RAANANA 2020
MUNICIPAL VISION
Dear Residents,
I am proud to present to you Raanana's Municipal Vision, a vision shared by all of us. During the course of its 85 years of existence, Raanana has been transformed from a small agricultural settlement to one of Israel's leading, thriving and desirable cities! A city that is proud of its residents, high quality of life, excellent education system, active community and cultural life, and athletic and leisure activities and which attracts companies from Israel's hi-tech industry.
As mayor, I feel a sense of responsibility and commitment to also ensure the success of Raanana in its more distant future, in the coming decades. I am committed to ensuring Raanana's existence and to preserving its status on behalf of today's residents and those of its future generations.
I have assumed the leadership of the long term process of formulating Raanana's Municipal Vision for 2020, a process which has recently been completed and which will be presented herein. As proponent of collaborative effort, I considered it to be of the utmost importance to recruit and listen to the public at large, as much as possible, with regard to the process of creating our city's vision, and I was delighted with the overwhelming public response.
City council members were partners in creating the municipal vision, who headed up work committees for the creation of the vision; as well as municipal officials and employees; the hundreds of Raanana residents who participated in 15 focus groups and the hundreds of the city's children who participated in creative workshops at the municipal summer camps. In total, there were 1,600 active collaborators, who contributed their time, talents and creativity in creating this process and the final product.
As a basis for the municipal vision, we adopted five topics selected by the U.N. as characteristic of a successful city, which have been adopted all over the world: man, resident and community; education, culture, sports and leisure; environmental protection; municipal economy; and accessibility, transportation and meeting places. We added an additional topic: Smart City. Now that the municipal vision and policy lines have been completed, the work committees have begun to put together a strategic plan and guidelines for implementation.
I wish to thank all my colleagues and the residents of Raanana who answered my call, dedicated their time and talents and took part in this meaningful process. I am extremely proud to be the mayor of Raanana, a city of residents who are prepared to get involved and make a difference!
Always at your service,
Nahum Hofree
Mayor
RAANANA 2020
MUNICIPAL VISION
Raanana Pearl of the Sharon
A city based on its community
Raanana is a community-based city that considers the individual and the community to be its focus.
An inclusive community which is tolerant of its different populations and lifestyles, supports and cultivates a sense of belonging and is concerned for the safety, happiness and needs of all of its residents. The city works to find housing solutions for its young and older families. Raanana is a community that is involved and which volunteers. Each resident has his/her place of honor and ability to make a difference in all public matters.
Raanana is a pioneer in the field of education and considers education and culture to be of the utmost importance
A commitment to provide quality formal and informal public education for the entire population, which assimilates values of courtesy and mutual respect and which encourages and fosters excellence, self realization and maximizing individual potential in all fields and at any age. Raanana is a city that considers sports to be a way of life. It encourages its residents to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle from childhood to maturity.
Raanana – An Accessible City
Due to its sense of commitment and concern, it works to enable complete, safe and convenient physical access for everyone in the community, at all the local authority's public institutions and service providers, everywhere and at every site in the city.
Raanana – a city with an advanced and successful economy
The city center is maintained and developed as a community and commercial meeting place, which is attractive and thriving. Raanana has gained the reputation as the center for smart hi-tech industries and it is developing unique areas as leisure and tourism sites.
Raanana – A green city with parks, trees and flowers
It preserves and protects its special small town atmosphere reminiscent of its original settlement. It recruits and includes the community in the assimilation of a culture that promotes recycling and the protection and development of a clean and healthy environment, in order to ensure a high quality of life for its future generations.
Raanana – A Smart City
Raanana has adopted the most advanced technologies in order to provide state of the art services, and transparency and access of information for its residents and visitors. It operates a smart and efficient municipal information hotline that operates as a center for information, command and control; protects the quality and high level of service and increases the wellbeing and sense of safety of the city's residents.
RAANANA VISION 2020
City-Community-Society
Policy Guidelines
Together, we will work to preserve and promote the things that unite us as people, the issues that are important to us which we are proud to bequeath to future generations:
A concern for the happiness, success and welfare of our children.
A concern for our quality of life and our responsibility to protect a safe and healthy physical and spiritual environment.
A desire to learn and develop.
Man, Resident and Community
Raanana is a community-based city that considers the individual and the community to be its major focus.
Raanana residents are our primary and special asset and source of pride.
The community is a fundamental value and the basis for our lifestyle.
Raanana is a city of people who volunteer and make a difference – a community that is inclusive and united by a spirit of tolerance, belonging and concern for one's fellow resident.
Raanana is a thriving city that preserves its heritage and small town atmosphere, reinforces and cultivates its older and new neighborhoods, protects its quality lifestyle and high level of service and provides a sense of safety and protection to each of its residents.
Raanana is a community that opens doors to a variety of populations and encourages communal life and encounters between its various populations: young and old, religious and secular, natives and newcomers, new immigrants and residents with special needs.
Raanana is concerned for its community's needs: It is a supportive city that invests considerable resources in the fields of welfare, social services, community medicine and public health.
Raanana is involved in finding housing solutions for its young and older families. Raanana works to empower women and integrate them in the municipal activity and include them among the city's decision makers.
Raanana integrates and includes its young and older populations in the municipal endeavor. Everyone is given a place of honor and the ability to participate and make a difference in all public matters.
Education, Culture, Sports and Leisure
Raanana is a pioneer in the field of education and considers education and culture to be of primary concern.
Education is a central focus – because it all begins with education.
Raanana teaches values of tolerance, volunteering and contribution to the community, mutual respect, courtesy and culture, good citizenship. Its residents are concerned and are involved in their country.
Raanana is an inclusive community that fosters excellence, personal empowerment and realization, and maximizes the personal potential of people of all ages, while providing specific solutions based on individual needs.
Raanana considers the student to be a central focus and provides quality and equal formal and informal education to every child, based on his/her personality and needs, and assistance from childhood until he or she selects a career.
Raanana strives to identify, cultivate and empower people with talents and groundbreaking potential, who will become the future leaders in the fields of society, science, technology, culture and sports.
Raanana is a community that considers culture to be of utmost importance. It invests considerable resources in order to position the city as a center for regional and national culture and art, to instill basic cultural values and to create an accessible cultural environment for all of its residents as cultural consumers and creators.
Raanana will create reciprocal relations between the city's residents through joint cultural enrichment in a variety of fields.
Raanana promotes sports as a way of life, encourages its residents to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle from a very early age, develops amateur sports and the athletic achievements of the city's children and residents.
Physical and Transportation Access
Raanana is an accessible city that is concerned about and committed to providing complete, safe and easy access, anywhere, and at all sites within the city's boundaries.
Raanana is committed to promoting, cultivating and increasing access to all venues, institutions and public areas under its jurisdiction, while providing a maximal physical access for the city's special needs population.
Raanana will become a leader and initiator in finding innovative solutions to the city's existing transportation problems, in improving and developing a variety of transportation methods; providing accessible, available and efficient public transportation and developing alternatives for travel using private vehicles and encouraging the use of two wheeled vehicles.
Raanana will work to improve the road infrastructure such that the city's access roads will be made easier and more convenient and safe.
Raanana will promote national transportation projects related directly or indirectly to the city of Raanana – including a light railway, a suburban train and wider highways.
Municipal Economy
Urban and Economic Development
Raanana is a city with an advanced and thriving economy.
Raanana will establish itself as successful technologically advanced city, a center for hi-tech industry, and set a national standard for leisure and tourism.
Raanana will develop metropolitan leisure areas such as a center for sports, culture, entertainment and leisure, that is both attractive and unique and which will act as a focal point for visitors and create employment opportunities.
Raanana maintains and develops its city center as an active, vibrant and attractive community meeting place and a thriving commercial area and it encourages business initiatives and small and medium sized businesses in the city center.
Raanana will work to promote projects related to urban renewal in its older residential neighborhood, commercial centers and public institutions with an emphasis on preserving its historical landmarks and buildings.
Environmental Protection
Raanana is a city of parks, trees and flowers, a city with the soul of a small town.
Raanana is a symbol of beauty, quality of life and a green, clean and aesthetic environment – a city that is fun to live in and to which people always wish to return.
Raanana is committed to preserving its special small town atmosphere of its original settlement. It also is committed to the development of progressive municipal and community services.
Raanana educates its residents to preserve, care for and protect a clean and healthy environment.
Raanana has recruited and includes the community in the implementation of its recycling program, and the integration of advanced systems to protect the environment.
Raanana promotes environmental development which protects its beauty, cleanliness and natural resources for the future generations.
A Smart City
Raanana uses advanced technology in its service to the residents.
Raanana facilitates the transparency, accessibility and availability of its municipal information to all of its residents, easy and convenient use of all of its municipal services, both digital and social.
Raanana will continue to make use of the most advanced technologies, to strengthen the relationship between the municipality and the resident, for the benefit of the city's residents and visitors, through the assimilation and intelligent use of technology to make improvements, save resources, and more efficiently manage its municipal projects.
Raanana offers a smart Municipal Moked – 107 – Resident information call center, which acts as an information, command and control center which facilitates the strengthening of the city's safety level and the residents personal sense of safety.