Bloomhousing Blog

Mofaz Leaves Likud, Who Next?

Another Likudnik abandons ship. Defence minister Shaul Mofaz has decided to steer away from his Likud party and has joined Ariel Sharon's Kadima party. One wonders if he is the last to leave the Likud party, who he claims has gone far too right wing.

Modiin

I have always had a special affinity to Modiin. It has an air of youthfulness, in which new and relatively new properties, well designed, are built in a tasteful manner and paint a beautiful picture across the Jerusalem foothills skyline. The city is quiet, but that's the attribute that I love about it. The population is a quiet one, people getting on with their own lives, but most friendly and helpful. It may be that because most Modiin properties have large balconies and or gardens, people tend to have more space, this being a calming factor to a well behaved and calm town. It is also very interesting to note how religious and secular have such  good relations with each other, and respect each other's needs. Modiin has a few different neighbourhoods, most named after the architects that planned them. Modiin is a town with a future, its population dreaming of the time when trains, beautiful Anabe park with its boating lake and wonderful shopping centres will be a part of its life. The city is very close to Ben Gurion airport, half an hour from  both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. I personally love Buchman, a very nice neighbourhood in Modiin's southern region. This amazing neighbourhood is attracting a large Anglo Saxon community, which proves that high standards are its mark. I would not swap Modiin for any other part of Israel.

Dangerous Driving in Modiin

Yesterday morning was very foggy in Modiin. It didn't stop some people driving like lunatics, through windy foggy streets, uncaring that they could easily have run over pedestrians that they could not possibly  have seen. No police seemed to be about, and more by luck than judgement nobody was maimed or killed. At the local infant school parents park their cars at the most ridiculous and dangerous of places. When  I mentioned this in the past to the security guard, he told me its not his responsibility, if I told the school, they told me its the police who are responsible. Last week a jeep reversed over a little girl outside the school, leaving her seriously injured and in hospital. All of a sudden, but  probably only for a day or two, everybody appears responsible. Will it take loss of life (g-d forbid) before something is done that will have a lasting affect in protecting pedestrians in a City, where driving manners and police enforcing the laws of the road seem to co inside more along the lines of a formula 1 racetrack, than a populated town.