urban renovation – The Real Jerusalem Streets

10 Things to Love About Jerusalem

December 19, 2021December 19, 2021Sharon A

The sense of uncertainty about what will happen next is ubiquitous.

Israel’s borders are closing again and isolations are becoming mandatory. Will the US be the next to be declared a red country?

Tourists were coming back to Jerusalem and tour buses were seen on the Jerusalem streets. But how many trips have again been canceled? Long-planned meetings put on hold.

In our neighborhood, a school is back on Zoom classroom sessions with so many students sick with corona.

However, there are positive things to share from this week in Jerusalem.

I love that no matter how many times you walk down the same streets, there is always something new to see or a new angle to notice, as you can see here at the entrance to Mamilla Mall.

At Mamilla Mall, I stopped for a moment to take a photo of the men at the mincha minyan, praying outside in the middle of the day. I loved that friends who walked by also noticed and commented.

Amazing how a short walk becomes longer when you stop to talk with friends you have not seen in too long a time.

The construction is just everywhere, as the buildings go up and up.

The noise is often deafening as the digging goes on and on.

Most of King David Street is completed. But the next phase here at Mamilla Junction is beginning. Watch out, this week the extension to King Solomon Street is to be closed as the new water lines are installed.

Won’t we all love it when the roadwork is done?

At last, reconstruction work on the old Knesset Building, slated to become the new Knesset Museum, appears to finally be moving along.

The entrance to Balfour Street was open! It had been without a security guard, an exciting development for those of us who live in the area. We were forbidden to walk down the street, and now there is a sign to pull the pedestrian gate open.

A TV media crew was wandering around and taking a video. At one point in the recent past, there were five layers of security and a huge black curtain. Now, new security cameras have been installed instead.

I had to go back again to check if it was real. The last time I walked down this street was the summer Obama was running for US President (first time!) and Olmert was Prime Minister.

Here you can see what was blocked, under strict security and now is quiet.

Security officers dressed in black jackets on motorcycles were out along Jaffa Road. It was good to see them chatting rather than having serious work to do.

The annual Hanukkah decorations are gone and stowed away.

But Santa near Jaffa Gate in the Christian Quarter is still this month.

Reindeer have lit up the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens for the nighttime show since before Hanukkah.

The YMCA has more decorations and new lights this year.

At New Gate, a Christmas Market is open in the evenings until December 22nd, however, the sign says that it is limited to 500 people.

I am not sure I like it, but I am still amazed to see young children on the Jerusalem streets walking alone, like this little girl walking from New Gate,

or outside along the path by the Old City Walls going towards Jaffa Gate,

or little ones leading even younger ones in Nachlaot.

But for children, I just love the new lion in the Gan Sacher, Sacher Park play area.

This week the 11th Temech Conference was held at the Jerusalem Convention Center. Temech services Jewish businesswomen and entrepreneurs, and the conference is a popular annual networking event. I loved the various areas decorated for women to sit and talk.

The day-long programming was full of excellent speakers, so it was hard to catch up with friends you had not seen in too long. Plus recognizing new acquaintances from online meetings was a challenge. Did she seem so short or so tall, so thin?

When the Hebrew and the Anglo groups merged for a late lunch it was hard to get everyone in one photo, but safe to say most everyone was Energized.

In the Artist Colony across from the Old City walls is Kol HaOt, a studio for art with connections to Torah, and a venue for the Jerusalem Biennale.

During the corona lockdown last winter, 48 artists were able to use the space to create a piece based on one of the 48 ways Torah is acquired.

I loved many aspects of this 5th Jerusalem Biennale, but more another time.

Ready to walk home I heard music, the fountain was on at Teddy Park. The show went on and on – better to share a short video than a photo.

Winter music festivals are back! The 12th Hullegeb: Israeli-Ethiopian Arts Festival, Chaznut Performances, and more – I love the varied cultures.

Chagnival at HaMiffal is this week at The Miffal, however, not sure what it is.

I love what they did in the old abandoned building. Do people know about it?

I LOVE JLM, especially on a sunny winter day or a clear cool night.

I love to take a walk and see what’s happening on the Jerusalem streets.

Here’s hoping those millions of tourists that were expected before corona shut down the skies will be able to return –

and soon.

Jerusalem Looking Up and Down

November 7, 2021November 7, 2021Sharon A

There are days Jerusalem feels like one big construction site. Taking advantage of the pleasant weather, I walked around to see what’s new on the Jerusalem streets and to share with you.

The lights are on again at the Israel Museum as night events are returning.

The corner where King George Street becomes Keren Hayesod Street near Paris Fountain is so dangerous for pedestrians, we now have a crossing guard. The sidewalk is so ripped up, sometimes two men are on duty.

The street adjacent to the new National Library is finally without any visible construction equipment.

Walk past the library you see the new government offices rising to the sky.

Walk around them and look across the Begin Highway to the new hi-rise apartments of Kiryat Moshe. A row of these is planned to replace the old smaller dwellings. The row of three hotels near the city entrance which used to be considered tall is dwarfed in comparison.

And then there is the Jerusalem Gateway project!

When the gate was open, I entered hoping to find a shortcut. I had a meeting near the main bus station, an area of Jerusalem that has continually changed over the past three years.

As always, my shortcuts end up taking longer. However what a sight this was, digging down and down.

This was a photo taken in 2012 of the Jerusalem Gateway project.

These photos are of the same part of Jaffa Road as it is now.

And a closer look at the construction rising well above ground level.

Nearby is the old Shaare Zedek Hospital on Jaffa Road that has had several tenants since the last patient left its stone walls. The 5th Jerusalem Biennale for Contemporary Jewish Art is set to open here on November 11th.

The area behind it and the blue fence is to be a major building project.

Construction cranes and wires obstruct the view of the Chord Bridge.

Looking down its seems that it will be a long time before this is finished.

But all around Jerusalem, the development projects start by digging down.

Then look up and there’s more being lifted in and out of building sites.

Our local builder buddies ask for their photos often when I walk by.

Who remembers when this hotel was the only tall building in Jerusalem?

The Hilton Hotel, which became the Crowne Plaza, is now the Vert Hotel.

But, soon it will have competition for the tallest hotel and King George Street will have a new look.

Seeing the second group of foreign tourists greeted in the Vert lobby was exciting. Hopefully, international tourism will begin again. Individual visitors, not just groups, have a possibility to come into Israel as of November 1, 2021. But, there is a long list of legal requirements to enter.

This is the view of Cinema City and the Supreme Court from the Vert.

Another view over the new residential buildings and hotel.

And my favorite, the view of Nachalot, on a clear evening, with the mountains in Jordan visible on the other side of the Dead Sea.

Attending an event in the Vert Presidential Suite, I took a little tour for you

and checked out the loo in the impressive Presidential Suite.

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Oh, what a view at night!

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No matter which direction, day or night, the Jerusalem streets are impressive to walk or stroll or to run.

Here’s hoping the 11th Jerusalem Marathon is again an international one.

And next? Check out the options from 131 Open Houses later this month.

Jerusalem Building Up and Up

August 28, 2018Sharon A

Jerusalem has a serious lack of affordable housing. There is no lack of luxury units in fancy neighborhoods with overseas owners that are empty most of the year.

Once the 20,000 housing unit Safdie Plan was shot down in 2007 by environmental protests, prices were bound to go up and up.

I am not against green spaces.

It was great to see children at activities over the holidays in the Nature Center.

If you remember The Nature Center was set to be sold to developers.

Take a walk around a few old Jerusalem streets.

When walking on Jaffa Road, this site was under construction,

and now the new building impressively rises above the street.

A few weeks ago We Work was a huge construction site.

How will they open in October as announced?

I saw that one small section of the WeWork building was lit up at night.

So it must be opening in stages – sounds like good planning.

The Museum of Tolerance building has been proceeding quietly.

This old abandoned eyesore is gone, and instead a new hotel complex under construction.

These buildings now dwarf the idyllic garden of Ticho House.

Here is a view of these new buildings towering over HaRav Kook Street.

Other old buildings are getting face-lifts and additional floors added on top.

Developers under TAMA 38 are hoping to get residents to add space, elevators and new porches or secure rooms.

Then the builders sell the new penthouse(s) added on top for top dollar to finance the projects.

Signs are posted on many streets, as obtaining work permits drags on.

I recently spotted construction behind buildings,

or on top of views. Construction can be seen in various stages and locations.

I could show so many more, but enough already.

A few signs were posted for a community meeting concerning a building project at Dov Kimhe and Tchernichofsky Streets.

Residents of the area packed the room to hear announcement of the Tochnit Av, the master plan of a major Jerusalem building project.

The Tochnit Av is for more than one neighborhood, first Rechavia, but also Moshava, Baka, all the way to the Katamonim.

The project aims to build up – and up, to add housing units.

The triangle of space in yellow off of Dov Kimhe is one of the areas for this project.

The old buildings on the left are to be replaced with a 21-story tower, and also a 9- and 10-story apartment buildings.

Nursery schools, a shopping mall and hundreds of new units are projected.

Sounds great.

Only.

Now Tchernikofsky Street comes to a standstill in normal morning traffic.

Dov Kimhe is a narrow, one lane road hardly wide enough for trucks to pass through.

Parking? The driver I saw at night did not want his photo taken, as he tried to fit on the side walk behind me which was full of cars.

To say the least, most of the property owners in the area are not pleased.

Meanwhile, the plan for the Jerusalem Gateway is progressing.

Every time one goes to the area there is a new traffic pattern.

Familiar streets are blocked and closed.

Streets and pedestrian crossings are constantly changing.

Excavators and trucks are working in some of the fenced off areas.

This future center of the Jerusalem business district and Israeli government district is under construction.

Jerusalem is going up and up.

Mayor Nir Barkat is on his way out, and a new municipal government will be in, in the near future.

But I sure hope that the municipal planning is better than the planning for Jerusalem street signs.

Truly amazing what has changed in the past ten or even four years.

Even more amazing to see what will happen in Jerusalem in the next ten years.