[RBS] Is it worth objecting?

[Ephrayim Naiman]

Dear All,

Tomorrow, Friday, IY"H, there will be forms to sign objections to the
poor planning of Ramat Beit Shemesh Gimmel-2.

This is *NOT* about canceling building - we B"H desperately need more housing!
This is about using Sechel to design and build our city.

Here's my 2-cents about joining these objections ...

Do I believe in petitions?  (Generally) no.
Is this a petition?  No!

When you sign this form, you will be signing in front of a lawyer -
this is *not remotely* like a petition.
This is part of the

      *LEGAL* process

requiring the national and local government bodies to take notice
that there are major flaws in the design of RBS Gimmel-2 and to correct them.
The objections will IY"H be submitted with reports by experts in
various fields such as traffic engineers, fire/safety engineers,
landscape architects, education needs, city planners, etc.

Am I sure this will help?  No.
Is it worth 30 minutes of my time?  Yes.

Do I think I can change "how things work in this country" - only maybe
a little.  But one thing is clear to me - my Hishtadlus is *my*
responsibility, and I am being given an opportunity, by many dedicated
people, to help correct a mess before it is made.

Between 8-1 tomorrow at Best and Super Hatzlacha,
you can fill out a form and list various problems.
Here are a number of issues that I've gleaned from various meetings and
looking at the plans (most issues we are all familiar with already):

+ The City's general infrastructure is already stressed past its limit,
  more housing will exacerbate these issues:
  + We need to catch up with more service/business districts
  + The amount of access roads surrounding R/BS is criminal negligent!
    Route 38 woefully small ... Route 10 not completed nor maintained
  + There were recent reports about the hundreds of classrooms already needed
    This could cause the education system to collapse.
  + Massive lack of parking
  + Etc

+ Specific to RBS Gimmel-2:
  + Most streets too narrow
  + Appropriate Public Transportation design missing
  + Not enough schools and poorly placed
  + Not enough shul space by a *long* shot, mikvaot, etc.
  + Criminally absent amount of commercial space
  + Little or no vehicular access to schools, shuls, makolot, etc.
  + Critically low or absent customer parking in commercial zones
  + Little or no truck delivery access for stores
  + No requirement that the parks be built *with* the residential areas
    (and not years later!)
  + Require that circles and speed bumps be built up front and not
after "enough accidents" occur
  + I'm sure you have your own pet peeves :-)

+ For the more green-minded
  By creating a swath for a Gan Leumi, we can save a major portion of
  the view, archeology, fauna, migration paths, etc
  This *only* requires "swapping" certain areas around and cutting back
  from about 19,000 housing units to about 17,000.
  This is *WELL* worth it in my opinion.
  We'd have a beautiful park in our midst, with places for picnics,
  archaeology, trails for walking, touring, jogging, biking, etc.

Remember, this is *NOT* about canceling the building, this is about
building correctly.

If you are a lawyer that can volunteer any time to witness some of
the signatures for an hour or two, please be in touch with Dov Lipman.

Kol Tuv,

-- 
-Ephrayim Naiman
ejnaiman at gmail.com