Part of Haifa promenade (archives)
Photo: Gili Sofer
Haifa residents invited to 'smash wall'
Instead of having construction company remove old wall getting in the way of promenade expansion project, northern city's municipality asks residents to help tear it down using hammers
Have you always dreamed of grabbing a hammer and smashing a wall getting in your way? More than 20 years after German citizens tore down the Berlin Wall, the residents of Haifa will have an opportunity to do the same in their own city.
According to an agreement reached between the Haifa Municipality and the defense establishment, the Navy will withdraw from the shoreline between the Bat Galim neighborhood and Hof Hashaket ("the serene beach"), allowing the construction of a 5-kilometer (3-mile) esplanade, which will encircle the city's entire shoreline.
The Haifa Municipality has been trying to expand the city's promenade for several years now, but an old wall belonging to the Navy's training base has been disrupting the plans and blocking the view.
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The promenade, which will cost about NIS 40 million ($10.4 million) to complete, will include deck flooring, sitting stairs and benches facing the sea. A bicycle trail is also planned along the promenade, and the municipality is considering a request to build a small bridge under which Navy vessels will pass on their way to the open sea.
As they tried to come up with ways to break down the wall, municipality officials recalled Pink Floyd's concert tour "The Wall," which featured a giant wall smashed on stage, and decided to organize a festival in the city focusing on the special event.
The festival, which will likely be held this weekend, will include a performance by a Pink Floyd tribute band, which will perform the song "Another Brick in the Wall" as local residents smash the training base's wall with hammers.
One of those residents will be Mayor Yona Yahav. "As a national cultural city, we combine all matters of the city, such as the development of infrastructure and tourism, in the cultural issue," he said Sunday.
"Residents will take an active role in this festival and help make it even more colorful and meaningful."
