If you have ever traveled to Gilo during the morning rush hour, you can appreciate the frustration behind this story. Residents of the Jerusalem southern neighborhood of Gilo may receive a late note for work or school due to the extended delays experienced daily by commuters on buses or drivers seeking to make their way to work or school. Residents and community leaders explain the tie ups during rush hour are unbearable and no matter how much time one permits for travel, it does not seem to be sufficient.

Seeking to draw attention to their plight, minhelet (local government) officials are thinking of launching a program to offer a note with an explanation for one’s tardiness to be used for one’s school or employer. The note asks for understanding and not to take disciplinary action against the employee or student who is late for s/he lives in Gilo and has to get past the traffic.

Officials in the minhelet explain the rush hour traffic is not the regular morning backup, but congestion that can result in a one-hour delay.

The head of the minhelet told MyNet that four days after announcing his planned program, three employers explain that would accept such a letter from employees and would not penalize them for tardiness.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)