CITICHAT 29/2002 - 26th July 2002
Downtown democracy
Ever wondered about the word ‘downtown’? Evidently for New Yorker Philip Hone, “a prominent businessman, one-time mayor and indefatigable diarist of the 1830s and 1840s”, downtown had a geographical meaning, he meant the southern part of Manhattan Island. He also meant the northern part when he spoke of uptown and, in both cases, was merely following the convention of south meaning down and north meaning up. (Capetonians come ‘up’ to Joburg, we go ‘down’ to the Cape!) From 1830 to 1870 the growth of New York was phenomenal with its population moving from a quarter of a million to nearly one-and-a-half million. The result was a transformation of the city with the southern end evolving from mixed use to commercial and the northern into residential. Evidently New Yorkers still used the terms ‘downtown’ and ‘uptown’ when referring to the geographic location, “the words gradually took on a functional meaning that reflected the changing structure of the city”. Wood’s Illustrated Handbook, a guide written for the British, explained that the expressions ‘downtown’ and ‘uptown’ “are employed to designate the business and social quarters of the city” – one devoted to “commerce, traffic and law” the other to “private life”.
Robert M. Fogelson, an urban historian, has written a fascinating book entitled ‘Downtown’, in which he documents the rise and fall of this heart of the American city. He provides a wonderful quote from George Makepeace Towle – US Consul at Bradford in 1870 – who informed his British readers; “If caprice takes you downtown, you soon find yourself in the very whirl and maelstrom of commerce and trade….As you proceed uptown, quiet and insouciant ease takes the place of the bustle and hurry of the down town quarters.” Not exactly the Johannesburg CBD and Hillbrow a century-and-a-quarter later! Webster’s Dictionary, notes Fogelson, referred to ‘downtown’ as an ‘American word’, but he comments, “downtown was not only an American word, it was also a uniquely American place.”
Manhattan, and Downtown Manhattan in particular, is still such a uniquely American place. 4 000 citizens of New York City testified to this fact when they came together recently at a “Listening to the City: Remember and Rebuild Workshop” where they deliberated and set priorities on plans for the redevelopment of the site of the World Trade Centre. 4 000 citizens at one meeting! What commitment! What organisation!
And what technology!
Some years ago I had the good fortune to witness in both Atlanta and Washington DC, the extraordinary value that high-tech technology similar to that used in just such a massive meeting provides. In order to effectively workshop the ideas of hundreds or thousands of community participants, they use a high tech model created by America Speaks an organisation committed to linking citizen’s voices to government. The participants sit at tables of 10 people plus a facilitator with a laptop connected to a central server. Each participant has a keypad which allows them to place votes and preferences. Using keypads to vote on a series of carefully considered questions participants are guaranteed an anonymity that encourages freedom of expression which in turn results in absolute honesty and meaningful results. The technology provides instant feedback to participants and facilitators which appears on big screens around the room and produces an immediate digital record of the workshop’s results. This allows for things like the demographics of participants to be immediately determined (and made transparent) and for preferences of the group to be determined instantaneously.
The small group facilitators (in this case the 4 000 participants were spread over 500 tables) ensure an understanding of the process. In the case of the recent World Trade Centre workshop, 71% voted for a symbolic new structure for the downtown skyline and 56% for the restoration of the street grid which the original construction of the twin towers disrupted. And, all six of the design proposals for the redevelopment of the site provided at the session received a ‘thumbs-down’. All of the designs incorporated the million plus square metre space that had been lost on September 11 and the majority of the 4 000 participating citizens said ‘no way’.
All of this can be gleaned from www.americaspeaks.org but an article by columnist Neal Pierce of the 2002 Washington Post Writers Group succinctly sums it up; “What a difference from a generation ago when a handful of powerful business and political leaders virtually dictated New York’s critical development decisions: witness the legendary freeway and bridge projects of Robert Moses, devouring neighbourhoods and landscape in their path. Of course it’s radical to involve little people in the big decisions. But it’s about time.”
I received an e-mail from Melissa Laughlin who spent some time with the JDA and is now back in her hometown, Chicago,. She writes that she “ had a great meeting with the North Eastern Illinois Planning Commission www.nipc.cog.il.us and thought that you might be interested in what they are doing. NICP are undergoing the process of developing a 30 year comprehensive plan for Chicago and surrounding areas. What's special about the process, is that they are the first organisation to conduct a regional planning process driven completely by the community---and committed to incorporating previously invisible voices to the process. It's a similar concept to Hillbrow's Planning for Real Exercise--but on a much larger scale. The community determines, through a large scale participatory process, the vision and plan for the future of the region. The process is ground-breaking for two reasons: one, empowering citizens to set the priorities of a region; two, for the technology used to facilitate the process.”
I wonder what the results of high-tech anonymous voting process for strike action would be? Mind you, the same question could be asked regarding voting by politicians!
Regards, neil fraser
P.S. Did you hear about the Capetonian whose car wheel was clamped for illegal parking in the V&A Waterfront? He merely jacked his car up, removed the clamped wheel, replaced it with the spare, drove home and forcibly removed the clamp from the offending wheel. The police traced him and apart from the fine for illegal parking he got hit with stealing the clamp and malicious damage to property! Way to go, the police are back, yeah!
Friday, July 26, 2002
Friday, July 19, 2002
Rissik Street Post Office Citichat 19 July 2002
CITICHAT 28/2002 - 19 July 2002
Rissik Street Post Office
The Bad News is that the Bells aren’t ringing!
Have had a large number of people contacting me in recent months concerned about the fate of the Rissik Street Post Office, I have in fact written previously this year about the distressing state of this building. Two related issues have come across my desk during the past month and, hopefully the beginnings of a solution.
The first has led to even more uncertainty in my own mind in regard to responsibility for heritage management, certainly in the short term. Those of you involved in conservation of the built environment in South Africa will undoubtedly know all this but it may be worth setting it out as I understand it and then trying to apply it to buildings such as the Rissik Street Post Office.
In 1999 a national Act of Parliament was enacted called the National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999. This Act aims to promote good management of the ‘national estate’ and to enable and encourage ‘communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that it may be bequeathed to future generations.’ A major role player in the Act is the Local Authority which resonates clearly with the principle that our New Constitution espouses whereby local government is elevated to play a far more vital role in the country’s affairs than was the case in the previous dispensation!
The Act requires a system of grading to be established whereby all places or objects which form part of the national estate are listed into at least three categories:
Grade I: Heritage Resources with qualities so exceptional that they are of special national significance. These will be identified and managed by the SA Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).
Grade II: Heritage Resources which have special qualities which makes them significant within the context of a province or a region. The resources within this grade and their identification and management are the responsibility of a provincial heritage resources authority.
Grade III refers to “other heritage resources worthy of conservation” and are the responsibility of the local authority.
So far so good but where does the Rissik Street Post Office fit into the above in terms of the Act, exceptional qualities; special qualities or other? It is owned by the Local Authority but, by definition, should not the responsibility for its upkeep and maintenance be that of SAHRA or the Provincial Government?
And now bureaucracy rears its ugly head, complicating the issue even further! The local authority is in fact not allowed to perform any function under the Act until its competence to do so has been established and it is the provincial heritage resources authority that is responsible for this assessment. But, two years – conservatively - down the track since the promulgation of the Act and we still don’t have a provincial heritage resources authority! It still has to be established and ITS competency assessed and approved BEFORE the local authority can in turn apply for its competency to be assessed only after which the various functions and powers can be devolved down to it! Oy vey,what a matzos pudding!
Again, where does the Rissik Street Post Office fit in? I don’t really know, but on the practical and positive side, the ‘good news’ is that the city’s property agency Propcom and the Johannesburg Heritage Trust have started discussing a joint venture to refurbish the building! So watch this space.
A reader with a passionate interest in the Rissik Street Post Office kindly sent me some fascinating information regarding the clock in the clock tower. It was built in London by Gillett & Johnston in Croydon and shipped to South Africa early last century. Its largest bell, named “Little Evelyn” weighing in at 1050 kg, was an exact replica of the smallest bell in London’s Big Ben of which the Rissik Street clock is an exact replica in miniature – absolutely unique! For nearly eighty years, three times a week two apprentices spent the better part of a morning winding the three weights of 225kg; 293kg and 360 kg for the clock movement; hour and quarter hour strike respectively. On two occasions in the past (1936 and 1952) a weight fell due to overwinding, crashing through two floors and landing in the main foyer. In 1980 the winding mechanism was automated, a concrete slab cast under the clock to avoid such accidents (a similar one in Big Ben is 5 metres thick!) and the four light bulbs illuminating the clock face replaced with 16 neon tubes.
Exciting stuff, but the bad news is that the clock has been stolen!
Regards, neil.
Rissik Street Post Office
The Bad News is that the Bells aren’t ringing!
Have had a large number of people contacting me in recent months concerned about the fate of the Rissik Street Post Office, I have in fact written previously this year about the distressing state of this building. Two related issues have come across my desk during the past month and, hopefully the beginnings of a solution.
The first has led to even more uncertainty in my own mind in regard to responsibility for heritage management, certainly in the short term. Those of you involved in conservation of the built environment in South Africa will undoubtedly know all this but it may be worth setting it out as I understand it and then trying to apply it to buildings such as the Rissik Street Post Office.
In 1999 a national Act of Parliament was enacted called the National Heritage Resources Act, No. 25 of 1999. This Act aims to promote good management of the ‘national estate’ and to enable and encourage ‘communities to nurture and conserve their legacy so that it may be bequeathed to future generations.’ A major role player in the Act is the Local Authority which resonates clearly with the principle that our New Constitution espouses whereby local government is elevated to play a far more vital role in the country’s affairs than was the case in the previous dispensation!
The Act requires a system of grading to be established whereby all places or objects which form part of the national estate are listed into at least three categories:
Grade I: Heritage Resources with qualities so exceptional that they are of special national significance. These will be identified and managed by the SA Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).
Grade II: Heritage Resources which have special qualities which makes them significant within the context of a province or a region. The resources within this grade and their identification and management are the responsibility of a provincial heritage resources authority.
Grade III refers to “other heritage resources worthy of conservation” and are the responsibility of the local authority.
So far so good but where does the Rissik Street Post Office fit into the above in terms of the Act, exceptional qualities; special qualities or other? It is owned by the Local Authority but, by definition, should not the responsibility for its upkeep and maintenance be that of SAHRA or the Provincial Government?
And now bureaucracy rears its ugly head, complicating the issue even further! The local authority is in fact not allowed to perform any function under the Act until its competence to do so has been established and it is the provincial heritage resources authority that is responsible for this assessment. But, two years – conservatively - down the track since the promulgation of the Act and we still don’t have a provincial heritage resources authority! It still has to be established and ITS competency assessed and approved BEFORE the local authority can in turn apply for its competency to be assessed only after which the various functions and powers can be devolved down to it! Oy vey,what a matzos pudding!
Again, where does the Rissik Street Post Office fit in? I don’t really know, but on the practical and positive side, the ‘good news’ is that the city’s property agency Propcom and the Johannesburg Heritage Trust have started discussing a joint venture to refurbish the building! So watch this space.
A reader with a passionate interest in the Rissik Street Post Office kindly sent me some fascinating information regarding the clock in the clock tower. It was built in London by Gillett & Johnston in Croydon and shipped to South Africa early last century. Its largest bell, named “Little Evelyn” weighing in at 1050 kg, was an exact replica of the smallest bell in London’s Big Ben of which the Rissik Street clock is an exact replica in miniature – absolutely unique! For nearly eighty years, three times a week two apprentices spent the better part of a morning winding the three weights of 225kg; 293kg and 360 kg for the clock movement; hour and quarter hour strike respectively. On two occasions in the past (1936 and 1952) a weight fell due to overwinding, crashing through two floors and landing in the main foyer. In 1980 the winding mechanism was automated, a concrete slab cast under the clock to avoid such accidents (a similar one in Big Ben is 5 metres thick!) and the four light bulbs illuminating the clock face replaced with 16 neon tubes.
Exciting stuff, but the bad news is that the clock has been stolen!
Regards, neil.
Friday, July 12, 2002
Strikes; Art Citichat 12 July 2002
CITICHAT 27/2002 - 12 July 2002
Strikes: Art
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!
Thanks to the many Citichat readers, local, national and international who reacted to last week’s edition and particularly for their words of encouragement. Mind you, I did have one e-mail castigating me for the damage I was doing in writing so negatively! Sadly the marching, noise and trashing, albeit at a lower level, hasn’t stopped or been stopped this week. Nor has the non-interference by the police. A property owner in Market Street sent me a copy of a letter she has written to the Johannesburg-Central Station Commander in which she says; “Today yet again we have been subjected to protesters trashing the street in front of us. What is far worse is that your officers stood and watched them and when I went out and remonstrated with them they told me that these people have a right to protest. They laughed in my face and told me to point out the person who had trashed the rubbish bin that they were standing next to.” This property owner bought a large, empty city building a couple of years ago and has worked hard to bring it to its current full state. She writes; “Today I have had enough! Every day since the beginning of the strike we have been subjected to noise, litter, disruption to traffic and a general inability to carry out our normal business. None of our clients will come to town because of the disruptions. Our cleaners have been threatened with violence if they try to keep our area free of refuse.”
One comment made to me that I can’t agree with was that the public are fickle and the whole episode will be forgotten in no time. That might be the case in so far as some sectors of the general public are concerned but not for owners and investors (both current and potential) nor for potential tenants. Investment goes – and stays - where it is made to feel welcome and certainly the antics of the past week have created concern. Another comment received succinctly states that ‘those who have made large fixed investments in the CBD are perpetually more at risk than we need to be.” It is up to the authorities to ensure that whilst the rights of workers are not suppressed, the rights of the city and of all its stakeholders are upheld -– all city users have a right to a safe and clean environment to work, play and live in.
Although the strike and the mayhem has gone on this week I have been remembering the words of the song that says “Ya gotta pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.” So, on the positive side, the seven main ‘trashing’ culprits referred to last week have been arrested, Citichat was sent to the head of Metro Police with a request to investigate their role and I have been contacted by the police for a formal statement regarding the trashing and damage to Gandhi Square.(Assessed value of damage is R53 000-00!). Now we need to get the City to acknowledge and implement the agreement not to allow such gatherings in the middle of the CBD. The property owner I referred to says in her letter to the police “I have a suggestion to make. Why don’t you insist that the next March is in Sandton and then see the reaction you get.”
Let’s focus on some real potential good stuff for the city. JHB ART CITY is not only progressing well but is genuinely stirring up a great deal of interest. Tuesday week ago we ‘dropped’ the first large wall picture, not an artwork but the JHB ART CITY logo. The rolled up artwork is secured at the top of the building and then released to cascade or ‘drop’ down the side of the building after which a crew absails down the face of the building and stretches it taut over a special frame fixed to the wall. The logo was designed by my friend of many years Norman Hanna, and in itself is an artwork providing a cityscape outline by using the many names of Johannesburg , Jozi, Egoli, Mjondolo, Joeys, etc etc.
Two Pitts Special stunt planes piloted by highly experienced SAA pilots gave a precision display over the city letting off plumes of coloured smoke and then ‘buzzed’ the building in Harrison Street where the crew were waiting to release the 150 square metre logo. The ‘drop’ wasn’t quite as precise as the flying, a rope got in the way, but after much embarrassed shaking and jiggling the huge banner unfolded. Then , yesterday morning, the first of the corporate pictures was ‘dropped’ for fixing on the same Harrison Street building alongside the logo – we are using the pair as a ‘teaser’. The artwork is entitled“Basketball” by artist Robin Rhode and was made available by BHP Billiton. (My pal, newly appointed New York City Commissioner Rob Walsh will be delighted that it portrays basketball and not cricket which he believes is an abomination!) Because the picture is a sequence of twelve they have turned out to be too small to be seen at the top of a rather high building so we will reposition the artwork on a lower building to provide more visibility and replace it with a single scene artwork.
Another eight artworks from corporate collections and twenty from the competition itself will follow in quite quick order between now and mid-August. I think that the interest levels will increase all the more as the art goes up – inevitably there is going to be some that is liked and some that isn’t, that’s the nature of art. We have received many ‘complaints’ from artists who would have loved to have entered the JHB ART CITY competition but heard about it too late. Unfortunately our timing was severely curtailed by the decision making process of the city and we had to have a cut-off point. The good news is that we are aiming to do this annually and will announce the next competition early in the New Year probably on a themed basis, and no, the theme won’t be “A Striking City”!
The originals of the twenty artworks selected will be on exhibition at “The Fort” from 20 August but more of that later. For those who aren’t able to see them in place or at the exhibition we will, in due course, also be showing them on our website www.jhbartcity.org.za
Whilst the exposure of South African artists and contemporary art is one of our objectives, the other is of course very close to my heart and is the showcasing of the regeneration projects that have either been recently completed or are currently underway.
Strikers on the ground, art in the air – we keep our reputation for being an ‘active’ and exciting city, take care, neil
Strikes: Art
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again!
Thanks to the many Citichat readers, local, national and international who reacted to last week’s edition and particularly for their words of encouragement. Mind you, I did have one e-mail castigating me for the damage I was doing in writing so negatively! Sadly the marching, noise and trashing, albeit at a lower level, hasn’t stopped or been stopped this week. Nor has the non-interference by the police. A property owner in Market Street sent me a copy of a letter she has written to the Johannesburg-Central Station Commander in which she says; “Today yet again we have been subjected to protesters trashing the street in front of us. What is far worse is that your officers stood and watched them and when I went out and remonstrated with them they told me that these people have a right to protest. They laughed in my face and told me to point out the person who had trashed the rubbish bin that they were standing next to.” This property owner bought a large, empty city building a couple of years ago and has worked hard to bring it to its current full state. She writes; “Today I have had enough! Every day since the beginning of the strike we have been subjected to noise, litter, disruption to traffic and a general inability to carry out our normal business. None of our clients will come to town because of the disruptions. Our cleaners have been threatened with violence if they try to keep our area free of refuse.”
One comment made to me that I can’t agree with was that the public are fickle and the whole episode will be forgotten in no time. That might be the case in so far as some sectors of the general public are concerned but not for owners and investors (both current and potential) nor for potential tenants. Investment goes – and stays - where it is made to feel welcome and certainly the antics of the past week have created concern. Another comment received succinctly states that ‘those who have made large fixed investments in the CBD are perpetually more at risk than we need to be.” It is up to the authorities to ensure that whilst the rights of workers are not suppressed, the rights of the city and of all its stakeholders are upheld -– all city users have a right to a safe and clean environment to work, play and live in.
Although the strike and the mayhem has gone on this week I have been remembering the words of the song that says “Ya gotta pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.” So, on the positive side, the seven main ‘trashing’ culprits referred to last week have been arrested, Citichat was sent to the head of Metro Police with a request to investigate their role and I have been contacted by the police for a formal statement regarding the trashing and damage to Gandhi Square.(Assessed value of damage is R53 000-00!). Now we need to get the City to acknowledge and implement the agreement not to allow such gatherings in the middle of the CBD. The property owner I referred to says in her letter to the police “I have a suggestion to make. Why don’t you insist that the next March is in Sandton and then see the reaction you get.”
Let’s focus on some real potential good stuff for the city. JHB ART CITY is not only progressing well but is genuinely stirring up a great deal of interest. Tuesday week ago we ‘dropped’ the first large wall picture, not an artwork but the JHB ART CITY logo. The rolled up artwork is secured at the top of the building and then released to cascade or ‘drop’ down the side of the building after which a crew absails down the face of the building and stretches it taut over a special frame fixed to the wall. The logo was designed by my friend of many years Norman Hanna, and in itself is an artwork providing a cityscape outline by using the many names of Johannesburg , Jozi, Egoli, Mjondolo, Joeys, etc etc.
Two Pitts Special stunt planes piloted by highly experienced SAA pilots gave a precision display over the city letting off plumes of coloured smoke and then ‘buzzed’ the building in Harrison Street where the crew were waiting to release the 150 square metre logo. The ‘drop’ wasn’t quite as precise as the flying, a rope got in the way, but after much embarrassed shaking and jiggling the huge banner unfolded. Then , yesterday morning, the first of the corporate pictures was ‘dropped’ for fixing on the same Harrison Street building alongside the logo – we are using the pair as a ‘teaser’. The artwork is entitled“Basketball” by artist Robin Rhode and was made available by BHP Billiton. (My pal, newly appointed New York City Commissioner Rob Walsh will be delighted that it portrays basketball and not cricket which he believes is an abomination!) Because the picture is a sequence of twelve they have turned out to be too small to be seen at the top of a rather high building so we will reposition the artwork on a lower building to provide more visibility and replace it with a single scene artwork.
Another eight artworks from corporate collections and twenty from the competition itself will follow in quite quick order between now and mid-August. I think that the interest levels will increase all the more as the art goes up – inevitably there is going to be some that is liked and some that isn’t, that’s the nature of art. We have received many ‘complaints’ from artists who would have loved to have entered the JHB ART CITY competition but heard about it too late. Unfortunately our timing was severely curtailed by the decision making process of the city and we had to have a cut-off point. The good news is that we are aiming to do this annually and will announce the next competition early in the New Year probably on a themed basis, and no, the theme won’t be “A Striking City”!
The originals of the twenty artworks selected will be on exhibition at “The Fort” from 20 August but more of that later. For those who aren’t able to see them in place or at the exhibition we will, in due course, also be showing them on our website www.jhbartcity.org.za
Whilst the exposure of South African artists and contemporary art is one of our objectives, the other is of course very close to my heart and is the showcasing of the regeneration projects that have either been recently completed or are currently underway.
Strikers on the ground, art in the air – we keep our reputation for being an ‘active’ and exciting city, take care, neil
Friday, July 5, 2002
Strikes Citichat 5 July 2002
CITICHAT 26/2002 - 5 July 2002
Strikes
Cry my beloved city!
It is just three weeks short of the CJP’s tenth anniversary. Over the last 3500 plus days my confidence in the future of the city has sometimes been dented but seldom if ever have I felt that I have been lying on the canvas listening to the count! Until Wednesday! The 3rd of July 2002 was truly the city’s lowest point in ten years. For ‘Joburg’, the city determined to become the African World Class City through years of huge commitment and hard work by so many, it was devastating in its mindlessness.
A national strike had been called by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) for higher pay. Whilst Government had earlier agreed to an 8% increase, the Union wanted 10% and an increase in the minimum wages. The Union is entirely within their rights to strike and, personally, I support their minimum wage increase call although I believe that they should be offering to do something about productivity, but that’s another story.
The protest started quietly enough on Tuesday but during that night, going into the early hours of Wednesday morning, six to seven persons systematically trashed the city. Wednesday morning and city-goers were greeted with streets and sidewalks strewn with garbage, litter and filth – and smashed garbage bins. By nine o’clock, the union members were out in force marching through the city streets and gathering at Library Gardens. The Inner City Committee resolved two years ago that this venue could not be used for such gatherings because of the effect they have on business in the area with over-magnified speeches, singing and shouting. But the Trade Unions are clearly above the law or the authorities merely ignored their own agreements.
Passing under my office window a column of singing, chanting strikers was ‘escorted’ on either side by metro police cars. In front of the police cars a striker dodged on and off the sidewalk overturning and smashing refuse bins into the street, those that had escaped the previous night’s vandalism. The metro-police sat in their cars taking no action, unless, as happened whilst I was watching, a refuse bin ended in their path, then they sprung out of their vehicles to move the blockage to their progress.
Gandhi Square, the city’s best example of private/public collaboration, where private property owners had paid for a meaningful redevelopment of the public space used by hundreds of thousands as well as paying for its upkeep and maintenance, security, cleaning and greening, was wasted. All of the many concrete planters containing trees and shrubs were overturned and smashed to pieces That, of course was after the trees had been snapped in half and thrown all over the Square. The trees and shrubs carefully selected because of their association with the Gandhi name and what he stood for, the Olive for peace, the Pride of India, etc. Some bus shelters had their roofs torn off.
Not surprising that this is the Square where Metro Bus employees have refused to comply with signed agreements between their council and the property owners for years despite constant appeals at the highest levels. .Not surprising that one of these officials, some time ago when asked to comply with the agreement, taunted our staff to ‘call the metro police, they will do nothing because they belong to the same trade union.’
On Wednesday afternoon I checked in with the city’s CCTV Control Room. During the night before they had recorded six/seven men doing the damage, the police took four hours to respond to the calls and when they eventually arrived they spoke to the perpetrators then turned back and drove off. According to the control room one of the vehicles that the men were transported in was from the much vaunted council cleaning agency, Pikitup.
So where to from here? I have fiercely argued the rights of people to protest but for them to then behave like pigs compounded by our law enforcement agencies choosing (or instructed) to look the other way, is a bitter pill to swallow indeed. What about the rights of the vast majority of people in the city? Has the city the guts and in this case particularly, the political will, to protect our rights, to bring the perpetrators, their own employees, to book? And by perpetrators I mean not just those who can be identified on the CCTV but also police who did not do their duty. I am not one for “commissions of enquiry” but if the Council is to show leadership and commitment, then this is the route to follow. For, at the end of the day it isn’t the mess and direct damage that is the issue. It isn’t even the fact that people considering a move to the inner city will now be having second thoughts and tourists almost enticed to visit the city will be switched off by the photographs and TV images. It is the message that is sent out to the world that the city and the country is in the hands of anarchists, however small the numbers, aided and abetted by the very forces that are supposed to provide protection.
Gandhi Square? Well, there are not yet cameras covering the Square so we cannot identify the perpetrators however obvious their identity might be. But, is it really worth spending another twenty or thirty thousand rand to beautify the Square for the benefit of its tens of thousands of daily users just to have this happen again? After all the Union has its offices located on the Square! Maybe we should rather raise moneys to erect a plaque that will explain to World Summit visitors just why it is bare!
The upside of the week was of course the fun launch of JHB ART CITY. More about that next week when the gall has settled!
Regards, neil
Strikes
Cry my beloved city!
It is just three weeks short of the CJP’s tenth anniversary. Over the last 3500 plus days my confidence in the future of the city has sometimes been dented but seldom if ever have I felt that I have been lying on the canvas listening to the count! Until Wednesday! The 3rd of July 2002 was truly the city’s lowest point in ten years. For ‘Joburg’, the city determined to become the African World Class City through years of huge commitment and hard work by so many, it was devastating in its mindlessness.
A national strike had been called by the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) for higher pay. Whilst Government had earlier agreed to an 8% increase, the Union wanted 10% and an increase in the minimum wages. The Union is entirely within their rights to strike and, personally, I support their minimum wage increase call although I believe that they should be offering to do something about productivity, but that’s another story.
The protest started quietly enough on Tuesday but during that night, going into the early hours of Wednesday morning, six to seven persons systematically trashed the city. Wednesday morning and city-goers were greeted with streets and sidewalks strewn with garbage, litter and filth – and smashed garbage bins. By nine o’clock, the union members were out in force marching through the city streets and gathering at Library Gardens. The Inner City Committee resolved two years ago that this venue could not be used for such gatherings because of the effect they have on business in the area with over-magnified speeches, singing and shouting. But the Trade Unions are clearly above the law or the authorities merely ignored their own agreements.
Passing under my office window a column of singing, chanting strikers was ‘escorted’ on either side by metro police cars. In front of the police cars a striker dodged on and off the sidewalk overturning and smashing refuse bins into the street, those that had escaped the previous night’s vandalism. The metro-police sat in their cars taking no action, unless, as happened whilst I was watching, a refuse bin ended in their path, then they sprung out of their vehicles to move the blockage to their progress.
Gandhi Square, the city’s best example of private/public collaboration, where private property owners had paid for a meaningful redevelopment of the public space used by hundreds of thousands as well as paying for its upkeep and maintenance, security, cleaning and greening, was wasted. All of the many concrete planters containing trees and shrubs were overturned and smashed to pieces That, of course was after the trees had been snapped in half and thrown all over the Square. The trees and shrubs carefully selected because of their association with the Gandhi name and what he stood for, the Olive for peace, the Pride of India, etc. Some bus shelters had their roofs torn off.
Not surprising that this is the Square where Metro Bus employees have refused to comply with signed agreements between their council and the property owners for years despite constant appeals at the highest levels. .Not surprising that one of these officials, some time ago when asked to comply with the agreement, taunted our staff to ‘call the metro police, they will do nothing because they belong to the same trade union.’
On Wednesday afternoon I checked in with the city’s CCTV Control Room. During the night before they had recorded six/seven men doing the damage, the police took four hours to respond to the calls and when they eventually arrived they spoke to the perpetrators then turned back and drove off. According to the control room one of the vehicles that the men were transported in was from the much vaunted council cleaning agency, Pikitup.
So where to from here? I have fiercely argued the rights of people to protest but for them to then behave like pigs compounded by our law enforcement agencies choosing (or instructed) to look the other way, is a bitter pill to swallow indeed. What about the rights of the vast majority of people in the city? Has the city the guts and in this case particularly, the political will, to protect our rights, to bring the perpetrators, their own employees, to book? And by perpetrators I mean not just those who can be identified on the CCTV but also police who did not do their duty. I am not one for “commissions of enquiry” but if the Council is to show leadership and commitment, then this is the route to follow. For, at the end of the day it isn’t the mess and direct damage that is the issue. It isn’t even the fact that people considering a move to the inner city will now be having second thoughts and tourists almost enticed to visit the city will be switched off by the photographs and TV images. It is the message that is sent out to the world that the city and the country is in the hands of anarchists, however small the numbers, aided and abetted by the very forces that are supposed to provide protection.
Gandhi Square? Well, there are not yet cameras covering the Square so we cannot identify the perpetrators however obvious their identity might be. But, is it really worth spending another twenty or thirty thousand rand to beautify the Square for the benefit of its tens of thousands of daily users just to have this happen again? After all the Union has its offices located on the Square! Maybe we should rather raise moneys to erect a plaque that will explain to World Summit visitors just why it is bare!
The upside of the week was of course the fun launch of JHB ART CITY. More about that next week when the gall has settled!
Regards, neil
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