Citichat 34/2001 - 31 August 2001
Conference round-up, strikes and public open space redevelopment
Just winding up on our Cities 2001 Conference in Johannesburg and Workshop in Cape Town last week, these were some of the critical issues/comments/suggestions to note:
4 KEY COMMENTS
• Planning needs to be PREDICTABLE, COMPETITIVE and UNDERSTANDABLE
• KNOW every one of your problems better than anyone else.
• ACT like the Property Manager of your city.
• FOCUS on Problem Solving..
4 REASONS FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF INNER CITIES
• ECONOMIC GENERATORS of the Region
• The SOCIAL KITCHEN and the HEART OF COMMUNITY
• Providing a UNIQUE SENSE OF PLACE
• SYMBOL of the Region.
4 FUNCTIONAL AREAS THAT MAKE CITIES WORK
• URBAN MANAGEMENT
• MARKETING (you need to tell people what you do)
• PLANNING (developing strategic plans and translating them into the 4 or 5 critical issues for the year.
• DEVELOPMENT
4 REQUIREMENTS TO BE A SUCCESFUL URBAN LEADER
• TAKE RESPONSIBILITY - for certain chosen critical operations
• PROVIDE LEADERSHIP - be the convenor to bring the right people around the table.
• ENGAGE IN ADVOCACY - seek changes in laws and regulations to allow greater effectiveness
• PROVIDE CO-ORDINATION - don't try to do it all yourself
4 STRATEGIC ISSUES FOR DOWNTOWNS
• ACCELERATE housing delivery and CREATE new residential neighbourhoods
• MAKE Downtown a GREAT PLACE
• LINK Downtown benefits to neighbourhoods (residential communities)
• ESTABLISH appropriate Public/Private Partnerships
4 MARKETING TRUTHS FOR CITIES
• IMAGE - IDENTITY- MESSAGE - BRAND
• KNOW THYSELF (have a foundation of facts)
• MARKET to LOCALS first
• BUILD on your STRENGTHS
Particular thanks to our four overseas visitors, Rich Bradley and Ellen McCarthy from Washington DC; Kate Joncas from Seattle and Bill Best from New Jersey. Also our local contributors Tim Middleton and Graeme Reid and Michael Farr from Cape Town.
Talking conferences, don't forget the International Downtown Association (IDA) Annual Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from September 29 to October 2, great programme. You can get full information on the IDA webpage http://www.ida-downtown.org or e-mail question@ida-downtown.org
Back to Johannesburg! Our offices are now situated diagonally opposite the Civic Spine so we were truly right on the edge of the strike/demonstrations of the past two days. I guess there were a fair number of people who were greatly irritated, some probably greatly inconvenienced, not just in 'Joeys' but throughout the country. Yes, it is disruptive but isn’t it great to see cities as the focus for peaceful (albeit noisy) protest thus symbolising our ‘new’ democracy? I thought the Trade Union organisation was good but it is a pity that they are unable to discipline the small group of members who are intent on using such occasions to create mayhem. And is the resultant abundance of litter really necessary? It is after all Trade Union members generally themselves who are responsible for cleaning the city! One of the country’s major property owners unwittingly chose Thursday to host nearly a hundred estate agents and brokers to “come to the city and see for themselves” but the event went off with good humour and a great deal of interest. Rich Bradley, here last week for our conference locally and workshop in Cape Town remarked that whilst we all strive to get our cities “clean and safe”, if we achieve only that, we sink into blandness and ‘boringness’! Cities are places where one should enjoy a variety of experiences. Can’t think of the city as boring – some of the northern nodes, yes, but hardly the city centre!
The hoardings around the pedestrianised Hollard Street upgrading have been removed and I took a walk through the area yesterday – what a great addition to the city’s public space, all those connected with the project are to be congratulated. Seems the private sector is determined to improve our public open spaces and this latest addition follows Gandhi Square, Fox Street and Main Street. The balance of Main Street up to Gandhi Square and Fox Street on the East of the Carlton will hopefully follow and even Eloff Street is now being re-discussed.
Friday, August 31, 2001
Friday, August 24, 2001
Cities 2001 Conference ; Seattle
CITICHAT 33/2001 - 24 August 2001
Cities 2001 Conference - Seattle
Our Cities 2001 Conference has come and gone and the general evaluation received from the participants has been very good. The conference focused on four critical aspects – urban management, marketing, planning and development and then ended with a brief overview on social issues. The four overseas participants, Rich Bradley (Downtown Business Improvement District Washington DC), Kate Joncas (Downtown Seattle Association), Ellen McCarthy (Deputy Director, Development Review and Historic Preservation, Office of Planning, Government of the District of Columbia) and Bill Best (New Jersey Redevelopment Association) provided fascinating overviews of work being done in their cities and organisations. From a wealth of many years of hands-on urban management experience, and in Richard’s case regular visits to Johannesburg over the past fourteen years, they were able to interpret and comment on the local scene quite pragmatically. One aspect of using overseas speakers that always amuses me is that when one makes comments and gives advice locally, one is always treated with skepticism, “What makes him think he knows the answers?” is a question imvariably posed. Yet when the identical input is provided by international speakers, it is absorbed and accepted without question! Human nature, I guess! I actually had a situation recently in relation to some work with which we are involved in a town north of here when I was asked to give permission that our documentation be re-circulated under a local name as people there “distrusted ‘consultants’ from Johannesburg”! Paraphrasing the Good Book: “A prophet is only without honour in his own country”! Well, back to the conference.
Seattle is a city that I haven’t covered previously in Citichat. I have had the good fortune to visit the city on a couple of occasions so it was particularly interesting to hear Kate Joncas provide an overview of her city and her work. A city of 580 000 (3.2 million in the metro area), it is of course home to Microsoft and Boeing employing 35 000 and 85 000 respectively. The Head Office section of Boeing recently relocated to Chicago but its massive manufacturing facility is still in Seattle. Seattle’s Pike Place Market must be one of the great markets of the world, not in size but certainly in character. It is a beautiful city with a magnificent setting that reminds one of Cape Town – all the beauty but lousy weather!
The Downtown Seattle Association, apart from managing a large Improvement District, is currently involved in over 30 projects of which the following are five priorities for 2001/2002:
• Advocating a sound transit plan that maximises the use of the downtown transit tunnel and does not increase downtown congestion or worsen bus commutes.
• Lobbying to increase density and affordable housing in Downtown
• Developing new funding for a Downtown wide marketing plan
• Developing strategies to increase organisational effectiveness
• Providing excellent management of the Metropolitan Improvement District on behalf of the ratepayers.
One always conjures up pictures of American cities as first-world havens free from the many problems that beset our cities. Not so – they all share the same problems to varying degrees with our own cities and nearly all have major problems with homelessness and substance abuse. Seattle is no exception. Seattle, the home to Boeing and Microsoft, suffers with a large homeless community. There are 1000 to 1500 people in their downtown who are chronically mentally ill and/or chronic substance abusers. Current city resources can serve only 100 mentally ill people that results in a 9-month wait for drug/alcohol treatment and only 1 in 5 can be served. In addition, most housing and shelters do not admit people with mental illness and/or alcohol problems. Living on the streets becomes the only option. The Downtown Seattle Association’s research showed that although there are over 100 different services related to the homeless in their downtown, there is no co-ordination. People therefore can and do bounce from shelters to services for years, avoiding any treatment and generally exacerbating the situation. The Association is therefore researching the possibility of developing a co-ordinated intake assessment and referral system for homeless services, identifying gaps in the system and providing accurate reporting of the situation. Interesting because we started trying to get a similar project off the ground in Rosebank a year or so ago and, whilst we received financial support for localised research were not able to raise funding to sustain the programme – listening to Kate brings fresh motivation to revisit the problem.
Rich Bradley’s Washington DC Downtown Association has similar problems and has also established a Downtown Service Centre to co-ordinate homeless issues. Not only have they hired trained outreach assistants but they have established a Homeless Services Co-ordination Council and train their CID Ambassadors (called SAMs – Sanitation and Maintenance personnel) in homeless interaction processes.
What both city Associations are doing is to accept that homelessness and all its associated ills exists (not wish them away or say it’s someone elses problem which means nothing gets done); to entice the affected people into Service Centres to determine the cause of individual homelessness and then to direct them in-house to specialists to deal with the particular problem. Hard challenging work that offers no quick-fixes but that is so essential in dealing with one of the visible issues that all towns and cities in this country are also struggling with.
One of Kate’s new problems incidentally is that gangs of youths are coming into certain parts of their city bringing with them their pit-bulls in order to take on rival gangs using dog fights as the medium! Man’s inhumanity to other humans and animals has no bounds!
Another aspect from Kate’s Seattle work from which we can really learn is in the R & D arena. Amongst other things they do office space studies, construction project tracking, pedestrian and traffic counts, market research, public perception surveys, produce a downtown development guide and a downtown economic profile. Every employee on the streets keeps an accurate log of incidents which are downloaded each night onto a GIS system from where one can pinpoint trends and movements in various incidents. From this they can also produce trend maps and benchmark performance.
I get irritated when South Africans criticise us for looking at the American city model for solutions to our problems. South Africans have a naïve perspective of American cities because they classify them as ‘first world’ and us as ‘third world’. As one of my American friends says ‘the dirt on the streets is the same’ in cities in both countries, so are many of our other problems. Isn’t it somewhat arrogant to think we have a copyright on city problems? Sure we need to adapt, but there is an awful lot we can learn from them as I believe many who attended the conference will have realised.
Cities 2001 Conference - Seattle
Our Cities 2001 Conference has come and gone and the general evaluation received from the participants has been very good. The conference focused on four critical aspects – urban management, marketing, planning and development and then ended with a brief overview on social issues. The four overseas participants, Rich Bradley (Downtown Business Improvement District Washington DC), Kate Joncas (Downtown Seattle Association), Ellen McCarthy (Deputy Director, Development Review and Historic Preservation, Office of Planning, Government of the District of Columbia) and Bill Best (New Jersey Redevelopment Association) provided fascinating overviews of work being done in their cities and organisations. From a wealth of many years of hands-on urban management experience, and in Richard’s case regular visits to Johannesburg over the past fourteen years, they were able to interpret and comment on the local scene quite pragmatically. One aspect of using overseas speakers that always amuses me is that when one makes comments and gives advice locally, one is always treated with skepticism, “What makes him think he knows the answers?” is a question imvariably posed. Yet when the identical input is provided by international speakers, it is absorbed and accepted without question! Human nature, I guess! I actually had a situation recently in relation to some work with which we are involved in a town north of here when I was asked to give permission that our documentation be re-circulated under a local name as people there “distrusted ‘consultants’ from Johannesburg”! Paraphrasing the Good Book: “A prophet is only without honour in his own country”! Well, back to the conference.
Seattle is a city that I haven’t covered previously in Citichat. I have had the good fortune to visit the city on a couple of occasions so it was particularly interesting to hear Kate Joncas provide an overview of her city and her work. A city of 580 000 (3.2 million in the metro area), it is of course home to Microsoft and Boeing employing 35 000 and 85 000 respectively. The Head Office section of Boeing recently relocated to Chicago but its massive manufacturing facility is still in Seattle. Seattle’s Pike Place Market must be one of the great markets of the world, not in size but certainly in character. It is a beautiful city with a magnificent setting that reminds one of Cape Town – all the beauty but lousy weather!
The Downtown Seattle Association, apart from managing a large Improvement District, is currently involved in over 30 projects of which the following are five priorities for 2001/2002:
• Advocating a sound transit plan that maximises the use of the downtown transit tunnel and does not increase downtown congestion or worsen bus commutes.
• Lobbying to increase density and affordable housing in Downtown
• Developing new funding for a Downtown wide marketing plan
• Developing strategies to increase organisational effectiveness
• Providing excellent management of the Metropolitan Improvement District on behalf of the ratepayers.
One always conjures up pictures of American cities as first-world havens free from the many problems that beset our cities. Not so – they all share the same problems to varying degrees with our own cities and nearly all have major problems with homelessness and substance abuse. Seattle is no exception. Seattle, the home to Boeing and Microsoft, suffers with a large homeless community. There are 1000 to 1500 people in their downtown who are chronically mentally ill and/or chronic substance abusers. Current city resources can serve only 100 mentally ill people that results in a 9-month wait for drug/alcohol treatment and only 1 in 5 can be served. In addition, most housing and shelters do not admit people with mental illness and/or alcohol problems. Living on the streets becomes the only option. The Downtown Seattle Association’s research showed that although there are over 100 different services related to the homeless in their downtown, there is no co-ordination. People therefore can and do bounce from shelters to services for years, avoiding any treatment and generally exacerbating the situation. The Association is therefore researching the possibility of developing a co-ordinated intake assessment and referral system for homeless services, identifying gaps in the system and providing accurate reporting of the situation. Interesting because we started trying to get a similar project off the ground in Rosebank a year or so ago and, whilst we received financial support for localised research were not able to raise funding to sustain the programme – listening to Kate brings fresh motivation to revisit the problem.
Rich Bradley’s Washington DC Downtown Association has similar problems and has also established a Downtown Service Centre to co-ordinate homeless issues. Not only have they hired trained outreach assistants but they have established a Homeless Services Co-ordination Council and train their CID Ambassadors (called SAMs – Sanitation and Maintenance personnel) in homeless interaction processes.
What both city Associations are doing is to accept that homelessness and all its associated ills exists (not wish them away or say it’s someone elses problem which means nothing gets done); to entice the affected people into Service Centres to determine the cause of individual homelessness and then to direct them in-house to specialists to deal with the particular problem. Hard challenging work that offers no quick-fixes but that is so essential in dealing with one of the visible issues that all towns and cities in this country are also struggling with.
One of Kate’s new problems incidentally is that gangs of youths are coming into certain parts of their city bringing with them their pit-bulls in order to take on rival gangs using dog fights as the medium! Man’s inhumanity to other humans and animals has no bounds!
Another aspect from Kate’s Seattle work from which we can really learn is in the R & D arena. Amongst other things they do office space studies, construction project tracking, pedestrian and traffic counts, market research, public perception surveys, produce a downtown development guide and a downtown economic profile. Every employee on the streets keeps an accurate log of incidents which are downloaded each night onto a GIS system from where one can pinpoint trends and movements in various incidents. From this they can also produce trend maps and benchmark performance.
I get irritated when South Africans criticise us for looking at the American city model for solutions to our problems. South Africans have a naïve perspective of American cities because they classify them as ‘first world’ and us as ‘third world’. As one of my American friends says ‘the dirt on the streets is the same’ in cities in both countries, so are many of our other problems. Isn’t it somewhat arrogant to think we have a copyright on city problems? Sure we need to adapt, but there is an awful lot we can learn from them as I believe many who attended the conference will have realised.
Friday, August 17, 2001
CIDs Citichat 17 August 2001
CITICHAT 32/2001 - 17 August 2001
CIDs and formalizing a National Umbrella Body
In Citichat 19 (18 May 2001) I detailed out the growing spread of City Improvement Districts in South Africa. At that stage I recorded 8 established CIDs; 16 proposed and at some stage of the approval process and 7 voluntary that are up and running. Since then, the Eastern Cape Province have made progress in moving their legislation forward at the Provincial level and work is advanced in doing so in the Northern Province. In the Western Cape apart from the established CIDs in Wynberg, Claremont and Cape Town itself, CIDs are in various stages of establishment in Green Point, Oranjekloof, Higgovale, Sea Point and Camps Bay. Here in Gauteng, a number have moved from 'voluntary' into 'established' and there are a number of new in the 'proposed' category.
So the movement grows apace and as it does so a fair amount of confusion develops. Statements made by a variety of people, political organisations and politicians, ratepayers associations, chambers of commerce, trade unions, etc., reflect some confused thinking which is part of the growing pains of what in fact is a fledgling industry. Exposure to the latest city thinking is imperative if the South African industry is to grow and flourish without having to re-invent the wheel.
In the United States, CIDs (generally known there as Business Improvement Districts or BIDs - which I still believe is the best terminology for an initiative which is vested in the Business area rather than in the local authority) have largely found a 'home' in the International Downtown Association (IDA). IDA holds a number of workshops and conferences throughout the year which enables city practitioners, not just CID/BID practitioners, to get together and share the latest approaches and developments in their 'industry' and to exchange information and ideas. Currently only the Central Johannesburg Partnership is a full member of the IDA and I have had the privilege of serving on that body as a Board member for a number of years - my present term is due to end in September next year. South Africa has in fact had a lengthy Board representation, I believe Nigel Mandy held such a position prior to my appointment. For quite a number of years I have been discussing a formalised relationship with IDA on a National basis. The problem for South African CIDs is that membership is expensive particularly as it is based on dollars and on that basis I see few CIDs being able to join. What I have proposed is that a National Organisation be established which is affiliated to IDA and pays a fixed affiliation fee per year based on the number of CIDs that it has as members. The affiliation fee that I proposed has been $50.00 per CID irrespective of size - so it would be between R400 and R500 per annum. The South African national body would receive all IDA information and documentation and would redistribute it nationally to all its members who would be required to pay a membership fee which would include the $50.00. By National Body I am not sure that this should be limited to South Africa - I believe that any such local organisation should also be established on a broader basis than just South Africa, We are ourselves working in a number of countries north of our borders so that possibly we should look to embrace the SADAC countries, this would be an issue to be debated by the new organisation.
I have also had negotiations and have in fact received approval to affiliate a South African national body with the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) which is a UK organisation also working in the realms of urban management and with a focus on CBDs. In fact, three World Congresses focusing on cities have been run in Coventry, New York and London respectively over the past six years organised by IDA and ATCM in association so a relationship with both these organisations is important. I have tended to concentrate on these two organisations because I have close personal contacts with them. However, there is a growing tendency for the establishment of such organisations throughout the world as private urban management becomes more of a force. Thus there is a European Federation of Town Centres, an Australian and a New Zealand Association of Town Centre Management and an emerging group in Japan.
A cooperative approach between town and city practitioners from different countries and cultures is critical in addressing the problems and issues faced by towns and cities all over the world. I am constantly amazed at how what I think is a problem unique to Johannesburg or South African cities is on the agenda of cities I visit all over the world. In addition, the whole philosophy behind Improvement Districts is critical in the understanding of what urban private sector organisations are doing and seeking to do. Already the well-intended actions of some local authorities are not off a correct base and are muddying the waters. A body that acts as a facilitator for the co-ordination and dissemination of relevant information is vital and a number of cities have expressed their support.
The delay in establishing the proposed National organisation has really been through an inability of IDA to finalise the discussions I initiated with them some years ago. This is because they themselves have been going through a number of years of soul searching as to what their members believe should be their 'International' role. Hopefully this is now at an end and I hope to put this issue to bed at the next IDA Board meeting at the end of September. Why wait for IDA if they are only an affiliate body? In my experience the wealth of knowledge that we can gain from a formal association with them is worth the wait. Late September is also when IDA hold their 47th Annual Conference in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania from September 29 to October 2. Check it out on their website http://www.ida-downtown.org
We have a few places left at our conference next week on 21 and 22 August so please contact Katherine at katherine@cjp.co.za for registration information.
CIDs and formalizing a National Umbrella Body
In Citichat 19 (18 May 2001) I detailed out the growing spread of City Improvement Districts in South Africa. At that stage I recorded 8 established CIDs; 16 proposed and at some stage of the approval process and 7 voluntary that are up and running. Since then, the Eastern Cape Province have made progress in moving their legislation forward at the Provincial level and work is advanced in doing so in the Northern Province. In the Western Cape apart from the established CIDs in Wynberg, Claremont and Cape Town itself, CIDs are in various stages of establishment in Green Point, Oranjekloof, Higgovale, Sea Point and Camps Bay. Here in Gauteng, a number have moved from 'voluntary' into 'established' and there are a number of new in the 'proposed' category.
So the movement grows apace and as it does so a fair amount of confusion develops. Statements made by a variety of people, political organisations and politicians, ratepayers associations, chambers of commerce, trade unions, etc., reflect some confused thinking which is part of the growing pains of what in fact is a fledgling industry. Exposure to the latest city thinking is imperative if the South African industry is to grow and flourish without having to re-invent the wheel.
In the United States, CIDs (generally known there as Business Improvement Districts or BIDs - which I still believe is the best terminology for an initiative which is vested in the Business area rather than in the local authority) have largely found a 'home' in the International Downtown Association (IDA). IDA holds a number of workshops and conferences throughout the year which enables city practitioners, not just CID/BID practitioners, to get together and share the latest approaches and developments in their 'industry' and to exchange information and ideas. Currently only the Central Johannesburg Partnership is a full member of the IDA and I have had the privilege of serving on that body as a Board member for a number of years - my present term is due to end in September next year. South Africa has in fact had a lengthy Board representation, I believe Nigel Mandy held such a position prior to my appointment. For quite a number of years I have been discussing a formalised relationship with IDA on a National basis. The problem for South African CIDs is that membership is expensive particularly as it is based on dollars and on that basis I see few CIDs being able to join. What I have proposed is that a National Organisation be established which is affiliated to IDA and pays a fixed affiliation fee per year based on the number of CIDs that it has as members. The affiliation fee that I proposed has been $50.00 per CID irrespective of size - so it would be between R400 and R500 per annum. The South African national body would receive all IDA information and documentation and would redistribute it nationally to all its members who would be required to pay a membership fee which would include the $50.00. By National Body I am not sure that this should be limited to South Africa - I believe that any such local organisation should also be established on a broader basis than just South Africa, We are ourselves working in a number of countries north of our borders so that possibly we should look to embrace the SADAC countries, this would be an issue to be debated by the new organisation.
I have also had negotiations and have in fact received approval to affiliate a South African national body with the Association of Town Centre Management (ATCM) which is a UK organisation also working in the realms of urban management and with a focus on CBDs. In fact, three World Congresses focusing on cities have been run in Coventry, New York and London respectively over the past six years organised by IDA and ATCM in association so a relationship with both these organisations is important. I have tended to concentrate on these two organisations because I have close personal contacts with them. However, there is a growing tendency for the establishment of such organisations throughout the world as private urban management becomes more of a force. Thus there is a European Federation of Town Centres, an Australian and a New Zealand Association of Town Centre Management and an emerging group in Japan.
A cooperative approach between town and city practitioners from different countries and cultures is critical in addressing the problems and issues faced by towns and cities all over the world. I am constantly amazed at how what I think is a problem unique to Johannesburg or South African cities is on the agenda of cities I visit all over the world. In addition, the whole philosophy behind Improvement Districts is critical in the understanding of what urban private sector organisations are doing and seeking to do. Already the well-intended actions of some local authorities are not off a correct base and are muddying the waters. A body that acts as a facilitator for the co-ordination and dissemination of relevant information is vital and a number of cities have expressed their support.
The delay in establishing the proposed National organisation has really been through an inability of IDA to finalise the discussions I initiated with them some years ago. This is because they themselves have been going through a number of years of soul searching as to what their members believe should be their 'International' role. Hopefully this is now at an end and I hope to put this issue to bed at the next IDA Board meeting at the end of September. Why wait for IDA if they are only an affiliate body? In my experience the wealth of knowledge that we can gain from a formal association with them is worth the wait. Late September is also when IDA hold their 47th Annual Conference in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania from September 29 to October 2. Check it out on their website http://www.ida-downtown.org
We have a few places left at our conference next week on 21 and 22 August so please contact Katherine at katherine@cjp.co.za for registration information.
Friday, August 10, 2001
Better Buildings Programme; 7 Buildings Citichat 10 August 2001
CITICHAT 31/2001 10 August 2001
The Better Buildings Programme and the Seven Buildings Project
One of strategies for the urban revitalisation of the Johannesburg Inner City is the upgrading of those residential buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate and the increased provision of new residential accommodation. New residential accommodation is planned to encompass all income levels, low, middle and high, though the latter will take some time to achieve. The plan has made slow but generally steady progress with the completion last year of a number of projects, new, conversions and refurbishments which I have previously reported on. In addition, the MetroMarket project, currently under construction, makes provision for some 800 residential units whilst the development of the Albert Street Housing Project by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) has recently seen construction commence.
The Better Buildings Programme is also steadily addressing the refurbishment of buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate and demolitions of buildings beyond rehabilitation has commenced. Work is also currently under way in revising city bylaws to prevent the uncontrolled conversion of empty office blocks into potential slums rather than appropriate housing. Human nature is such that it often seeks to exploit even the most critical situations and housing is no exception. On the one hand certain ‘slumlords’ seek to maximise their return by upgrading and converting empty commercial premises by providing below standard accommodation as cheaply as possible and cramming as many persons into the space at as high a rental as possible. I remember visiting a three bedroomed house in Bertrams six or seven years ago which accommodated 75 people. At R200-00 each the landlord was earning R15 000-00 per month and was repaying some one or two thousand per month to the bondholder. Oh, the house had no water, electricity or sewage disposal. On the other end of the scale we evidently have groups of people taking over inner-city buildings, driving landlords and law-abiding tenants out and refusing to hand over rentals to the owners. Whilst the report of this latter ‘initiative’ hit our press a month or so ago, it ‘coincidentally’ made front page news last week in ‘The Straits Times’ when the Executive Mayor and a group of provincial and city officials were in Singapore trying to raise funds for private-public partnerships. I’m too naïve to believe blindly in conspiracy theories but this one smells, even to me!
But one of the saddest stories regarding residential regeneration and deliberate malpractice in the city revolves around the Seven Buildings project. I was first made aware of the project way back in 1992, although the saga had started some time previously, when the tenants of seven inner city residential buildings in a poor state of repair, owned by a single owner, started negotiations to purchase the properties. The problem was that finance could not be found for the purchase, the financial institutions were keeping as far away as possible from what they considered a major risk. Eventually, in late 1996, a company that had been established specifically to provide bridging finance to inner city tenants who had structured themselves adequately to purchase their properties, agreed to provide the necessary bridging loan. By ‘structured themselves adequately’ I mean that with the loan company’s facilitation, tenant groups could obtain subsidies and long term finance. The R4million loan was made subject to it being repaid over two years, interest being serviced on a monthly basis – a good repayment profile would then enable the company to demonstrate that the loan was not as risky as the financial institutions believed and would allow for its substituting with long term finance. The 7 Buildings Company would have to also demonstrate that it was committed to properly managing its affairs by appointing a project manager, a firm of accountants, a rental collection agency and an account opened in the name of the 7 Buildings project.
At first the repayments were satisfactory particularly in relation to a couple of the buildings. However, ongoing dissension between tenant committees and tenants, unprocedural changes to the Board, alleged malpractice including the opening of an unauthorised bank account, disunity between the buildings, the dispensing of the services of the individuals and agencies who were seeing to the proper management of the affairs of the company combined to lead to the project reneging on its agreement. Besides not repaying the capital, it failed to maintain interest payments on the loan and built up an arrears on rates and services due to the Council of nearly R2 million. After numerous attempts by the company to recover its funds it has been forced to apply for the liquidation of the 7 Buildings Company. The irresponsible and destructive behaviour displayed by the so-called leadership of the 7 Buildings project severely negatively impacts on all our efforts to stabilise and revitalise the inner city and makes a mockery of trying to redress the injustices of the past. Whilst the Executive Mayor is quite correct in stating that it is preposterous to compare isolated cases of residential thuggery and malpractice to the Zimbabwean situation, the city needs to be seen to be aggressively dealing with anything that might frighten investors away from the city.
To end on a positive note, it is greatly encouraging to see for the first time, certainly in our recent history, that inner city residential developers and agents have established a body to represent their interests in the inner city. This bodes well not only for the ownership aspect of residential accommodation but also for the interests of users.
P.S. We’re ten days away from S.A. Cities 2001 which presents an opportunity to hear and discuss the best in world urban practice with hands-on practitioners. Don’t miss it!
The Better Buildings Programme and the Seven Buildings Project
One of strategies for the urban revitalisation of the Johannesburg Inner City is the upgrading of those residential buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate and the increased provision of new residential accommodation. New residential accommodation is planned to encompass all income levels, low, middle and high, though the latter will take some time to achieve. The plan has made slow but generally steady progress with the completion last year of a number of projects, new, conversions and refurbishments which I have previously reported on. In addition, the MetroMarket project, currently under construction, makes provision for some 800 residential units whilst the development of the Albert Street Housing Project by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) has recently seen construction commence.
The Better Buildings Programme is also steadily addressing the refurbishment of buildings that have been allowed to deteriorate and demolitions of buildings beyond rehabilitation has commenced. Work is also currently under way in revising city bylaws to prevent the uncontrolled conversion of empty office blocks into potential slums rather than appropriate housing. Human nature is such that it often seeks to exploit even the most critical situations and housing is no exception. On the one hand certain ‘slumlords’ seek to maximise their return by upgrading and converting empty commercial premises by providing below standard accommodation as cheaply as possible and cramming as many persons into the space at as high a rental as possible. I remember visiting a three bedroomed house in Bertrams six or seven years ago which accommodated 75 people. At R200-00 each the landlord was earning R15 000-00 per month and was repaying some one or two thousand per month to the bondholder. Oh, the house had no water, electricity or sewage disposal. On the other end of the scale we evidently have groups of people taking over inner-city buildings, driving landlords and law-abiding tenants out and refusing to hand over rentals to the owners. Whilst the report of this latter ‘initiative’ hit our press a month or so ago, it ‘coincidentally’ made front page news last week in ‘The Straits Times’ when the Executive Mayor and a group of provincial and city officials were in Singapore trying to raise funds for private-public partnerships. I’m too naïve to believe blindly in conspiracy theories but this one smells, even to me!
But one of the saddest stories regarding residential regeneration and deliberate malpractice in the city revolves around the Seven Buildings project. I was first made aware of the project way back in 1992, although the saga had started some time previously, when the tenants of seven inner city residential buildings in a poor state of repair, owned by a single owner, started negotiations to purchase the properties. The problem was that finance could not be found for the purchase, the financial institutions were keeping as far away as possible from what they considered a major risk. Eventually, in late 1996, a company that had been established specifically to provide bridging finance to inner city tenants who had structured themselves adequately to purchase their properties, agreed to provide the necessary bridging loan. By ‘structured themselves adequately’ I mean that with the loan company’s facilitation, tenant groups could obtain subsidies and long term finance. The R4million loan was made subject to it being repaid over two years, interest being serviced on a monthly basis – a good repayment profile would then enable the company to demonstrate that the loan was not as risky as the financial institutions believed and would allow for its substituting with long term finance. The 7 Buildings Company would have to also demonstrate that it was committed to properly managing its affairs by appointing a project manager, a firm of accountants, a rental collection agency and an account opened in the name of the 7 Buildings project.
At first the repayments were satisfactory particularly in relation to a couple of the buildings. However, ongoing dissension between tenant committees and tenants, unprocedural changes to the Board, alleged malpractice including the opening of an unauthorised bank account, disunity between the buildings, the dispensing of the services of the individuals and agencies who were seeing to the proper management of the affairs of the company combined to lead to the project reneging on its agreement. Besides not repaying the capital, it failed to maintain interest payments on the loan and built up an arrears on rates and services due to the Council of nearly R2 million. After numerous attempts by the company to recover its funds it has been forced to apply for the liquidation of the 7 Buildings Company. The irresponsible and destructive behaviour displayed by the so-called leadership of the 7 Buildings project severely negatively impacts on all our efforts to stabilise and revitalise the inner city and makes a mockery of trying to redress the injustices of the past. Whilst the Executive Mayor is quite correct in stating that it is preposterous to compare isolated cases of residential thuggery and malpractice to the Zimbabwean situation, the city needs to be seen to be aggressively dealing with anything that might frighten investors away from the city.
To end on a positive note, it is greatly encouraging to see for the first time, certainly in our recent history, that inner city residential developers and agents have established a body to represent their interests in the inner city. This bodes well not only for the ownership aspect of residential accommodation but also for the interests of users.
P.S. We’re ten days away from S.A. Cities 2001 which presents an opportunity to hear and discuss the best in world urban practice with hands-on practitioners. Don’t miss it!
Friday, August 3, 2001
Progress Review Citichat 3 August 2001
CITICHAT 30/2001 - 3 August 2001
Progress Review
I was asked by the Gauteng Institute for Architecture to give their members a short presentation over breakfast this morning regarding the city revitalisation efforts. Because I am often asked to do this, we've obviously built up a basic presentation which reflects the reasons for the city's decay, the process and structures established to deal with the issue and the results which are steadily emerging. But I obviously also try to tailor each presentation to the specific audience if possible. So, what to show the architectural profession?
To the many skeptics who view the city as undergoing a long, protracted terminal illness (and I'm not suggesting that our local architects are necessarily in that category!), we patiently point out that this is not death but change. We are in fact a 'City of Change' in a country that itself is going through the many difficulties, pangs and pains of rediscovering and re-engineering itself. Johannesburg's explosive growth from mining camp in 1886 to a city known as the "Wonder of the Empire"- 1935 - to apartheid replacing colonialism and finally to the freeing of the country in 1994, covered a scant 108 years. And it was a century of continuous change. From then to today, a mere 7 years, and again a time of intensive change. And what I see emerging in this city is that change is manifested in the changing uses of buildings to meet the needs of the changing users of space. Needs are for smaller space to house the entrepreneur rather than the corporation. Less emphasis on prestige, more on function. The long held property truism of 'location, location, location' I would suggest is no longer absolute. Old buildings are becoming attractive alternatives because they provide the opportunity for small businesses to be accommodated on a scale that is far more comfortable for themselves. Core businesses are moving into more fringe related activities, and so on.
Back to the breakfast! Buildings - usage; buildings - scale; usage and scale - design. Design - architects; architects - Institute; Institute - breakfast; breakfast - changing use of buildings! A two hour trip through the city on Wednesday armed with a camera reinforced this pattern, some of the projects I have reported on in more detail previously but consider the following:
"Ansteys" (Citichat 6/2001) built in 1930 as a mixed office and residential tower on a podium designed to house Norman Anstey & Company the presitigious department store of the pre-war and post-war period, converted to sectional title flats and small businesses operating from the three storey podium.
"The Business Place" at 58 Marshall Street (Citichat 10/2001) built to provide corporate offices to a major financial institution, now houses a clustering of SMME services carefully selected for their ability to network into the community or through their mentoring capabilities, financing and training services or the business opportunities they offer
CIDA City Campus at 54 Commissioner Street (Citichat 21/2001) also previously a major financial institution corporate office building now houses a quite remarkable city university of 1200 students all drawn from an historically disadvantaged background now doing a four year Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
The Landrost, built probably in the '70s as prestigious hotel accommodation, stood empty for many years, then used by the police as residential accommodation in the early '90s and last year transformed by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) into 241 one and two-bedroomed units.
"JHC House" on the corner of McClaren and Main Streets, another of the older financial centre buildings now refurbished by JHC for their headquarters and also housing a number of other NGOs.
The National Union of Mineworkers building in Rissik Street, beautifully restored and now housing Johannesburg Water Management (JOWAM)
The Kazerne Parking Garages, once providing public parking, now being converted to major multi-storey taxi ranking facilities incorporating informal trading facilities, etc.
The Wolmarans Street Synagogue now housing a community radio station, "The Voice" and offering a wide variety of fast food outlets.
The Civic Theatre moving from the traditional concept of a Theatre into offering "a unique environment for eating and drinking, shopping and techno-byting-everything you've always wanted in Braamfontein - but could never find under one roof." (Grand launch of this "downtown's leisure destination of choice" - 'Times Square at the Civic' on Monday 6th August)
The Rissik Street Post Office - to be redeveloped into a "5-star Boutique Hotel", I understand that design work is well underway.
90 Market Street - built in 1902 as a Branch for the Natal Bank, used as a bank, as bank archives and as a bank museum before being turned into offices for ourselves and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and, hopefully, also to house a Tourism Centre.
Corporate head offices housing small emerging entrepreneurs, Post Offices becoming hotels, hotels becoming apartments, banks becoming offices, synagogues becoming fast food outlets, theatres offering other forms of entertainment, it's all happening in the City of Change!
PS Have had a number of inquiries about special rates for students, councillors, council officials, NGOs, etc. etc. for the Cities 2001 Conference. The answer is yes, we do have a special rate, contact Katherine or myself at the CJP per e-mail or phone 011-688 7800, fax 011-688 7801. The Conference is shaping up well and will be a great opportunity to both hear and to enter into conversations about best practice on a whole host of city issues.
Progress Review
I was asked by the Gauteng Institute for Architecture to give their members a short presentation over breakfast this morning regarding the city revitalisation efforts. Because I am often asked to do this, we've obviously built up a basic presentation which reflects the reasons for the city's decay, the process and structures established to deal with the issue and the results which are steadily emerging. But I obviously also try to tailor each presentation to the specific audience if possible. So, what to show the architectural profession?
To the many skeptics who view the city as undergoing a long, protracted terminal illness (and I'm not suggesting that our local architects are necessarily in that category!), we patiently point out that this is not death but change. We are in fact a 'City of Change' in a country that itself is going through the many difficulties, pangs and pains of rediscovering and re-engineering itself. Johannesburg's explosive growth from mining camp in 1886 to a city known as the "Wonder of the Empire"- 1935 - to apartheid replacing colonialism and finally to the freeing of the country in 1994, covered a scant 108 years. And it was a century of continuous change. From then to today, a mere 7 years, and again a time of intensive change. And what I see emerging in this city is that change is manifested in the changing uses of buildings to meet the needs of the changing users of space. Needs are for smaller space to house the entrepreneur rather than the corporation. Less emphasis on prestige, more on function. The long held property truism of 'location, location, location' I would suggest is no longer absolute. Old buildings are becoming attractive alternatives because they provide the opportunity for small businesses to be accommodated on a scale that is far more comfortable for themselves. Core businesses are moving into more fringe related activities, and so on.
Back to the breakfast! Buildings - usage; buildings - scale; usage and scale - design. Design - architects; architects - Institute; Institute - breakfast; breakfast - changing use of buildings! A two hour trip through the city on Wednesday armed with a camera reinforced this pattern, some of the projects I have reported on in more detail previously but consider the following:
"Ansteys" (Citichat 6/2001) built in 1930 as a mixed office and residential tower on a podium designed to house Norman Anstey & Company the presitigious department store of the pre-war and post-war period, converted to sectional title flats and small businesses operating from the three storey podium.
"The Business Place" at 58 Marshall Street (Citichat 10/2001) built to provide corporate offices to a major financial institution, now houses a clustering of SMME services carefully selected for their ability to network into the community or through their mentoring capabilities, financing and training services or the business opportunities they offer
CIDA City Campus at 54 Commissioner Street (Citichat 21/2001) also previously a major financial institution corporate office building now houses a quite remarkable city university of 1200 students all drawn from an historically disadvantaged background now doing a four year Bachelor of Business Administration degree.
The Landrost, built probably in the '70s as prestigious hotel accommodation, stood empty for many years, then used by the police as residential accommodation in the early '90s and last year transformed by the Johannesburg Housing Company (JHC) into 241 one and two-bedroomed units.
"JHC House" on the corner of McClaren and Main Streets, another of the older financial centre buildings now refurbished by JHC for their headquarters and also housing a number of other NGOs.
The National Union of Mineworkers building in Rissik Street, beautifully restored and now housing Johannesburg Water Management (JOWAM)
The Kazerne Parking Garages, once providing public parking, now being converted to major multi-storey taxi ranking facilities incorporating informal trading facilities, etc.
The Wolmarans Street Synagogue now housing a community radio station, "The Voice" and offering a wide variety of fast food outlets.
The Civic Theatre moving from the traditional concept of a Theatre into offering "a unique environment for eating and drinking, shopping and techno-byting-everything you've always wanted in Braamfontein - but could never find under one roof." (Grand launch of this "downtown's leisure destination of choice" - 'Times Square at the Civic' on Monday 6th August)
The Rissik Street Post Office - to be redeveloped into a "5-star Boutique Hotel", I understand that design work is well underway.
90 Market Street - built in 1902 as a Branch for the Natal Bank, used as a bank, as bank archives and as a bank museum before being turned into offices for ourselves and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) and, hopefully, also to house a Tourism Centre.
Corporate head offices housing small emerging entrepreneurs, Post Offices becoming hotels, hotels becoming apartments, banks becoming offices, synagogues becoming fast food outlets, theatres offering other forms of entertainment, it's all happening in the City of Change!
PS Have had a number of inquiries about special rates for students, councillors, council officials, NGOs, etc. etc. for the Cities 2001 Conference. The answer is yes, we do have a special rate, contact Katherine or myself at the CJP per e-mail or phone 011-688 7800, fax 011-688 7801. The Conference is shaping up well and will be a great opportunity to both hear and to enter into conversations about best practice on a whole host of city issues.
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