11.11.08 Municipal Election Day

Election day has come and gone but as neither candidate managed to gain 40% of the vote, it's now clear that there will a second round of elections in two weeks time between Benny Vaknin (35% of the vote) and Itamar Shimoni (21% of the vote).

Mayor Roni Mehatzri, with 15% of the vote, will not take part in the second round. Nicole

Shinshinim are on their way

It's time to say Goodbye and Good luck to our "Shinshinim" (Young Emissaries), Tal and Liron.

Together with Huppit Bartov who is on a visit to Ashkelon, we gathered in the Mayor's office for a farewell meeting. Everyone wished Tal and Liron good luck on their mission to Baltimore. They are about to face a challenging year but, knowing them and the Baltimore Jewish community, I know they will have the experience of a lifetime.

Nessia Tova !

See also: http://ashkelonblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/ashkelons-first-shinshinim-to-baltimore.html Nicole

June-July Visits

Recent visitors from Baltimore:

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Steve Gevarter spent a day with us, together with his son David. They were on a trip to Israel with Chizuk Amona. The first picture shows all of us at lunch - Steve & David Gevarter, Mayor Roni, Deputy Mayor Levi, Dr Alan Marcus, and myself. The second picture shows David Gevarter - trying out Mayor Roni's seat for size.... who knows?!

Later that day the whole Chizuk Amona group came to Ashkelon for a few hours, visited Park Baltimore (which is looking green and lovely) and the Lyn Stacie Getz Playground, and visited Netzach Yisrael congregation.

Marty Waxman was here on a family trip and took the opportunity to stay overnight in the Ashkelon Holiday Inn, and get an update on economic development projects with the help of Eliezer Priel, Alan Marcus, Moty Harel, Iris Liebovich and myself. The group visited two new small businesses that received loans from the Loan Fund sponsored by the partnership.

Devera Routman - "DeeDee", spent nearly a whole week in Ashkelon and we kept her very busy. Amongst other activities, she volunteered at Gan Hofit kindergarten, she spent a morning with Nicole - visiting the Ladies Ethiopian Art Project, met Liron our young shinshin, ate lunch with Dr Sharf at Barzilai Medical Center, visited with Mayor Roni and Deputy Mayor Levi, walked round Park Baltimore and went to check out the Michael Lapides firetruck donated by the Baltimore community, at the Ashkelon fire-station.

Noa Nagar HaLevy - Diller program counselor, who stayed with Devera's daughter Tammy Heyman while she was on the Diller delegation to Baltimore, invited Devera (as well as Yuval, Nicole and myself) to a delicious and bountiful dinner at her lovely apartment, where Devera met Noa's family, admired the incredible sunset and view of Ashkelon from the 5th floor (top of a hill location), and said of the dinner "Of all the fancy restaurants I visited in Israel, this was the best dinner I have eaten during my whole trip". Nicole

Youth Leaders Rule

This morning, new young faces took over the leadership of Ashkelon. As part of "Youth Month" in the city, today the youth leadership had a taste of being in charge of the City. They attended meetings, were interviewed, visited locations in the city with the Mayor, answered the phone and drank a lot of coffee.

Asaf Suissa (above), chairman of the Youth Council, sat in Mayor Roni Mehatzri's chair and ran the city. Standing next to the Mayor is Liron Menashe (last year's Youth Council chairwoman), who will be our Young Shalicha to Baltimore in September 2008, together with Tal Bouhnik.

Tal Bouhnik (left) and Yuval Peretz, took over from Deputy Mayor Levi Shafran. They took their job seriously and dealt with educational issues, under Levi's instruction.Tal will be joining Liron as our Young Shlichim to Baltimore.

Bar Chaprak (right) and Shir Ariely sat in Anat Berkovich's (the municipal spokesperson) - chair , and issued a press release about events of the day.

Teens also replaced the City Manager, the other deputy mayors and department heads. After 4 hectic hours on the job, they were all very happy to go back to school... "It's not easy to run a city!"

Nicole

New Fire Truck for Ashkelon

On Independence Day Eve, the Ashkelon Fire Station held a special ceremony to welcome the new firefighting vehicle. The vehicle was donated in memory of Michael Lapides, by the Jewish community in Baltimore in a fundraising effort spearheaded by Tammy and Fred Heyman. The brand new fire engine is a “Rotem” vehicle and will be used to respond to emergencies, fires and rescues. At the ceremony, Mayor Roni Mehatzri - Head of the Fireman’s Union, and Dani Sasson – Fire Chief, awarded ranks to fireman and officers. Among those who received promotions were two female firefighters. The Mayor thanked the Jewish Community of Baltimore and the ceremony concluded with a “Haramat Kosit” (toast) in honor of the 60th Independence Day anniversary of the State of Israel. Nicole

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