A turned over bin
צילום: אליהו הלוי אתר בחדרי חדרים
Setting money on fire
Custom of torching dumpsters during demonstrations takes financial toll on Jerusalem Municipality. 'Majority of citizens should not pay for the acts of the few,' says city councilman
Some protesters carry signs, some prefer to block the road and in Jerusalem they like to burn garbage bins. Jerusalem City Councilman Sa'ar Netanel had recently run a check to see what the financial toll of burning garbage bins was, he found out that in the last five years the damage came to a seven figures worth. Would you like to guess who pays that bill?
Netanel's review discovered that the August's incidents involving the city's chastity squads and Orthodox residents, according to the city's own sanitation department, cost the Jerusalem Municipality NIS 150,000 (about $40,000). In June 2007, 300dumpsters were damaged, costing NIS 427,000 ($118,000) to replace. In 2006 the damage came to NIS 200,000 ($55,000), and in 2005 it was estimated at NIS 100,000 ($27,000).
Netanel was amazed when he saw the numbers adding up: "we learned that besides disturbing the peace, it hurts the pockets of tax paying, law abiding citizens, who end up paying for this destructive hobby. The amount spent replacing those damaged garbage bins could have been used to increase the already meager budget of the city's cultural department, or be used in other important fields".
According to Netanel, "if we added the figures of both 2003 and 2004, it would amount to over NIS 1,000,000 and all from the last 5 years. This amount comes from Jerusalem's sanitation department, and after it's collected, the city replaces the damaged bins in orthodox neighborhoods with new ones. They arrive inside a month, with the hope that they will last, at least until the next demonstration."
The councilman has an explanation about the phenomenon of bin burning. "The orthodox are allowed to demonstrate and protest, but damaging city property is an illegal and violent behavior. The problem is that the orthodox know that they won't be paying for the damage so that is not stopping them". Netanel also offers a solution, "The city needs to deduct the cost of replacing the bins from the budgets that are directed at the Orthodox, because it's not right that all of the city's residents pay for the acts of a few law breakers".
The Jerusalem Municipality told Ynet: "recently several garbage containers have been damaged throughout the city. The Jerusalem municipality is working towards repairing those damages and is asking its citizens to keep the city clean".
