It\u2019s been four years since the city of Lod won 5 stars in the \u201cBeautiful City\u201d competition but in a satisfaction survey, residents rated cleanliness as
the subject that disturbs them most \u2013 second only to security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The city could have started a cleanup campaign or dismissed residents\u2019 feelings and settle for the 5-star plaque in the Mayor\u2019s office. But Yair Goldman, Director of Lod’s Operations, wanted to understand the gap.
Why did residents feel this way? In the end, Goldman learned that the feeling of cleanliness is not only about having garbage-free streets. It\u2019s connected to how residents feel in their city and whether they trust the city to care about what impacts their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lack of trust between the residents and the city,\u201d explains Yair. \u201cAnd among different groups of residents \u2013 each group feels that others make the city dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring the Meitzim Accelerator, we realized that if we involve residents, we\u2019ll have a cleaner city and also higher levels of trust: cleanliness is one of the issues around which it is easiest to build consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yair and his staff sought to understand what was bothering the residents. \u201cWe realized that if a street has potholes, the street sign is crooked, the building fronts are neglected and there\u2019s no greenery in sight \u2013 it won\u2019t help if we pick up the garbage around the trash cans. In the residents\u2019 eyes, the streets won\u2019t look cleaner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work with the residents deepened Yair\u2019s under\u05be standing of the connection between a sense of dirtiness and lack of trust in the municipality: \u201cCleanliness impacts many components of life in the city. If residents feel that the city is not clean \u2013 they also feel unsafe, that there aren\u2019t enough green areas, that there\u2019s no responsible government, there\u2019s no
place for economic and business development and no opportunity for tourism.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lack of trust residents had in the municipality had to be addressed before the cleaning issue. Instead of cleaning first and then hoping residents satisfaction would increase, Yair created a collaboration with
residents, and thus changed feelings about the city\u2019s cleanliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInvolvement of residents is the key to creating a clean city that everyone believes is clean,\u201d Yair says. The whole system for allocating resources
changed: \u201cThe city doesn\u2019t clean according to what we think, but instead based on real-time requests from residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They initiated groups of \u201cenvironmental trustees\u201d who have a direct line to the city’s professional leadership, working together on the city\u2019s cleanliness. A city-wide campaign of messages and activities incentivizes cooperation among residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The municipality is concurrently working on the next stage: enlisting all municipal divisions, with all tools at their disposal, especially education and enforcement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The city of Lod invests millions in cleanup and received 5 stars in a national competition. So why do residents feel differently? Yair Goldman, Director of Operations for the city tried to find out, and ended up with a strong artnership between the city and its residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n