Lotsa' luck, or, almost a catastrophe

Eleven year old Inserah was watching her favorite summer TV program, when a huge block of concrete fell down right next to her.

The ceiling in the family's living room, in fact the whole buildng on Jerusalem Boulevard, is about to come down.

The walls have deep cracks through which the sky can be seen. Whenever a heavy truck passes by, bits and pices come falling down in a never stoppping snowy shower.

Then flat is owned by "Halamish", the municipal public housing company.

Halamish KNOW about the danger and in fact have approved a move to another flat. But, and this is where burocracy starts, they cannot move.

Samira, Inserah's mother already cleaned the new place. They are already paying the electricity bill for the new place, yet their move has not been fnally approved, because the family owes the municipality money. They are willling to pay but no one knows how much (and that includes the municipality itself).

For years the family has received municipal tax bills for a flat in another building and never for the flat they actually live in. (mind you, they never ever lived in that other building). Their waterbills were equally mysterious: their use is always "0" but they are charged HUGE bills for public use in their building. It appears they are paying the bills for "super shuk Avi", the supermakret downstairs.

For over 6 months they have been writing to the municipality asking to settle their own bill. The correspondence has gone up higher and higher in the hierarchy, until last week they appealed to the mayor, Ron Hulday. To no avail.

They met with the general manager of Halamish, who approved in my presence actually, that they move to the new place.

Yet until now the move has not taken place.... As they are not allowed to move until having settled their municipal bill, which they are unable to because no one appears to know what it is.

Te letter to the mayor contains a simple sentence stattng the family sees him personally responsible of something happens to the family. Today that almost happened.

What are we waiting for? Until the house collapses?