"My vision, including the Metro, will be realized"

Ron Huldai credit: Eyal Izhar
Ron Huldai credit: Eyal Izhar

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, running for re-election next year, admits he has slowed the pace of change to please residents but insists the change will come.

Anyone passing through Tel Aviv in recent years can see that the city has undergone a transformation: three light rail lines under construction, 64 kilometers of demarcated priority bus lanes, 167 kilometers of paved bicycle paths (out of the 250 pledged by the municipality), certain streets narrowed in favor of wider sidewalks, and other streets closed to cars and opened to pedestrians. At the same time, 745 construction projects and 196 Tama (National Outline Plan) 38  projects to strengthen and enlarge buildings are moving ahead. And all this before excavations begin for the Greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area Metro, promised to begin operations in 2032.

The Tel Aviv metropolitan region is preparing for an expected significant population increase and a different carving up of the public space - all of which come at a price. Many criticize the multiplicity of projects happening simultaneously, and the disturbance and danger to pedestrians caused by heavy machinery.

In the eye of the storm stands veteran mayor Ron Huldai, who for 24 years has ruled the city from the 12th floor of Tel Aviv’s city hall. He will run for another term in the local elections in November 2023.

"From a macro perspective, this is an important era in the history of the country, the metropolis and the city of Tel Aviv. This is a true revolution, and one for the better, because the first light rail line will open in the coming months and in six years the city will be networked with 64 stations, meaning there will be a train station within 500 meters of every person in the city. The same goes for the Metro in 15-20 years - we will have four Israel Railways stations along the Ayalon Highway, 22 Metro stations and 64 light rail stations. This will be a different city in every respect. But it's hard for people to imagine what is going to happen to the city, and things happen very slowly."

Huldai says this was always his vision. Once he was elected, he says, he immediately began planning for the metro, removing cars parked haphazardly on sidewalks ("People asked, ‘where will we park?’"), and paving bike paths, as part of the project to renew the city’s boulevards ("Even when we didn't have a cent").

But Huldai was also the one who demanded that the light rail Green Line should run below Ibn Gabirol Street - an unusual route for a light rail - which has incurred many costs and delays.

"Certainly, and it wasn’t enough," he says. "I asked, why didn't they continue running for another kilometer and go under the Yarkon River, instead of building a horrible bridge over it. And in general, the entire light rail system should have been a Metro subway."

Huldai has also abolished restricted parking zones and introduced free parking; these and others of his measures have been criticized by transportation experts over the years.

Will there still be room for cars?

"Fewer cars will travel (into the city) because there will be fewer car lanes and many more sidewalks, bicycle paths. The space underground significantly enhances our ability to transport many more passengers along the same thoroughfare - and that is the Metro’s greatness."

Some people claim that when you decided to run again, you backed away from several initiatives. You yourself mentioned the plan to increase the city’s bicycle paths to 300 kilometers by 2025.

"I didn't back off the plan, I just slowed down the pace. It should speed up once the Red Line is working. It can be done."

"Sometimes I have to compromise to please everyone."

Assaf Harel, who was until recently your deputy mayor, claims that your policy is to try pleasing everyone, and in the end everyone loses - cars and public transport.

"I can't say he's completely wrong and I can't say he's right. Assaf wants me to continue paving bike paths despite the disruption to the public. He wants everything here and now.

"But look at the way I do things - taking cars off sidewalks, in a city that prefers people by far and just this year has planted 12,000 trees, perhaps the only city that has turned the bicycle into a transportation system, public transport - that’s Tel Aviv-Yafo. And my support for rail line construction. But there are compromises, And I admit that sometimes I have to please everyone. What can I do - they are all my children, and no single interest group can be the determining factor."

The question is whether you can please everyone, given that public space is limited and the city is crowded.

"No, I can’t please everyone. I always get elected by 50%. That means I’m elected but I don’t please everyone. I’m ready to face a large opposition in favor of what needs to get done. Everything I do is opposed loudly."

"A million people enter the city every day and anyone who thinks that I make all the rules is deeply mistaken. There are so many things related to the State of Israel and the ministers of transport and finance."

So, let's focus on the things you can do in the city. For example, the boulevards that you renovated. I could argue that if you didn't want to please everyone, you could remove the bike paths, give the boulevard back to the pedestrians, and create a bike lane instead of a private vehicle lane on the roads. But, apparently, that's a political decision you’re not able to make.

"I think that bike and pedestrian paths can exist together."

Should a scooter traveling at 40 km/h be riding alongside a pedestrian?

"By law, it can travel up to 25 km/h, and that needs to be taken care of. But when we created the boulevards, the city didn’t have bike riders, and the idea was to renovate the boulevard, and create a proper public space. It was a revolution for the public space. "

On scooters: "The main problem isn’t the rental vehicles"

The issue of electric scooters clearly bothers Huldai, and not without reason, in view of the extensive media coverage on the matter. "These vehicles are very significant - they are the last mile," he says. According to Huldai, the solutions are regulation, comprehensive enforcement, infrastructure, and separation between electric vehicles and pedestrians. "Our main problem is not with the rental scooters, which have speed limits. Out of the 170,000 daily trips for these vehicles in our region, 40,000 are made using the rented units, and the rest by private ones. The private ones are the problem because they speed against the law; they take a vehicle weighing 80 kilograms, call it a bicycle, and ride it at 60 kilometers per hour".

Are you considering charging a fee for the scooter companies' use of parking lots in the public space?

"That's a good question, but it's important that public transportation be as cheap as possible, and it's appropriate that I don't add extra expenses. And since the Tel Aviv municipality is in a decent financial condition, we didn't feel it necessary to charge them at the moment. In any case, they are cooperative and collaborate on trying to find solutions. The problem is the private ones."

On the light rail: "The problem will be solved and in two or three months the line will open"

Huldai is banking his reputation on the change the city will undergo following the light railway’s inauguration. In the meantime, as first reported by Globes, a fault in the Red Line's signaling system has been causing the trains to stop suddenly. The timing of a postponed launch date poses a problem for the mayor - but Huldai keeps his cool. "What's new? We signed the contract in 2000. There have been a thousand decisions, I’ve dealt with 13 ministers of transport, and 17 ministers of the interior. I'm really not disappointed because engineers are working on the software, they’ll solve the problem, and, in a month, or two or three, the line will open.

"The CEO of NTA [the company responsible for the design and construction of the Tel Aviv metropolitan mass transit system] says it was collaboration with the Tel Aviv municipality that made the rail line happen, and that's true. I realized that I had to be the main facilitator for it to happen because there’s always a NIMBY here and a NIMBY there."

Huldai is also sharply critical of Israel Electric Corp. (IEC) "We have a problem with bottlenecks and an inability to solve problems. For example, IEC is not equipped to keep up with the pace and professionalism required for the light rail, and also for the Metro later on. We open a street, divert the substructure, need new infrastructure - and then wait for the electric company to come. This has happened more than once. IEC says, 'You instituted a reform and told us to cut staff - how are we supposed to respond now?' In a country like ours, where the government changes all the time, it's hard to solve these problems because there’s no one around to make a decision. And so, even if the work on Allenby Street is postponed until the end of next year - that’s not what will delay the line."

On residential construction: "Build like crazy but intelligently"

You issued a lot of building permits near the light rail and Metro, and at the same time eliminated the parking regulations in those areas. Aren't you afraid that the infrastructure will be finished long after the buildings are up and, in the meantime, their residents won't have a suitable transportation solution?

"Do they have a solution today? I'll tell you a story: My background comes from the Air Force and as headmaster of the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium. In those places, long-term advance planning is the cornerstone. When I entered this position, I heard about the Kaplan Street interchange, and I went to Yossi Farhi, who was the district engineer, and I said to him, ‘Yossi, how can we issue permits for high-rise towers when the parking problems haven’t been solved? So, he said to me, 'Listen carefully: there is no planning for anything in the State of Israel but if you instigate a crisis, it will get resolved.’"

On operating the Red Line on Saturdays: "It’s not going to happen. I don’t foresee that sort of political situation."

Do you believe the Minister of Transport when she says the Red Line will run on Saturdays?

"She didn't say that and it won't run on Shabbat. I don’t foresee that sort of political situation. Because even if someone wanted it, they’d need support from this or that political party - and that’s not the hill to die on right now."

How are things going with your Friday night-Saturday bus lines?

"They work exceptionally well, but they’re not true public transportation because they’re limited to the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. Little by little, other authorities are joining and we’re getting pressure to connect from Mevaseret Zion, Har Adar, and the Mateh Yehuda regional council, as well. I hope that Kfar Saba will join soon. I’m doing this because I believe that the very fact that they got used to it happening will have an effect in the future. Even I used it once because I have a station near my house, but I can't call it public transportation, that just isn’t true."

On being the world’s most expensive city: "They rank the cost of electricity and cucumbers"

Another issue worrying the mayor's office is the city’s cost of living and its ranking on the world’s most expensive cities lists. "The municipality can hardly do anything about it, because these lists measure the price of electricity, water, transportation, cucumbers, yoghurt, and other things. Naturally, when you take the total cost of living in Israel and add the delta of housing in Tel Aviv, it creates gap that makes it the most expensive."

Why not use the improvement levies [mandatory payments on building plans that increase property value] to create affordable housing?

"We are the only city dealing with affordable housing. The State of Israel doesn’t see it as important. It’s only because of our pressing the issue that eventually led to the decision about thousands of affordable housing units at Sde Dov. And we have determined that every new apartment building built on private land will have 15% affordable housing, and on what little municipal acreage we have left, there will be 50% affordable housing. But it’s not public housing. It’s housing for the middle class, without whom society could not exist: police, teachers. and nurses. We have a huge problem today concerning teachers who don’t want to travel an hour and a half from Rishon Lezion to Tel Aviv - they’re not coming here, even though they always wanted to work in Tel Aviv. We built a building with 75 housing units rented only to teachers. The State of Israel doesn't want to bother with that. We are the trailblazers."

What chance do other cities have of prospering, if they don’t have the benefit of employment and commercial centers?

"The Bat Yam and Tel Aviv merger was already a done deal. That’s what needs to happen. If they were to unite the entire Gush Dan into one city - Bnei Brak, Givatayim, Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv - it would solve Bnei Brak’s economic problem. But Bnei Brak want to be an ultra-orthodox city. In Israel, everyone wants to close themselves off, and aren’t willing to share with the rest. The great thing about Tel Aviv is that everyone can live the way they see it. A city of democracy and tolerance. Trouble is, in the end, everyone just wants to bicker about high-rise projects like the Century Tower."

Ron Huldai (78)

  • Personal: Married + 3, lives in Tel Aviv, holds a BA degree in history from Tel Aviv University, and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Professional: Mayor of Tel Aviv since 1998. Before that he was headmaster of the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Tel Aviv. Served as a fighter pilot and a commander in the Israeli Air Force, with the rank of Brigadier General.
  • One thing more: Shot down three enemy aircraft during the Six Day War.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 27, 2022.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2022.

Ron Huldai credit: Eyal Izhar
Ron Huldai credit: Eyal Izhar
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