| |
Jerusalem: Urban Characteristics and Major Trends in the City's Development
Part III: MUNICIPAL SERVICES IN JERUSALEM
I. General Characteristics of the Network of Public Services
The existing network of services that Jerusalem provides to its residents is rather complex in terms of the large number of available services, the character of these services, their statutory status. and the factors that affect them. The Municipality has the responsibility of ensuring that services meet the needs of the population in terms of its size and composition and that they reflect the social circumstances, which determine their need. Residents of the municipality can expect to receive a wide and varied range of services of satisfactory quality and within easy access. These services are provided in several ways:
- Linear services: Services provided throughout the municipality's jurisdiction and which reach each and every residence by way of set networks, located either above or below ground as part of the city's basic infrastructure. These include electricity, water, sewage, gas, telephone, radio, and television.
- Services brought to the consumer: Including garbage collection and disposal, street cleaning, public gardening, mobile libraries, etc.
- Point-specific services: Services provided at specific sites throughout the city, such as schools, libraries, day care centers, community centers, day care facilities for the elderly, etc. The accessibility of these service is of particular importance, since the onus of obtaining the service falls on the residents themselves. In addition, the cost of these services to the residents is also a key consideration.
A constant conflict exists between the Municipality's commitment to improve the welfare of the individual residents and provide them with a maximum of services, and the organizational and economic capacity to achieve this. Since the 1970s, the central government has reduced its own share of funding for municipal services, and the cost to the Municipality of providing and operating these services has risen accordingly.
Contriving a network of urban services raises several basic issues: Which services should be provided? Who should be provided with services? Where should these services be located? How should they be provided? etc. These questions underscore the manner in which the Municipality meets the diverse needs of different sectors of the community. Jerusalem has a diverse and growing population. Its social, economic, and demographic composition must be reflected in the services provided.
To do this necessitates:
- Mapping and analyzing the existing services in terms of their scope, quality, and distribution, and in terms of the organizations responsible for providing and maintaining these services.
- Identifying and defining sectors of the population by their needs, while considering the distribution of the specific populations and the services they require.
- Analyzing trends that indicate where Jerusalem is headed in terms of the size, growth, distribution, and character of its population in the future.
- Setting objectives-this involves the quantitative, qualitative, and geographical identification and definition of essential and desirable services, based on the current and projected character of the city. This involves ranking the services in terms of their importance.
- Analyzing the gap between existing services and services which are desirable. Factors that affect this gap and the repercussions they incur should be considered.
- Defining policy, necessary action at different stages, and costs. The degree in which the Municipality will be responsible for and involved in various services must be determined, and which organizational/institutional frameworks will be made responsible for providing these services must be decided (the local authority, an external public body, private concerns). Once this is clarified, it is necessary to determine which steps should be taken in order to achieve these objectives.
A basic question that the planning of any network of public services raises is the quantity and quality of services that the municipal authority is responsible to provide and to what degree it must concern itself with location and operation. One trend, in Israel and around the world, is the privatization of public services, by which the municipality hands over certain services to private concerns. This approach demands some change in terms of social, organizational, and political perspective and the re-organization of the existing system.
 Municipal Services in Jerusalem - Network of Services.
|
|