What about the new project on Reuven in Sheinfeld for 50 new cottages? What about all the building in RBS A (diamond heights, ramat shilo, traklin, palace gardens, etc) many many diverse anglos in these areas Who is feeding you the nonsense that 80% of the new building is exclusively for charedi? Sounds like 80- 90% non chardei and 10 or 20% (RBS B) for chardei. I know you are alluding to RBS Gimmel but there are many anglo agents advertising projects there - Rimon Realty, Lemkin, Klompas, Lepon and others - are all of these marketing to the chardeim? If you want to believe political agendas about what is happening that is your business but the reality is different - do not be so quick to believe everything you hear.

just to butt in, I am in favor of building as much as possible, though with proper planning and infrastructure, and the free market should determine who buys and more power to them. whomever wants to move to bet shemesh is welcome to.

that being said, gimmel was planned, as you say, previously, and is therefore not designed, nor being marketed to, eclusively haredi buyers. it is more mixed, probably similar to what rbs a looks like.
daled and hey, on the other hand, are being designed from scratch right now and according to all reports are being designed exclusively for the haredi markets.

so the previous mayor/s designed the future of the city for continued diversity, while from now on projects are being designed almost exclusively for the haredi public.

To Rafi
Hi Rafi! If that is true you are correct - question is the iriyah the ones who plan daled and hey or is this from the national govt? I have no idea if you know that would be useful.
Also, are they marketing daled and hey now? MiriamS uses this figure of marketing 80% for charedis but as Ive outlined above it would appear that is not the case. Sheinfeld cottages, HaShemesh, Neriyah, all the projects in RBS A where are people getting this 80% for chardei figure from?

To MiriamS
MiriamS you use this figure of marketing 80% for charedis but as Ive outlined above it would appear that is not the case. Sheinfeld cottages, HaShemesh, Neriyah, all the projects in RBS A where are people getting this 80% for chardei figure from?
Why do we hear that "all the projects are going to chardeis" when clearly that is not the case.

agreed. they are not yet being marketed, and the current projects seem to be fairly mixed for the most part. it could be the complaint is mixing the issues.