Preservation Versus Property Rights

As the deadline for Tel Aviv to formally receive heritage city status approaches, the planning commission is having difficulty accepting the necessary preservation plan because "serious issues in the legal and economic realms that have been left open." Approval of the plan is a condition for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declaration, about a year ago, of the "White City" of Tel Aviv as a World Heritage Site. "Preservation is not necessarily a popular issue," but "there is no doubt that it is of great value in the long run to the public as a whole."