don't wait for them to respond. If it is dangerous, and you are able to without causing harm to yourself, start taking them down yourself. לא תעמוד על דם רעך.
You can also contact the iriya or the police.

This is probably the same group, that plays at outragously loud volume their volume over and over again (including a Yom Kippur tune), and their collectors come en masse to our doors, and intrude on us on Purim. I for one will NOT give to them.

yes you have to spend money to make money but it seems that other local organizations can raise money with much less expense

and if I'm not mistaken this is the same organization who is always crying that their coffers are empty

perhaps just like the drunken bochurim..we shouldn't reward their overspending with our support!

Take down the bunting! They should have tried for a home run instead. Like giving to Vaad HaRabbanim to raise money. Duh.

Hmm. 2 e-mails are quoted and 4 comments concur with the great danger the bunting causes. I am all for increased public safety, and God only knows how negligent our entire community is in the areas of safe driving and road etiquette.
And, for the record, I am no supporter of the Tzedaka fund in question
I just wonder how much of this is biased by our community's well publicized divisions, and how much of the venom has nothing to do with public safety. Are any of the voices heard on this issue coming from actual supporters of the RBS fund? And if not, can we stop pretending that this is about protecting pedestrians?

personally I have volunteered to work for this kupa's events (sales, etc). I give them regular donations. And that is so despite the fact that the other tzedaka org is my personally preferred tzedaka org.
I cannot vouch for other people's motives and intentions, but my motives are purely for the safety issue.

I should have clarified that my skepticism was not directed at Rafi. Anyone who knows him personally admires his objectivity. I have no doubt that the popularity of his blog is a direct result of that.
And of course, amongst the anonymous others, there are no doubt similar people who are motivated by a desire to see safer streets.
I simply question some of the gleeful triumphalism in some of these quotes. I find it disingenuous to claim that now we will limit our donations, when the people most upset are often not supporters to begin with...

Anon,

Quite the opposite. I used to be a devoted supporter of this kupa's work.

I do question their spending discretion when it comes to advertising.

By now everyone knows who they are and what they do.

What bothers me here is the danger issue as well as the idea of taking over the neighborhood. While I support them why couldn't they leave a little room for other tzedakos to advertise.

One of the slogans caught my eye: "hunger doesn't discriminate" Is the implication that the readers shouldn't discriminate when picking our charities, or that the charity itself doesn't discriminate when picking hungry recipients?

Regarding safety, my guess is that those who are part of it think "ah, it isn't really so bad" even if it is. So I'm not so sure that judging by public statements will be all that conclusive.

Me thinks "Meir" doth protest too much, proving my point. Didn't take Meir long to move from lamenting the safety issue, to arguing against RBS Fund's exclusion of other funds.

Anon,

Yes I am protesting.

I protest because I was duped by them for many years. Lines like 100% Tzedaka, We have Daas Torah (and "they" don't), "sponsored by", etc. kept me from giving to the other guys.

I finally realized that not everything that they say may be 100% true.

And "for the record" I have difficulty believing that you don't support them.

At least I am up front about where I am holding.

My husband has been volunteering for the Kupa for years. I noticed this this morning while we were in the car together and commented right away on the hazard. He called one of the Kupa heads, didn't get ahold of him, but left a detailed message. This has nothing to do with loyalties and everything to do with safety.

Thank you Meir, for confirming what I wrote

Anon 7:31- Kol HaKavod to you. Like Rafi, I have no doubt that this is a safety hazard, and applaud those who reach out to the Kupa to address it.
I am simply saying that many of those who express their concern via e-mail list and by commenting on blogs may very well, like Meir, have other issues with the Kupa and that they are all too happy to use this safety concern as a hammer.

maybe, maybe not. everybody has to be careful to make sure their motives are pure. and everybody in the end does whats good for them. if someone cares about safety, they will be concerned about this. if someone is more concerned about money they will say its not an issue. if someone is more concerned about knocking one or the other they will behave accordingly. that is not in my, or your, or anyone else's control. That means it is not something I need be concerned with. I cant read inside anybody else's hearts, and therefore do not consider it an issue to worry about.

and I might add that that potential possibility of someone having other agendas and using this "as a hammer" is all the more reason why the Kupa needs to be extra careful that they run their campaigns properly. Just because they are collecting tzedaka does not make everything, all means, ok. They must be extra cautious that their means are acceptable, kosher, and even glatt kosher. they should be extra careful to do things properly and not give people that opening

dont wait for them, take it down ourselves, especially on purim day, this is a danger

Rafi,

You make a good point. I see a double standard in relation to criticism of organizations. I have no doubt that if Lema'an Achai would have spent that kind of money and time on Purim decorations everyone would be saying "bizbuz kesef", etc.

Among some people no matter what Lema'an Achai does it's wrong and no matter what Kupa does it's ok.

The bottom line here is public safety and responsibility no matter who is behind the advertising.

Finally wising up and taking the stuff down. What a waste of time and money as well as efforts that could have really helped the poor.

The Kupa's campaign is cute.

However, by breaking every boundary - endangering the population, misuse of public property, financial excess, visual pollution - they have shown immense arrogance.

Last year, the Kupa endangered children with their parade.

Children were literally hanging out of car windows and standing on car roofs.

Mitzva derech aveira seems to be their standard policy.

I wonder if they do the same with their books?

The campaign they are running is about keeping our tzedaka funds in our neighborhood. Are they saying that we should not give the myriad of collectors, be it poor people or yeshivas, that come collecting from outside the neighborhood? Is that consistent with halacha? I know there is priority to local tzedaka, but that doesn't mean from outside does not get at all.. as a matter of fact on Purim we are obligated to give everybody.

Yakov - someone from the Kupa just posted to the local email list about rules for participating in the parade. if they enforce what they wrote it looks like they are going to be serious about safety in this years parade.
(they even say they invited undercover policemen to partake in the parade and give out tickets to those not following the rules.)

Almost none of the material was taken down. I must say that this typical of their PR policies...create an issue (ie the material, the dangers in the parade, etc.) then come as the "good guy" (we will remove that dangerous material, there are strict rules about the parade, etc) and reality keep everything the same.

Despite the "rules' about the parade I still saw reckless driving and unseated children. I even saw one car with a young adult on the roof.

They got kudos for their PR about safety, which was just that..PR.

I only checked a few intersections. they didnt remove the entire length of material, but I did see that they evaluated what they considered to be dangerous and removed that portion. So I saw one place where they removed one strip of material but left the rest. Another place where they removed the material off one barrier in the set but left it on the rest.
I dont know if their evaluations were good or not, from a safety perspective. When doing such things that affect the roads and public safety, a safety engineer should be consulted.

The yellow material on the corner of Refaim and Maor remained after they promised to remove it; a car got way too close to one of my kids because of it.

But it's no longer there, so no other parents need to worry.

I did not see the parade, but the drivers of the following vehicles should be ashamed of themselves for letter passengers hang out the doors and windows.

75-844-74
86-441-68
66-601-68

I hope that everyone out there who supported the Kupa for Purim campign are happy that their donations went to banners, (dangerous) bunting, brochures, expensive helium balloons, little fake tents and the myriads of other PR stuff.

While I fully agree that money must be spent for PR it can also be done with taste and discretion.

The Kupa should realize by now that due to the banning of Lema'an Achai by many of their rabbis and the other forms of exclusion that they practice they have nothing to fear when raising money in RBS.