Related commentaries – Accountability

Turn and Live – Ezekiel 18:19 – 18:32

Mayor of Jerusalem Who Fixed the Pothole

One of the few mayors in the world to have his home number listed in the local telephone directory was Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem. Kollek decided to keep his phone number listed when he was first elected, and he has not regretted it. “It gives people a feeling of last resort, a number they can turn to when they can’t get through the bureaucracy,” he says. The temperamental Kolleck, who has been known to slam down the receiver in his office, never hangs up on callers at home. A young man who woke him one night, to complain of a pothole that caused his motor scooter to overturn, apologized: “If I don’t call you now when I’m angry, I know I won’t call tomorrow. And if I did, I wouldn’t get you in your office.” Kollek good-naturedly took down the location of the pothole and, the next morning, ordered the highway department to fix it. (The Jerusalem Post).