The Green Time: Sicily Beyond the Road
Nahal Giborim in Haifa, with great natural potential, remains neglected after a road was paved instead of the promised park. Architect Yossi Kori leads a tour to connect neighborhoods to nature. Meanwhile, an environmental struggle in Mevaseret Zion ended with restricting an access road to emergency vehicles only.
An investigative tour report on Nahal Giborim in Haifa, formerly Wadi Rushmiya, which shows immense natural potential but is neglected. The writer describes an ambitious 2010 plan to turn the stream into 'Haifa's Central Park', including a lake, rappelling, and leisure areas, but in practice a multi-lane road was paved at a cost of about 180 million shekels in 2013, and the park was not advanced. Dr. Yossi Kori, an architect specializing in green planning, leads a tour of the area and speaks about the need to connect the nearby neighborhoods – Arab Halisa and Haredi Vizhnitz – to the park using escalators, bridges, and walking infrastructure. The article also reports on an environmental struggle in Mevaseret Zion, where the Subcommittee for Exemptions of the National Planning and Building Council ruled that the eastern access road to the settlement will remain open only to emergency vehicles and public transportation until October 2028, due to the ecological importance of Nahal Arza. Additionally, a closed bicycle parking lot at a high school in Tel Aviv and the use of recycled solar water heaters at the Environmental Education Center in Hiriya are mentioned.