CITICHAT 12/2007 - 30 March 2007
Public Art
I was fortunate a couple of years back to have been invited by the Welsh Development Agency to visit their country and to see some of the projects that they were working on. During the course of my visit they had arranged for me to also spend some time with and view some local output of an organization known as CBAT, the Cardiff Bay Arts Trust, an arts and regeneration agency.
CBAT is an independent public art consultancy whose mission is “to enliven the built environment, supporting sustainability, education and civic ownership, by practicing a primary role for artists in regeneration schemes throughout Wales, the UK and internationally.” Clients, whether private or public sector, engage CBAT to commission appropriate public arts works and project manage the entire process. Its expertise enables it to provide strategic advice and best practice relevant to each individual project as well as creative, practical and technical project management.
I was very impressed with the work that they were doing and suggested that, if they ever visited South Africa, they should spend some time in Joburg and a couple of months back they contacted me to advise that two of senior staff that I had met, Zoe King and Aldo Rinaldi, would be visiting Cape Town and could spend a few days in Joeys. I find that it is always refreshing to see one’s city and the work that is being done through professionals’ eyes and it was good to spend some time, albeit very short, with them in the city.
To a very large extent the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has been responsible for bringing public art in the inner city to the fore over the past few years by ensuring its inclusion in all of its projects. Mary Fitzgerald Square, Faraday, Drill Hall, Constitution Hill and Metro Mall (through Bongi Dhlomo) – these and others have been greatly enhanced by public art. The Braamfontein public space upgrade included the metal ‘trees’ in Juta Street (a project of the excellent Trinity Session) , the current upgrading of the entrances to the Ellis Park precinct includes excellent mosaic artwork, etc. Indeed, a quick visit to the new JDA offices in the Bus Factory in Newtown, highlights that their approach to art has been carried through to their own premises. Lesley Perkes is another stalwart of public art to which the Sunday Times commissions around the country bear testimony.
The problem in our context of course is, that aside from the JDA’s and a small number of others’ contributions in the public art realm, very little funding finds its way into the support of this sector. A visit to the Creative Inner City Initiative (CICI) which has done so much to encourage, teach and uncover artistic endeavour in the Inner City, finds it again without funds. Many would say that the current priorities in the country are such that the support of the arts must clearly be low on our priority list. But some work done by cultural consultant Peter Starck, in preparation for the Inner City Summit, clearly shows how Johannesburg as a City is the recipient of cultural funding crumbs from Central Government sources – with most of the loaf going to Cape Town, Durban and even Bloemfontein.
The value of public art goes far beyond art for the sake of art. The Welsh Development Agency Design Guide states that “Public Art has become an integral part of economic regeneration and is playing an increasingly important role as creative catalyst in landscape design, urban design and architecture. The value of artistic involvement in the design process has been repeatedly demonstrated.” Another truism is that “the work of artists in the public realm transforms the spaces and places we inhabit every day. A walk in the park, a trip to the shops or even a long day at work or school can be a more enjoyable and stimulating experience with a little help from artists.”
Oh, for a more enjoyable and stimulating experience in our harsh urban environment! So, it is good news indeed that the City’s Department of Arts Culture and Heritage has obtained agreement from Council on a percentage of all capital works to be set aside for public art investment. Whilst the actual percentage doesn’t appear to have been finalized, the principle has been established. I only hope that this doesn’t go the same way as the principle that 15% of all inner city Council income generated from outdoor advertising is to go into an inner city fund!
Ah well, have a great weekend, neil
PS check out CBAT’s website on www.cbat.co.uk and also www.commissionsnorth.org which provides another great look at public art in the UK.
.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
Heritage Economics Citichat 23 March 2007
CITICHAT 11/2007 - 23 March 2007
Heritage Economics
The preamble to the National Heritage Resources Act states “Our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be renewed. It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our spiritual well being and has the power to build our nation. It has the potential to affirm our diverse cultures, and in so doing shape our national character. Our heritage celebrates our achievements and contributes to redressing past inequities.”
Hmmm!
Contrast that statement with the observations of Paul Theroux in Dark Star Safari, observations that can apply to most South African cities - “The city was much larger, and the new buildings tall but graceless. The older buildings had not been maintained and looked blighted, haunted relics of an earlier time. It seemed to me that the new buildings would go this way too, fall into disrepair and not crumble but remain defaced and unusable., whilst still newer ones were built. This seemed a pattern in the African city, the unnecessary obsolescence of buildings. Nothing was fixed or kept in good repair, the concept of stewardship or maintenance hardly existed.”
“Little sentimentality was shown for the colonial structures in independent Africa. Since they represented the pomposity and wealth of the white overlords in the oppressive years of overlordship, they were usually the first buildings to be vandalised or defaced”.
Had occasion to briefly visit two historic buildings in Port Elizabeth (Mandela Bay) earlier this week before coming to Stellenbosch, a town so rich in its finely maintained heritage, for a family wedding.
The buildings visited in Port Elizabeth were the Main Library, in daily use, and the previous City Police Station, now derelict. The two buildings epitomize the South African heritage dichotomy whilst Stellenbosch serves as a model for what maintained heritage can result in.
The Main Library building has a history dating back to 1835 when the Market Square land on which it stands was granted by the Governor, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, for the purposes of a library and commercial hall. A building was built in 1843 but was requisitioned by the Cape Government when the local Court House burnt down. After a new magistrates court was built in 1885 the Library reclaimed its building but reckoned that it was now inadequate and held an architectural competition for a new building (with a grand prize of One Hundred-and-Five Pounds for the winning entry). This was won by the practice of Henry A Cheers of Twickenham, England. It was funded roughly equally by the Cape Government, the Municipality and a local family after whom the building’s Memorial Hall was named.
The building was due for completion in 1901 but was delayed by the Anglo Boer War and opened in mid 1902. It was the first steel framed building to be erected in PE. At the time, the design was classified as ‘Elizabethan’ but is now described as ‘late Victorian Gothic and Flemish revival’. Whatever it’s style, for me, it is a remarkable building on two counts. The first is that it appears to be really well maintained, and the second is, notwithstanding its colonial origins, it is clearly well used. In the short while that I was there, it’s reading tables were pretty full and there were numerous people, quite a few of them school students, coming and going. I know that the latter certainly applies to our Library on Beyers Naude Square. My point is, that however old, however unacceptable its origins to the majority of South Africans, it is alive and well and still serving a fantastic purpose.
Not so the second building, the old Police Station. It is literally a minute’s walk from the Library in the same historic area of the city, it is also a magnificent building with unique architectural attributes, yet it is derelict and slowly rotting. The story it tells is a fascinating mixture including the incarceration of both BJ Vorster and Steve Biko. The cell walls are covered with an amazing wealth of prison graffiti and the building cries out for restoration and economic re-use. I understand that the local authority, during the previous regime actually sold the building to a private developer who appears to have a philosophy of demolition by neglect. Neither the current council nor the heritage authorities, with the full weight of legislation behind them, are taking any action. Shades of the Barbican and Rissik Street Post Office (although I hear that the Barbican is very much on the drawing board again with work anticipated to start this year).
Back to PE. A quick drive through the downtown area revealed an abundance of historic buildings mostly in one or other stages of decay. This included a once magnificent terrace of what is thought to be the oldest surviving residential houses in the city, now falling to pieces. What a wealth of history and heritage – what an asset base for tourism and economic activity being allowed to go to waste, and, unless something is done, an asset base that will never be possible to recapture!
Now, come with me to Stellenbosch. I remember this town from twenty-five years ago as a university town and a quite quaint place that one passed through on the way to sample wine at one of the many farms that surround it. No longer! It has been transformed into a destination in itself. A walking guide spells out the roots from which the change has come – “the village has fully blended with its surroundings through the centuries, as no scientifically planned town could have. In growing naturally, the village has integrated with nature, as much as Papegaaiberg and the Jonkershoek Twin Peaks are part of nature; its houses seem to have settled here, sinking their roots deeper and deeper into the earth as if saying: you’ll never move us, just try to shift us; you’ll rue the day you do.”
Building off those roots, the restoration and maintenance of a hundred historic buildings, some 300 years old, has transformed this town. Today it is packed with tourists using this as their base for a few days instead of Cape Town so that they can enjoy one of the most continental of atmospheres of any towns on the continent. Pavement coffee shops and restaurants abound as does funky retail in quirky arcades that wend their way through restored buildings. It’s all about economics and Stellenbosch has taken that lesson to heart - a bachelor flat here costs in excess of a million rand and a very small house starts from over two!
I’m writing this Citichat in the Stellenbosch Hotel – the first buildings on this site were erected probably between 1700 and 1705. The facades of the two houses that form the nucleus of the hotel were restored in 1987. The façade of the corner house is Cape Dutch and restored to the original architecture of 1815 whilst the adjoining house has a rare Cape Dutch Revival facade circa 1876. Today these facades embrace a lovely hotel that provides employment to a large number of local people. It’s all about economics! Heritage Preservation is not about saving old buildings to save old buildings, heritage preservation is a tool of economic development. Adaptive reuse of functionally obsolete buildings is central to effective heritage conservation as an economic development strategy
Donovan Rypkema (“Globalisation, Heritage Buildings and the 21st Century economy”) states that “For the 21st century, only the foolish city will make the choice between historic preservation and economic development. The wise city will effectively utilise its historic built environment to meet the economic, social and cultural needs well into the future.”
Stellenbosch has chosen and chosen well, PE (and Joburg) have still to make the choice – they won’t have that opportunity forever!
Ciao, neil
.
Heritage Economics
The preamble to the National Heritage Resources Act states “Our heritage is unique and precious and it cannot be renewed. It helps us to define our cultural identity and therefore lies at the heart of our spiritual well being and has the power to build our nation. It has the potential to affirm our diverse cultures, and in so doing shape our national character. Our heritage celebrates our achievements and contributes to redressing past inequities.”
Hmmm!
Contrast that statement with the observations of Paul Theroux in Dark Star Safari, observations that can apply to most South African cities - “The city was much larger, and the new buildings tall but graceless. The older buildings had not been maintained and looked blighted, haunted relics of an earlier time. It seemed to me that the new buildings would go this way too, fall into disrepair and not crumble but remain defaced and unusable., whilst still newer ones were built. This seemed a pattern in the African city, the unnecessary obsolescence of buildings. Nothing was fixed or kept in good repair, the concept of stewardship or maintenance hardly existed.”
“Little sentimentality was shown for the colonial structures in independent Africa. Since they represented the pomposity and wealth of the white overlords in the oppressive years of overlordship, they were usually the first buildings to be vandalised or defaced”.
Had occasion to briefly visit two historic buildings in Port Elizabeth (Mandela Bay) earlier this week before coming to Stellenbosch, a town so rich in its finely maintained heritage, for a family wedding.
The buildings visited in Port Elizabeth were the Main Library, in daily use, and the previous City Police Station, now derelict. The two buildings epitomize the South African heritage dichotomy whilst Stellenbosch serves as a model for what maintained heritage can result in.
The Main Library building has a history dating back to 1835 when the Market Square land on which it stands was granted by the Governor, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, for the purposes of a library and commercial hall. A building was built in 1843 but was requisitioned by the Cape Government when the local Court House burnt down. After a new magistrates court was built in 1885 the Library reclaimed its building but reckoned that it was now inadequate and held an architectural competition for a new building (with a grand prize of One Hundred-and-Five Pounds for the winning entry). This was won by the practice of Henry A Cheers of Twickenham, England. It was funded roughly equally by the Cape Government, the Municipality and a local family after whom the building’s Memorial Hall was named.
The building was due for completion in 1901 but was delayed by the Anglo Boer War and opened in mid 1902. It was the first steel framed building to be erected in PE. At the time, the design was classified as ‘Elizabethan’ but is now described as ‘late Victorian Gothic and Flemish revival’. Whatever it’s style, for me, it is a remarkable building on two counts. The first is that it appears to be really well maintained, and the second is, notwithstanding its colonial origins, it is clearly well used. In the short while that I was there, it’s reading tables were pretty full and there were numerous people, quite a few of them school students, coming and going. I know that the latter certainly applies to our Library on Beyers Naude Square. My point is, that however old, however unacceptable its origins to the majority of South Africans, it is alive and well and still serving a fantastic purpose.
Not so the second building, the old Police Station. It is literally a minute’s walk from the Library in the same historic area of the city, it is also a magnificent building with unique architectural attributes, yet it is derelict and slowly rotting. The story it tells is a fascinating mixture including the incarceration of both BJ Vorster and Steve Biko. The cell walls are covered with an amazing wealth of prison graffiti and the building cries out for restoration and economic re-use. I understand that the local authority, during the previous regime actually sold the building to a private developer who appears to have a philosophy of demolition by neglect. Neither the current council nor the heritage authorities, with the full weight of legislation behind them, are taking any action. Shades of the Barbican and Rissik Street Post Office (although I hear that the Barbican is very much on the drawing board again with work anticipated to start this year).
Back to PE. A quick drive through the downtown area revealed an abundance of historic buildings mostly in one or other stages of decay. This included a once magnificent terrace of what is thought to be the oldest surviving residential houses in the city, now falling to pieces. What a wealth of history and heritage – what an asset base for tourism and economic activity being allowed to go to waste, and, unless something is done, an asset base that will never be possible to recapture!
Now, come with me to Stellenbosch. I remember this town from twenty-five years ago as a university town and a quite quaint place that one passed through on the way to sample wine at one of the many farms that surround it. No longer! It has been transformed into a destination in itself. A walking guide spells out the roots from which the change has come – “the village has fully blended with its surroundings through the centuries, as no scientifically planned town could have. In growing naturally, the village has integrated with nature, as much as Papegaaiberg and the Jonkershoek Twin Peaks are part of nature; its houses seem to have settled here, sinking their roots deeper and deeper into the earth as if saying: you’ll never move us, just try to shift us; you’ll rue the day you do.”
Building off those roots, the restoration and maintenance of a hundred historic buildings, some 300 years old, has transformed this town. Today it is packed with tourists using this as their base for a few days instead of Cape Town so that they can enjoy one of the most continental of atmospheres of any towns on the continent. Pavement coffee shops and restaurants abound as does funky retail in quirky arcades that wend their way through restored buildings. It’s all about economics and Stellenbosch has taken that lesson to heart - a bachelor flat here costs in excess of a million rand and a very small house starts from over two!
I’m writing this Citichat in the Stellenbosch Hotel – the first buildings on this site were erected probably between 1700 and 1705. The facades of the two houses that form the nucleus of the hotel were restored in 1987. The façade of the corner house is Cape Dutch and restored to the original architecture of 1815 whilst the adjoining house has a rare Cape Dutch Revival facade circa 1876. Today these facades embrace a lovely hotel that provides employment to a large number of local people. It’s all about economics! Heritage Preservation is not about saving old buildings to save old buildings, heritage preservation is a tool of economic development. Adaptive reuse of functionally obsolete buildings is central to effective heritage conservation as an economic development strategy
Donovan Rypkema (“Globalisation, Heritage Buildings and the 21st Century economy”) states that “For the 21st century, only the foolish city will make the choice between historic preservation and economic development. The wise city will effectively utilise its historic built environment to meet the economic, social and cultural needs well into the future.”
Stellenbosch has chosen and chosen well, PE (and Joburg) have still to make the choice – they won’t have that opportunity forever!
Ciao, neil
.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Wayfinding Citichat 16 March 2007
CITICHAT 10/2007 - 16 March 2007
Wayfinding
Ever been totally lost in a city? I certainly had that experience a number of times quite some years ago now in some far- and middle-eastern cities and towns where street signage, designed for locals only, was incomprehensible.
Then, also some years back I was greatly impressed by the downtown signage developed by the Philadelphia Centre City District (what we would call a City Improvement District (CID).The highly legible coloured signage fixed to street poles located the viewer of the sign in relation to the various precincts in the centre city. But what was really innovative was that the map of the centre city was always the right way up for the viewer. No struggling to check where north was or standing on your head to determine in which direction you should be going. Philadelphia seemed to have started quite a trend in city signage and over the years a variety of cities have developed some really innovative ‘wayfinding’ systems.
Calgary, for example, developed a series of symbols that are a reminder of their history as well as being a functional directional guide – their symbols combine the star constellation circles of the local Indian tribe (Blackfoot) with a white rodeo hat symbol. Circle patterns are then used to indicate walking paths on maps but also physically on the footways. The closest we have to this is the electric sowing machine patterns inlaid in the pavements designating the Fashion District. Lately, we have the ‘storyboards’ which provide a history of buildings (many no longer there) and events in Main Street.
“Wayfinding means knowing where you are, knowing your destination, following the best route, recognizing your destination, and finding your way back. When people cannot do these things, outside or inside, we say they are disoriented. Since disorientation has significant negative consequences, both for individuals and for the organizations that serve them, easy navigation benefits everyone.”
I gather that the term ‘wayfinding’ was first coined in a1960s book "Image of the City". written by researcher Kevin Lynch. Then In 1984 environmental psychologist Romedi Passini published "Wayfinding in Architecture" and expanded the concept to include signage and other graphic communication, clues inherent in buildings’ spatial grammar, logical space planning, audible communication, tactile elements, and provision for special-needs users.
“ A good pedestrian sign system will show us the way, providing enough
information for us to set off on foot – whilst leaving specific incidents and
exploratory details up to the walker’s own mood and imagination.”
I was reminded of all this twice yesterday – the first time through a discussion with one of the city’s planners whilst looking at a map of the inner city. We were talking about the need to determine the various precincts that have developed in the city by defining their edges.
The second was through an e-mail I received from the Central London Partnership entitled ‘Legible London’. It starts with the premise that, whilst London is one of the most fascinating cities in the world to explore on foot, it is also quite confusing to navigate around. Taking the opportunity of London’s host city status for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games ‘Legible London’ intends to implement a new wayfinding system in key areas of the city over the next five years. The objective of the initiative is to encourage more walking and to improve pedestrian navigation throughout the city. “Many Londoners are attracted by the idea of walking more: for their health, the environment and their quality of life. More people taking to the streets also benefits local businesses, creates safer places and reduces pressure on public transport. Improved signage and wayfinding for pedestrians is also a high priority for London’s business community.”
In an online survey that was carried out by the organization, 45% of respondents found that current London signage systems are unpredictable; 46% felt that they know less than 10% of London and 62% are willing to walk for up to an hour of every day. I would think that our comparative figure for the first statement would be 99%. Our pavements are cluttered with all sorts of confusing signage often with nothing that is really relevant. Then there are the broken signs, the graffiti covered signs and the many places that there are simply no signs.
So how is Legible London going about their new approach? Well first of all they organized a consultation workshop for public and private ‘implementation partners ’ in June last year. “A city-wide wayfinding system has to work for its users, but it also needs to be driven and supported by a variety of stakeholders, including local authotrities, developers and the wider business community, business improvement districts and city-wide organizations ” They then ran a Legible London exhibition over a 6 month period and encouraged all and sundry to air their views on how signage in London could be improved via an associated website. In parallel they developed a number of pilot schemes to test various concepts and are now having extensive briefing events with key organizations from all over London.
The basic goals of a wayfinding system should include communicating to a multilingual audience by creating images that are appropriate and legible. Strikes me that 2010 is a good reason to do something serious about this issue – hopefully there will be thousands of visitors in the inner city and we owe them a clearly wayfinding system. It should be considered a legacy project because it will be of great ultimate benefit to all city users. But please not what we did in Sandton for the World Summit some years back. Then all we did was put new street name signs up – boring! We need something innovative, clear, the right information at the right time and place (what they call ‘progressive disclosure’) not a regurgitation of the unimaginative and confusing systems of yesteryear.
Ciao, neil
.
Wayfinding
Ever been totally lost in a city? I certainly had that experience a number of times quite some years ago now in some far- and middle-eastern cities and towns where street signage, designed for locals only, was incomprehensible.
Then, also some years back I was greatly impressed by the downtown signage developed by the Philadelphia Centre City District (what we would call a City Improvement District (CID).The highly legible coloured signage fixed to street poles located the viewer of the sign in relation to the various precincts in the centre city. But what was really innovative was that the map of the centre city was always the right way up for the viewer. No struggling to check where north was or standing on your head to determine in which direction you should be going. Philadelphia seemed to have started quite a trend in city signage and over the years a variety of cities have developed some really innovative ‘wayfinding’ systems.
Calgary, for example, developed a series of symbols that are a reminder of their history as well as being a functional directional guide – their symbols combine the star constellation circles of the local Indian tribe (Blackfoot) with a white rodeo hat symbol. Circle patterns are then used to indicate walking paths on maps but also physically on the footways. The closest we have to this is the electric sowing machine patterns inlaid in the pavements designating the Fashion District. Lately, we have the ‘storyboards’ which provide a history of buildings (many no longer there) and events in Main Street.
“Wayfinding means knowing where you are, knowing your destination, following the best route, recognizing your destination, and finding your way back. When people cannot do these things, outside or inside, we say they are disoriented. Since disorientation has significant negative consequences, both for individuals and for the organizations that serve them, easy navigation benefits everyone.”
I gather that the term ‘wayfinding’ was first coined in a1960s book "Image of the City". written by researcher Kevin Lynch. Then In 1984 environmental psychologist Romedi Passini published "Wayfinding in Architecture" and expanded the concept to include signage and other graphic communication, clues inherent in buildings’ spatial grammar, logical space planning, audible communication, tactile elements, and provision for special-needs users.
“ A good pedestrian sign system will show us the way, providing enough
information for us to set off on foot – whilst leaving specific incidents and
exploratory details up to the walker’s own mood and imagination.”
I was reminded of all this twice yesterday – the first time through a discussion with one of the city’s planners whilst looking at a map of the inner city. We were talking about the need to determine the various precincts that have developed in the city by defining their edges.
The second was through an e-mail I received from the Central London Partnership entitled ‘Legible London’. It starts with the premise that, whilst London is one of the most fascinating cities in the world to explore on foot, it is also quite confusing to navigate around. Taking the opportunity of London’s host city status for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games ‘Legible London’ intends to implement a new wayfinding system in key areas of the city over the next five years. The objective of the initiative is to encourage more walking and to improve pedestrian navigation throughout the city. “Many Londoners are attracted by the idea of walking more: for their health, the environment and their quality of life. More people taking to the streets also benefits local businesses, creates safer places and reduces pressure on public transport. Improved signage and wayfinding for pedestrians is also a high priority for London’s business community.”
In an online survey that was carried out by the organization, 45% of respondents found that current London signage systems are unpredictable; 46% felt that they know less than 10% of London and 62% are willing to walk for up to an hour of every day. I would think that our comparative figure for the first statement would be 99%. Our pavements are cluttered with all sorts of confusing signage often with nothing that is really relevant. Then there are the broken signs, the graffiti covered signs and the many places that there are simply no signs.
So how is Legible London going about their new approach? Well first of all they organized a consultation workshop for public and private ‘implementation partners ’ in June last year. “A city-wide wayfinding system has to work for its users, but it also needs to be driven and supported by a variety of stakeholders, including local authotrities, developers and the wider business community, business improvement districts and city-wide organizations ” They then ran a Legible London exhibition over a 6 month period and encouraged all and sundry to air their views on how signage in London could be improved via an associated website. In parallel they developed a number of pilot schemes to test various concepts and are now having extensive briefing events with key organizations from all over London.
The basic goals of a wayfinding system should include communicating to a multilingual audience by creating images that are appropriate and legible. Strikes me that 2010 is a good reason to do something serious about this issue – hopefully there will be thousands of visitors in the inner city and we owe them a clearly wayfinding system. It should be considered a legacy project because it will be of great ultimate benefit to all city users. But please not what we did in Sandton for the World Summit some years back. Then all we did was put new street name signs up – boring! We need something innovative, clear, the right information at the right time and place (what they call ‘progressive disclosure’) not a regurgitation of the unimaginative and confusing systems of yesteryear.
Ciao, neil
.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Urban Strategy Citichat 14 March 2007
CITICHAT 9/2003 - 14 March 2003
Sinkholes and Ripple Ponds (2)
Picking up from last week when we started looking at the proposals of the newly formulated Inner City Regeneration Strategy (which I pointed out wasn’t so much ‘new’ but rather an updating, a restating and a fresh consolidation of what has gone before and a correction to where we’re going in the future!) The Strategy “To raise and sustain private investment leading to a steady rise in property values is predicated on five supporting ‘pillars’ which are:
1. To decrease and eventually eliminate the sinkholes
2. To increase the ripple pond investments
3. To support the economic sectors
4. To intensify urban management
5. To maintain and upgrade infrastructure.
So what does this mean practically? Well, in relation to the first ‘pillar’ a survey of the problem buildings and problem areas has been underway for some time as reported in Citichat last year. Arising from the survey a variety of actions have been implemented, some buildings have been closed down and demolished, others have been completely sealed off and a number of entertainment venues have been shut down. The survey has led to an increase in enforcement and legal actions have been instituted where there are infringements. It is now necessary to capitalise on that start.
Thus, decreasing and eventually eliminating sinkholes will see an acceleration of this work – in addition to closing and demolishing buildings that are beyond hope of saving, there will be a focus on closing illegal businesses, shebeens and slums and a close look will be taken at the number of liquor outlets operating in the city in an effort to reduce and rationalise this activity. At the same time, areas of the city zoned for a certain activity but where the original activity has disappeared will be examined to see if a rezoning isn’t now appropriate. Changing activities result in buildings built for a certain use now being used for other uses with all the attendant problems. Parts of Jeppe are a good example – zoned for industrial use the buildings are now being used for housing whilst vacant lots are not being re-developed due to the lack of demand for industrial in that area. One needs to recognise these macro changes – a rezoning to residential will encourage legal housing provision.
Then there is a need to pay special attention to transitional areas. I mentioned these last week – the regions between decayed and prosperous areas, the edge of Parktown contiguous to Hillbrow; West Bezuidenhout Valley between Bertrams and Observatory and parts of Joubert Park. It is critical that transitional spaces remain buffers or become ripple ponds and not sinkholes.
Citichat has previously covered the ‘Better Buildings Programme’ – the implementation of the programme over the past year has revealed many practical limitations and these have now been addressed and a Mark 2 version has been developed. It was run past the Inner City Committee last week and is now on the Council ‘approvals’ route. More about the programme in the future.
Finally, under this section, an interesting query has been raised as to whether existing slum by-laws are effective and this aspect is to be investigated.
The second ‘pillar’is to increase ‘ripple pond’ investments. Ripple ponds are the mirror image of sinkholes –they lift the adjacent areas by providing an incentive for investment. Like sinkholes they can be private (Bank City and Gandhi Square, the new Score retail development next to Jack Mincer Square, etc), or public (Metro Mall, Constitution Hill, Faraday, Newtown) or they can be public/private such as the upgrading to the urban environment in Braamfontein. The proposed medical precinct between Braamfontein and Hillbrow is another good example of both ‘ripple pond’ investment and attention to a transitional area. Another is the provision of middle class housing.
But there are many, many other opportunities largely untapped as yet. The pending bid for the 2010 Soccer World Cup (and there can now be no doubt in anyone’s minds as to the huge value that such events provide as one looks at the positives from the current Cricket World Cup event) provides an incentive to upgrade the much neglected Bertrams area. It lies on the border of sports facilities that will undoubtedly be used in the World Cup and would certainly earn a demerit if adjudicators visit the area now. Joubert Park, revamping areas such as Clarendon Circle and Rocky Street, Louis Botha Avenue, the list is formidable The Gautrain project demands that we address the precinct around Park Station. Potential ripple ponds exist in abundance and offer many opportunities.
The third pillar is to support existing and act as midwife in developing new economic sectors. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Fashion District, a great opportunity in terms of potential human development, SMME support and environmental upgrading which we are not developing fast enough for whatever reason. The same can be said for the jewellery district, the medical precinct mentioned earlier, the cultural district, the legal precinct, the financial district, retail, sports, education. Some years ago the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition published a spatial development framework for the inner city. I was interested to see that the presentation of this new Strategy initiative included the ‘precinct’ diagram that was included in the JICBC document. I really believe that this focus on precinct development has largely been ignored and am delighted to see it emerging again. The Strategy, under this ‘pillar’ also highlights the need for a high tech area as well as the potential of tourism an aspect that the city has done little to capitalise on. Hopefully, this new strategy will bring a sharper focus and more action in each of these areas.
The fourth pillar relates to an issue very close to my heart, urban management. Currently the strategy for informal trading is being finalised and will result in a more rapid roll-out of informal trading markets and spaces. There is also the building audit I mentioned earlier resulting in focused enforcement. And there is a growing recognition of the value that City Improvement Districts offer the city.
What is now being proposed is that
an audit• of all public properties needs to be done so that we don’t repeat the problems associated with buildings such as Drill Hall,
that a more comprehensive• safety and security plan is developed which will deal with the roll-out of CCTV particularly to the residential areas,
assessments as to whether we• require more taxi rank facilities and
creating a social development• strategy.
Yes!!!! This latter aspect is just so critical – I have long been critical of the authorities that we don’t have a social development strategy. Now its on the screen.
But here I also think we can add that City Improvement Districts (CIDs) are capable of adding a lot more value than they do at present and it certainly this is an area that we will be taking up with the city as part of the strategy.
Finally, the issue of maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure. Whilst the Task Team carrying out the audit on all inner city buildings is identifying existing infrastructural issues on a block-by-block basis, we need to also identify where the key problems lie. Problems abound with traffic lights, water and sewer, stormwater, electrics, etc etc and we need to develop a plan to deal with these. There may have to be a longish programme to deal with the issues because of the costs involved but even a 10 year programme which realistically assesses the city’s needs in maintenance, upgrading and modernisation must be an important consideration if we are to get where we want to be.
The Strategy acknowledges obstacles when looking at the way forward. ie The public sector budgets are peaking, no new Blue IQ projects have been announce and existing capital budgets are small. In addition links between the Council and big business are fragmented.
Taking all of this into account the recommendations on the table are that a
renewed strategy based on the five ‘pillars’ be• developed covering not just the CBD but also the adjacent residential area
• a better Better Buidings Progamme be implemented
new projects linked to the• 2010 soccer bid be identified
plans be reviewed against a detailed economic• strategy and
implementation be closely monitored and reported on.•
I for one am excited about this infusion of fresh thinking which consolidates a lot of what we have been doing with some new approaches. Viva the Inner City, Viva!
Regards, neil
Sinkholes and Ripple Ponds (2)
Picking up from last week when we started looking at the proposals of the newly formulated Inner City Regeneration Strategy (which I pointed out wasn’t so much ‘new’ but rather an updating, a restating and a fresh consolidation of what has gone before and a correction to where we’re going in the future!) The Strategy “To raise and sustain private investment leading to a steady rise in property values is predicated on five supporting ‘pillars’ which are:
1. To decrease and eventually eliminate the sinkholes
2. To increase the ripple pond investments
3. To support the economic sectors
4. To intensify urban management
5. To maintain and upgrade infrastructure.
So what does this mean practically? Well, in relation to the first ‘pillar’ a survey of the problem buildings and problem areas has been underway for some time as reported in Citichat last year. Arising from the survey a variety of actions have been implemented, some buildings have been closed down and demolished, others have been completely sealed off and a number of entertainment venues have been shut down. The survey has led to an increase in enforcement and legal actions have been instituted where there are infringements. It is now necessary to capitalise on that start.
Thus, decreasing and eventually eliminating sinkholes will see an acceleration of this work – in addition to closing and demolishing buildings that are beyond hope of saving, there will be a focus on closing illegal businesses, shebeens and slums and a close look will be taken at the number of liquor outlets operating in the city in an effort to reduce and rationalise this activity. At the same time, areas of the city zoned for a certain activity but where the original activity has disappeared will be examined to see if a rezoning isn’t now appropriate. Changing activities result in buildings built for a certain use now being used for other uses with all the attendant problems. Parts of Jeppe are a good example – zoned for industrial use the buildings are now being used for housing whilst vacant lots are not being re-developed due to the lack of demand for industrial in that area. One needs to recognise these macro changes – a rezoning to residential will encourage legal housing provision.
Then there is a need to pay special attention to transitional areas. I mentioned these last week – the regions between decayed and prosperous areas, the edge of Parktown contiguous to Hillbrow; West Bezuidenhout Valley between Bertrams and Observatory and parts of Joubert Park. It is critical that transitional spaces remain buffers or become ripple ponds and not sinkholes.
Citichat has previously covered the ‘Better Buildings Programme’ – the implementation of the programme over the past year has revealed many practical limitations and these have now been addressed and a Mark 2 version has been developed. It was run past the Inner City Committee last week and is now on the Council ‘approvals’ route. More about the programme in the future.
Finally, under this section, an interesting query has been raised as to whether existing slum by-laws are effective and this aspect is to be investigated.
The second ‘pillar’is to increase ‘ripple pond’ investments. Ripple ponds are the mirror image of sinkholes –they lift the adjacent areas by providing an incentive for investment. Like sinkholes they can be private (Bank City and Gandhi Square, the new Score retail development next to Jack Mincer Square, etc), or public (Metro Mall, Constitution Hill, Faraday, Newtown) or they can be public/private such as the upgrading to the urban environment in Braamfontein. The proposed medical precinct between Braamfontein and Hillbrow is another good example of both ‘ripple pond’ investment and attention to a transitional area. Another is the provision of middle class housing.
But there are many, many other opportunities largely untapped as yet. The pending bid for the 2010 Soccer World Cup (and there can now be no doubt in anyone’s minds as to the huge value that such events provide as one looks at the positives from the current Cricket World Cup event) provides an incentive to upgrade the much neglected Bertrams area. It lies on the border of sports facilities that will undoubtedly be used in the World Cup and would certainly earn a demerit if adjudicators visit the area now. Joubert Park, revamping areas such as Clarendon Circle and Rocky Street, Louis Botha Avenue, the list is formidable The Gautrain project demands that we address the precinct around Park Station. Potential ripple ponds exist in abundance and offer many opportunities.
The third pillar is to support existing and act as midwife in developing new economic sectors. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the Fashion District, a great opportunity in terms of potential human development, SMME support and environmental upgrading which we are not developing fast enough for whatever reason. The same can be said for the jewellery district, the medical precinct mentioned earlier, the cultural district, the legal precinct, the financial district, retail, sports, education. Some years ago the Johannesburg Inner City Business Coalition published a spatial development framework for the inner city. I was interested to see that the presentation of this new Strategy initiative included the ‘precinct’ diagram that was included in the JICBC document. I really believe that this focus on precinct development has largely been ignored and am delighted to see it emerging again. The Strategy, under this ‘pillar’ also highlights the need for a high tech area as well as the potential of tourism an aspect that the city has done little to capitalise on. Hopefully, this new strategy will bring a sharper focus and more action in each of these areas.
The fourth pillar relates to an issue very close to my heart, urban management. Currently the strategy for informal trading is being finalised and will result in a more rapid roll-out of informal trading markets and spaces. There is also the building audit I mentioned earlier resulting in focused enforcement. And there is a growing recognition of the value that City Improvement Districts offer the city.
What is now being proposed is that
an audit• of all public properties needs to be done so that we don’t repeat the problems associated with buildings such as Drill Hall,
that a more comprehensive• safety and security plan is developed which will deal with the roll-out of CCTV particularly to the residential areas,
assessments as to whether we• require more taxi rank facilities and
creating a social development• strategy.
Yes!!!! This latter aspect is just so critical – I have long been critical of the authorities that we don’t have a social development strategy. Now its on the screen.
But here I also think we can add that City Improvement Districts (CIDs) are capable of adding a lot more value than they do at present and it certainly this is an area that we will be taking up with the city as part of the strategy.
Finally, the issue of maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure. Whilst the Task Team carrying out the audit on all inner city buildings is identifying existing infrastructural issues on a block-by-block basis, we need to also identify where the key problems lie. Problems abound with traffic lights, water and sewer, stormwater, electrics, etc etc and we need to develop a plan to deal with these. There may have to be a longish programme to deal with the issues because of the costs involved but even a 10 year programme which realistically assesses the city’s needs in maintenance, upgrading and modernisation must be an important consideration if we are to get where we want to be.
The Strategy acknowledges obstacles when looking at the way forward. ie The public sector budgets are peaking, no new Blue IQ projects have been announce and existing capital budgets are small. In addition links between the Council and big business are fragmented.
Taking all of this into account the recommendations on the table are that a
renewed strategy based on the five ‘pillars’ be• developed covering not just the CBD but also the adjacent residential area
• a better Better Buidings Progamme be implemented
new projects linked to the• 2010 soccer bid be identified
plans be reviewed against a detailed economic• strategy and
implementation be closely monitored and reported on.•
I for one am excited about this infusion of fresh thinking which consolidates a lot of what we have been doing with some new approaches. Viva the Inner City, Viva!
Regards, neil
Friday, March 9, 2007
Inner City Summit Issues Distilled 9 March 2007
CITICHAT 9/2007 - 9 March 2007
Distilling the issues for the Summit & Charter
Nearly all of the third round of Stakeholder Working Group sessions leading to the Inner City Summit and Charter have been completed and a list of the critical issues that have emerged is taking shape. The following is the current ‘chopping block’ we are working on. These issues have obviously still to be refined and developed into commitments but the following will give you an idea of where we are going.
As I’ve previously mentioned, at Stakeholder after Stakeholder session the plea has been: ‘Please don’t start with fancy new things. Focus on the basics. Concentrate on doing what a municipality should be doing.’
In particular this relates to:
1. Waste, grime and disrepair
2. Taxi ranking
3. Street trading
4. By-law enforcement
5. City systems and processes that delay development (clearance certificates, etc)
6. Service delivery responsiveness and co-ordination
7. Visible policing
While it is clear that stakeholders want things cleaned up and sorted out, they also want an Inner City that is developed in a balanced way, and that accommodates all people and interests.
• Both commercial and residential.
• Not a dormitory for the poor, nor an exclusive enclave of loft-apartments, galleries and coffee shops. There is a need to provide for both ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’
• A place of first entry, yet a place where people want to stay.
• Both a transportation transit point and a destination point where people want to walk in the streets
Specifics that have arisen from each SWG are:
1.Transportation
Issue By the Summit …
• BRT / ICDS • Announce exactly how BRT will function as an Inner City Distribution System
• Greater Park Station Precinct • Reveal detailed designs of this 2010 legacy project, with clarification of how it will provide inter-modal interchange facilities for all transport modes, how it will link to Gautrain, and also support cross-border shopping
• Taxi ranking and rank management • Announce an approach to more managed taxi-ranking in the Inner City
• Parking • Propose a new approach to on-street parking and off-street facilities
• Integration with rail transport • From Metrorail/SARCC announce medium term plans to upgrade stations, and clarify changes to Park Station lines
• Mobility / congestion • Clarify improvements to traffic signaling, as well as measures to promote/facilitate non-motorized transport
2. Urban Management and Safety and Security
Issue By the Summit …
• Concern about unresponsive service delivery and poor by-law enforcement • Provide a detailed, systematic and convincing picture of what the new Urban Management system will do and how it will work. Fully resource Region F so it can be announced that this will be up and running within 2007
• Bad buildings • Propose a single window approach for identifying, mapping and tackling problem buildings. Propose clear approach to preventing slum-lording and improving conditions.
• Visible policing and CCTV • Without detracting from smart policing, announce a plan to put a ‘foot patrol’ on every block in certain parts of the Inner City by 2010. Clarify how CCTV will work across the inner city over the next five years
• Waste management • Announce a new waste management system that will keep the inner city clean on a 24/7 basis
• Street trading • Clarify the new approach to linear markets
• Disaster management • Clarify key interventions to respond to concerns
3. Economic
• Street trading • Apart from linear markets, announce an expanded programme of support for street trading
• Support to key economic institutions • Clarify support for Jewel City, Fashion District, etc over the next few years
• Other key industry segments that may be targeted for support • Clarify support measures for ‘tourism and hospitality’, ‘garment and fashion’, ‘BPO’, etc
• Telecommunications infrastructure (broadband) • Announce exactly what we can undertake to provide / ensure in terms of broadband infrastructure, especially to support an emerging BPO industry in the South Western quadrant of the Inner City
• Need to optimize cross border retail and wholesale trade • Announce exactly how the inner city will work as a cross-border shopping hub and what a cross-border wholesale and retail distribution system will do
• Commercial development • Clarify whether advisable to seek extension of UDZ incentive
4. Social Development
Issue By the Summit …
• Early Childhood Development • Announce a targeted programme of support for Early Childhood Development facilities in the Inner City
• Support to NGOs, CBOs and FBOs • Clarify how we will scale up support to organisations over the next few years (including how we can respond to a strong request for assist in finding appropriate buildings)
• Countering xenophobia • Announce a package of measures to counter xenophobia including when a Migrants Desk will be established and how it will work
• Support to special groups • Announce approach to addressing needs of street children, aged, etc
• Health access • Clarify how the Hillbrow Health Precinct will continue to be developed, and how health outreach will be supported. Also clarify plans for upgrading clinics
• Sports and recreation • Deteriorated and closed facilities are being audited. Define a programme of upgrading over next few years linked to 2010
5. Arts, Culture, Heritage and Public Open Spaces
Issue By the Summit …
• Walkable streets • Announce comprehensive programme of pavement upgrading / street furniture development rolled out across Inner City in the next 5 years. Link to a lighting plan and visible policing plan for whole of Inner City. Propose agreement with ground floor retail etc on removing roller shutters and refurbishing foyers
• Parks and other green infrastructure • As part of Spatial Design Framework, announce the design and roll-out of a new set of green lungs for the Inner City. Also a plan to refurbish existing parks and to green streets
• Iconic public spaces • Identify a range of new iconic public space developments (some private sector led, some which we will have to drive)
• Arts, culture and entertainment groups • Propose coherent programme of support for arts and culture groupings. Possibility of a structure to provide advocacy and mutual support.
• Heritage • Clarify approach to balancing heritage & development
6. Residential
Issue By the Summit …
• Need for accommodation to be built at scale • Announce a Housing Plan for the Inner City including plans to substantially increase housing stock
• Involvement of the private sector in supplying to the middle and lower end of the market • Propose a package of ‘inducements’ and ‘incentives’ that will encourage and enable private sector to enter lower end of the market.
– Reduction in the time-cost of development by pushing Inner City applications to top of queue
– Fixing clearance procedures
– Revenue system flexibility to ensure selected buildings don’t pay commercial / marginal rates
– Building owners become retail suppliers of water and electricity, etc, etc
• Sectional title • Announce programme of support for body-corporates to address collapsing sectional title
• Better Buildings Programme • Announce new approach to Better Buildings (this is currently being developed and tested legally)
• Non-account holders in tenancy arrangements do not benefit from free water, electricity etc • Propose creative approach to ensuring that non-account holders in selected areas such as the Inner City can access the social package
• Hostels • Good practice is emerging from the Alex Renewal Programme. State how this will be applied to refurbishing hostels in the South Eastern part of IC
• Informal settlements • Clarify how we are getting on top of the situation
• Emergency / short term / transitional accommodation • Announce clear plans for providing emergency & short term accommodation at scale for decanting where buildings are unsafe and therefore evictions unavoidable
• Residential Improvement Districts • Announce a coherent approach to formalising and supporting improvement districts in residential areas under stress
The big ‘deals’ included in the programme will, hopefully, be:
1. Establishing a large Public/Private Inner City Fund to be used for (a) public environment / street upgrading (b) security interventions and (c) purchase of land for targeted development.
2. Developing a credible Housing Plan for the Inner City (supported by all the necessary efficiency improvements)
3. Getting the efficiencies and institutional arrangements right
Big call? Big city!
Ciao, neil
.
Distilling the issues for the Summit & Charter
Nearly all of the third round of Stakeholder Working Group sessions leading to the Inner City Summit and Charter have been completed and a list of the critical issues that have emerged is taking shape. The following is the current ‘chopping block’ we are working on. These issues have obviously still to be refined and developed into commitments but the following will give you an idea of where we are going.
As I’ve previously mentioned, at Stakeholder after Stakeholder session the plea has been: ‘Please don’t start with fancy new things. Focus on the basics. Concentrate on doing what a municipality should be doing.’
In particular this relates to:
1. Waste, grime and disrepair
2. Taxi ranking
3. Street trading
4. By-law enforcement
5. City systems and processes that delay development (clearance certificates, etc)
6. Service delivery responsiveness and co-ordination
7. Visible policing
While it is clear that stakeholders want things cleaned up and sorted out, they also want an Inner City that is developed in a balanced way, and that accommodates all people and interests.
• Both commercial and residential.
• Not a dormitory for the poor, nor an exclusive enclave of loft-apartments, galleries and coffee shops. There is a need to provide for both ‘the rich’ and ‘the poor’
• A place of first entry, yet a place where people want to stay.
• Both a transportation transit point and a destination point where people want to walk in the streets
Specifics that have arisen from each SWG are:
1.Transportation
Issue By the Summit …
• BRT / ICDS • Announce exactly how BRT will function as an Inner City Distribution System
• Greater Park Station Precinct • Reveal detailed designs of this 2010 legacy project, with clarification of how it will provide inter-modal interchange facilities for all transport modes, how it will link to Gautrain, and also support cross-border shopping
• Taxi ranking and rank management • Announce an approach to more managed taxi-ranking in the Inner City
• Parking • Propose a new approach to on-street parking and off-street facilities
• Integration with rail transport • From Metrorail/SARCC announce medium term plans to upgrade stations, and clarify changes to Park Station lines
• Mobility / congestion • Clarify improvements to traffic signaling, as well as measures to promote/facilitate non-motorized transport
2. Urban Management and Safety and Security
Issue By the Summit …
• Concern about unresponsive service delivery and poor by-law enforcement • Provide a detailed, systematic and convincing picture of what the new Urban Management system will do and how it will work. Fully resource Region F so it can be announced that this will be up and running within 2007
• Bad buildings • Propose a single window approach for identifying, mapping and tackling problem buildings. Propose clear approach to preventing slum-lording and improving conditions.
• Visible policing and CCTV • Without detracting from smart policing, announce a plan to put a ‘foot patrol’ on every block in certain parts of the Inner City by 2010. Clarify how CCTV will work across the inner city over the next five years
• Waste management • Announce a new waste management system that will keep the inner city clean on a 24/7 basis
• Street trading • Clarify the new approach to linear markets
• Disaster management • Clarify key interventions to respond to concerns
3. Economic
• Street trading • Apart from linear markets, announce an expanded programme of support for street trading
• Support to key economic institutions • Clarify support for Jewel City, Fashion District, etc over the next few years
• Other key industry segments that may be targeted for support • Clarify support measures for ‘tourism and hospitality’, ‘garment and fashion’, ‘BPO’, etc
• Telecommunications infrastructure (broadband) • Announce exactly what we can undertake to provide / ensure in terms of broadband infrastructure, especially to support an emerging BPO industry in the South Western quadrant of the Inner City
• Need to optimize cross border retail and wholesale trade • Announce exactly how the inner city will work as a cross-border shopping hub and what a cross-border wholesale and retail distribution system will do
• Commercial development • Clarify whether advisable to seek extension of UDZ incentive
4. Social Development
Issue By the Summit …
• Early Childhood Development • Announce a targeted programme of support for Early Childhood Development facilities in the Inner City
• Support to NGOs, CBOs and FBOs • Clarify how we will scale up support to organisations over the next few years (including how we can respond to a strong request for assist in finding appropriate buildings)
• Countering xenophobia • Announce a package of measures to counter xenophobia including when a Migrants Desk will be established and how it will work
• Support to special groups • Announce approach to addressing needs of street children, aged, etc
• Health access • Clarify how the Hillbrow Health Precinct will continue to be developed, and how health outreach will be supported. Also clarify plans for upgrading clinics
• Sports and recreation • Deteriorated and closed facilities are being audited. Define a programme of upgrading over next few years linked to 2010
5. Arts, Culture, Heritage and Public Open Spaces
Issue By the Summit …
• Walkable streets • Announce comprehensive programme of pavement upgrading / street furniture development rolled out across Inner City in the next 5 years. Link to a lighting plan and visible policing plan for whole of Inner City. Propose agreement with ground floor retail etc on removing roller shutters and refurbishing foyers
• Parks and other green infrastructure • As part of Spatial Design Framework, announce the design and roll-out of a new set of green lungs for the Inner City. Also a plan to refurbish existing parks and to green streets
• Iconic public spaces • Identify a range of new iconic public space developments (some private sector led, some which we will have to drive)
• Arts, culture and entertainment groups • Propose coherent programme of support for arts and culture groupings. Possibility of a structure to provide advocacy and mutual support.
• Heritage • Clarify approach to balancing heritage & development
6. Residential
Issue By the Summit …
• Need for accommodation to be built at scale • Announce a Housing Plan for the Inner City including plans to substantially increase housing stock
• Involvement of the private sector in supplying to the middle and lower end of the market • Propose a package of ‘inducements’ and ‘incentives’ that will encourage and enable private sector to enter lower end of the market.
– Reduction in the time-cost of development by pushing Inner City applications to top of queue
– Fixing clearance procedures
– Revenue system flexibility to ensure selected buildings don’t pay commercial / marginal rates
– Building owners become retail suppliers of water and electricity, etc, etc
• Sectional title • Announce programme of support for body-corporates to address collapsing sectional title
• Better Buildings Programme • Announce new approach to Better Buildings (this is currently being developed and tested legally)
• Non-account holders in tenancy arrangements do not benefit from free water, electricity etc • Propose creative approach to ensuring that non-account holders in selected areas such as the Inner City can access the social package
• Hostels • Good practice is emerging from the Alex Renewal Programme. State how this will be applied to refurbishing hostels in the South Eastern part of IC
• Informal settlements • Clarify how we are getting on top of the situation
• Emergency / short term / transitional accommodation • Announce clear plans for providing emergency & short term accommodation at scale for decanting where buildings are unsafe and therefore evictions unavoidable
• Residential Improvement Districts • Announce a coherent approach to formalising and supporting improvement districts in residential areas under stress
The big ‘deals’ included in the programme will, hopefully, be:
1. Establishing a large Public/Private Inner City Fund to be used for (a) public environment / street upgrading (b) security interventions and (c) purchase of land for targeted development.
2. Developing a credible Housing Plan for the Inner City (supported by all the necessary efficiency improvements)
3. Getting the efficiencies and institutional arrangements right
Big call? Big city!
Ciao, neil
.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Urban Strategy Sinkholes & Rippleponds - Citichat 7 March 2007
CITICHAT 8/2003 - 7 March 2003
Sinkholes and Ripple Ponds
The past two weeks have heralded some important events in the life of the inner city. Amongst others, the demolition of more condemned buildings, the public auction of a number of landmark corporate buildings, the publication for comment of new bylaws for the city, the accelerated write-off of inner city investment announced by the Minister of Finance in the Budget speech, etc. All worthy of more than just a passing reference and I hope to deal with each over the next few weeks. Another, vital to the inner city’s future impetus, the proposals of an Inner City Regeneration Strategy.
Yet another strategy! Groan! No, not at all. An updating, a restating and a fresh consolidation of what has gone before and a correction to where we’re going in the future! When you’ve been going down a particular track for some time it is useful and necessary to stop and take stock, adjust your bearings if necessary, take a deep breath and move forward again. After all the vision for the inner city was crafted back in 1996/97. Much work was done around that vision – mission statements, objectives, values, strategies, spatial and economic development plans, et al and, collectively, they have been the ‘track’ that we have been moving down. But other major considerations have also emerged. For instance there have been a number of plans for the broader metropolitan area culminating in the Joburg 2030 strategy announced at the beginning of last year. The Council set up structures and processes to flesh out Joburg 2030 and to turn it into an implementable reality. Somewhere along the way it was necessary to revisit inner city progress (or lack of in certain cases) and to ensure that there is a ‘fit’ with the newer thinking of 2030. The review was undertaken by the city’s Economic Development Unit who are responsible for guiding and overseeing the practical implementation of the 2030 plan. This past week the “Inner City Committee” was presented with the broad strategy by its ‘architect’, EDU director Lael Bethlehem. Her approach was refreshing in its honest acknowledgement of current weaknesses and lacks and some of their causes. The following is the nub of the Strategy.
Following a concise analysis of the inner city’s historical and perceived current functions detailing changes in its profile as well as some successes achieved, it was suggested that a certain critical questions still remain to be addressed. These include - How do we understand the role of the CBD if it is no longer the premier commercial node of the Metropolitan area? What function should it in fact serve? What is our overall strategy for the area? Clearly a more strategic approach is required which needs to be fashioned from answers to other questions such as:
What is the CBD’s• current economic profile?
What competitive advantages does it have?•
• What weakens the area?
What is the overall strategy for both the CBD and• the surrounding residential areas?
What existing actions support the• strategy?
What new actions can we employ to achieve the• strategy?
A succinct current economic profile highlights office space use by corporates, government, small business and non-profits - professional services still including legal, medical and cultural – niche retail at the high-end (Smal Street Mall and the Carlton) lots at the lower end including informal trading – industrial services (City Deep, freight and motor services) – light manufacturing (clothing, jewelry, light goods).
Competitive advantages – the inner city’s position as a transport hub and its excellent accessibilty – good (but aging) infrastructure – lower rentals and rates – public investment.
Weaknesses and threats were seen as ‘sinkholes’, crime, low property values and a history of poor management.
‘Sinkholes’? Properties that are slummed, abandoned, overcrowded, poorly maintained, used for illegal or unsuitable uses (shebeens, some clubs, drugs, sweatshops, panelbeaters in homes, etc). Why sinkholes? Because they “pull down” adjacent properties and city blocks by creating disincentives to private investment and blocking sales. Whole neighbourhoods can become sinkholes and then negatively impact neighbouring areas. They are vulnerable to organised crime and can develop into no-go zones. They are often owned by the public sector (Drill Hall). Sinkholes are exacerbated by banks’ refusal to lend within such areas, poor urban management and poor credit control.
The mirror image of sinkholes are ripple ponds – providing ripple effect investment. They lift the adjacent areas by providing an incentive to private investment. Like sinkholes they can be private (Bank City and Gandhi Square), and public (Metro Mall and Constitution Hill).
A third broad category suggested are ‘transitional spaces’ – areas between decayed and prosperous areas, the edge of Parktown contiguous to Hillbrow; West Bezuidenhout Valley between Bertrams and Observatory and parts of Joubert Park. It is critical that transitional spaces remain buffers or become ripple ponds and not sinkholes.
This simple classification into sinkholes, ripple ponds and transitional spaces reminded me of David Rusk’s book, “Cities without Suburbs”. Rusk quotes Prof H.V. Savitch’s conclusion in an unpublished work entitled “Ties that Bind: Central Cities, Suburbs and the New Metropolitan Region" – “.....suburbs which surround healthy cities stand a better chance of vitality than those that surround sick cities….self-sufficiency at the periphery is not a sufficient defence. The challenge of repair is as much for those outside the centre as for those in it…”
With that background, how does one build an overall strategy? One needs to have an overall goal and then develop specific strategies to meet that goal – specific strategies require programmes, programmes need plans and budgets over time.
An overriding issue leads us to the overall goal, public sector investment at its current levels is unsustainable, so what happens when the current public sector investment tapers off? Has enough been done to attract sufficient private sector investment to maintain the upward spiral which will result in a steady rise in property values? (increased values thus increased rates, thus improvement in services, etc)? The answer is clearly NO and so the proposal is that the Overall Goal of “raising and sustaining private investment leading to a steady rise in property values” can be achieved through five thrusts or strategies.
Addressing the sinkholes
Increasing the ripple ponds or ripple-effect investments
Supporting economic sectors
Intensifying urban management, and
Maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure.
We’ll look at these five strategies in more detail next week.
Regards, neil
Sinkholes and Ripple Ponds
The past two weeks have heralded some important events in the life of the inner city. Amongst others, the demolition of more condemned buildings, the public auction of a number of landmark corporate buildings, the publication for comment of new bylaws for the city, the accelerated write-off of inner city investment announced by the Minister of Finance in the Budget speech, etc. All worthy of more than just a passing reference and I hope to deal with each over the next few weeks. Another, vital to the inner city’s future impetus, the proposals of an Inner City Regeneration Strategy.
Yet another strategy! Groan! No, not at all. An updating, a restating and a fresh consolidation of what has gone before and a correction to where we’re going in the future! When you’ve been going down a particular track for some time it is useful and necessary to stop and take stock, adjust your bearings if necessary, take a deep breath and move forward again. After all the vision for the inner city was crafted back in 1996/97. Much work was done around that vision – mission statements, objectives, values, strategies, spatial and economic development plans, et al and, collectively, they have been the ‘track’ that we have been moving down. But other major considerations have also emerged. For instance there have been a number of plans for the broader metropolitan area culminating in the Joburg 2030 strategy announced at the beginning of last year. The Council set up structures and processes to flesh out Joburg 2030 and to turn it into an implementable reality. Somewhere along the way it was necessary to revisit inner city progress (or lack of in certain cases) and to ensure that there is a ‘fit’ with the newer thinking of 2030. The review was undertaken by the city’s Economic Development Unit who are responsible for guiding and overseeing the practical implementation of the 2030 plan. This past week the “Inner City Committee” was presented with the broad strategy by its ‘architect’, EDU director Lael Bethlehem. Her approach was refreshing in its honest acknowledgement of current weaknesses and lacks and some of their causes. The following is the nub of the Strategy.
Following a concise analysis of the inner city’s historical and perceived current functions detailing changes in its profile as well as some successes achieved, it was suggested that a certain critical questions still remain to be addressed. These include - How do we understand the role of the CBD if it is no longer the premier commercial node of the Metropolitan area? What function should it in fact serve? What is our overall strategy for the area? Clearly a more strategic approach is required which needs to be fashioned from answers to other questions such as:
What is the CBD’s• current economic profile?
What competitive advantages does it have?•
• What weakens the area?
What is the overall strategy for both the CBD and• the surrounding residential areas?
What existing actions support the• strategy?
What new actions can we employ to achieve the• strategy?
A succinct current economic profile highlights office space use by corporates, government, small business and non-profits - professional services still including legal, medical and cultural – niche retail at the high-end (Smal Street Mall and the Carlton) lots at the lower end including informal trading – industrial services (City Deep, freight and motor services) – light manufacturing (clothing, jewelry, light goods).
Competitive advantages – the inner city’s position as a transport hub and its excellent accessibilty – good (but aging) infrastructure – lower rentals and rates – public investment.
Weaknesses and threats were seen as ‘sinkholes’, crime, low property values and a history of poor management.
‘Sinkholes’? Properties that are slummed, abandoned, overcrowded, poorly maintained, used for illegal or unsuitable uses (shebeens, some clubs, drugs, sweatshops, panelbeaters in homes, etc). Why sinkholes? Because they “pull down” adjacent properties and city blocks by creating disincentives to private investment and blocking sales. Whole neighbourhoods can become sinkholes and then negatively impact neighbouring areas. They are vulnerable to organised crime and can develop into no-go zones. They are often owned by the public sector (Drill Hall). Sinkholes are exacerbated by banks’ refusal to lend within such areas, poor urban management and poor credit control.
The mirror image of sinkholes are ripple ponds – providing ripple effect investment. They lift the adjacent areas by providing an incentive to private investment. Like sinkholes they can be private (Bank City and Gandhi Square), and public (Metro Mall and Constitution Hill).
A third broad category suggested are ‘transitional spaces’ – areas between decayed and prosperous areas, the edge of Parktown contiguous to Hillbrow; West Bezuidenhout Valley between Bertrams and Observatory and parts of Joubert Park. It is critical that transitional spaces remain buffers or become ripple ponds and not sinkholes.
This simple classification into sinkholes, ripple ponds and transitional spaces reminded me of David Rusk’s book, “Cities without Suburbs”. Rusk quotes Prof H.V. Savitch’s conclusion in an unpublished work entitled “Ties that Bind: Central Cities, Suburbs and the New Metropolitan Region" – “.....suburbs which surround healthy cities stand a better chance of vitality than those that surround sick cities….self-sufficiency at the periphery is not a sufficient defence. The challenge of repair is as much for those outside the centre as for those in it…”
With that background, how does one build an overall strategy? One needs to have an overall goal and then develop specific strategies to meet that goal – specific strategies require programmes, programmes need plans and budgets over time.
An overriding issue leads us to the overall goal, public sector investment at its current levels is unsustainable, so what happens when the current public sector investment tapers off? Has enough been done to attract sufficient private sector investment to maintain the upward spiral which will result in a steady rise in property values? (increased values thus increased rates, thus improvement in services, etc)? The answer is clearly NO and so the proposal is that the Overall Goal of “raising and sustaining private investment leading to a steady rise in property values” can be achieved through five thrusts or strategies.
Addressing the sinkholes
Increasing the ripple ponds or ripple-effect investments
Supporting economic sectors
Intensifying urban management, and
Maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure.
We’ll look at these five strategies in more detail next week.
Regards, neil
Friday, March 2, 2007
Inner City Disgrace Citichat 2 March 2007
CITICHAT 8/2007 - 2 March 2007
Four disgraceful inner city issues.
“There are four fixable, destructive and disgraceful issues that are adding to the dysfunctionality of the inner city” one of the participants in yesterday’s Arts, Culture, Heritage and Public Space workgroup stated. A lot more than four flashed through my mind as I listened with great interest. The particular speaker knows and has been involved in the inner city for many years, had an office outside it for quite some time but moved back into the inner city again a few years back.
1. The Rissik Street Post Office (RPO). Why, he asked, did the City not take control of the situation instead of standing back and watching the building slowly implode on itself through sheer neglect?
Good question. The background to this issue is that the building, erected during 1895/97, was occupied by the previous Department of Posts and Telegraphs up until the early 1990s. In terms of their lease, they were responsible for the maintenance of the exterior of the building. They did absolutely nothing and, as a result, paid a penalty to the Council when they left the building. In 1994, when Provincial Government decided to move to the Inner City, the building was identified as an extraordinary opportunity for Offices for the Premier of Gauteng. A deal was done with Provincial Government, professionals appointed and private sector funding raised for the refurbishment of the building. The plans were well advanced when, for reasons never conveyed to the project team, Provincial Government withdrew from the project. As a result they had to pay for a great deal of abortive work. The building then stood for years slowly decaying, the money paid for repairing the façade, I seem to remember a figure of R3,1 million, disappeared into the coffers of the City never to emerge again.
A few years later the Council, in its wisdom, did a deal with a Malaysian Group linking the proposed Huddle Park development to the RPO. I distinctly remember being reprimanded in an Inner City Meeting as being ‘negative and cynical’ when I said that the deal sounded like another ‘mickey mouse’ arrangement! Well, it never materialized.
In July 2002 (Citichat 28/2002) I wrote the following “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.”
In September 2002, writing about the future of the building, I said (Citichat 36/2002) “The good news is that a small task force has been appointed to look at the refurbishment of and possible uses for the rapidly decaying Rissik Street Post Office. The bad news is that it is not just the clock that has been stolen (Citichat 28 of 19 July 2002) but that everything of value has been systematically pilfered, from brass window fittings and door handles to even some of the wooden flooring and stair balustrades. Whilst the latter has probably been used for firewood, the former must surely have been sold to antique dealers.”
Some time later, the City, via its Property Company, blocked all the windows and ‘wrapped’ the clock tower to prevent further damage by vandals and inclement weather and then, in 2004 went out on a proposal call for the future use of the building. Of the proposals received, the preferred proposal was to refurbish the building into retail, offices and residential on the top floor. The recommendation to proceed with the proposal was made to the Mayoral Committee and was turned down. They had been ‘leant on’ by their senior political comrades, the Legislature, who now wanted the building for their own use. A sale price of only R25 million was agreed and, as far as I know, at least one payment of R4 million was made but I haven’t been able to ascertain if the full amount was ever paid. There clearly was no clause included in the deal, as would be normal in the private sector, requiring the buyer to complete the work in a certain period. So the building stands, every day a little bit worse than the previous day, a stark reminder of ineptitude and disinterest. To make matters worse, there is currently a private investor who is prepared to invest some R200.00 million in the building and start tomorrow!
2. The Space between the Legislature (previously the City Hall) and the RPO. What once was a ‘generous, friendly space’ graced with a fountain in the island in the middle of Rissik Street, has become just another unkempt public space, stated the speaker. The fountain no longer works, in fact there are weeds growing out of it and it is used by some street people to wash their clothes in, and yet this is the site for the Premier to address the people of his Province.
I for one have never liked the fountain and the way that it bisects Rissik Street is clumsy and makes for poor traffic flow. I would prefer to see it gone and I think that the public space between the two historic buildings would be greatly enhanced. But the fact that both the area and the fountain have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that they have is quite unacceptable.
At a number of our Stakeholder Working Group sessions we have been constantly reminded that this is a Provincial capital, which fact should be celebrated instead of which we appear to be prepared to accept a complete lack of respect for the space and sub-standard maintenance. As I wrote some time ago, drive further up Rissik Street - our so-called ‘ceremonial way’ – and look at the quality of the pavements and flower boxes – makes one want to weep!
3. Beyers Naude Square. The speaker pointed out that it is now many months since the ill considered decision to demolish numerous heritage building was overturned resulting in the scuppering of equally ill-considered plans to create an underpass below Market Street, a badly conceived extension to Beyers Naude Square and a bespoiling of the Square itself.
The appalling edge buildings to Beyers Naude Square are still standing continuing to destroy ‘the fine public space that once existed’ and creating a major traffic hazard as people are forced to walk in extremely busy streets. The Square itself continues to be left in a disgusting state with barbed wire and broken paving. The fault must be laid at the door of the Council who sold off this space to the Province and now turn their back on the lack of maintenance from Provincial Government or the Legislature who appear unable to come to a reasonable alternative nor to maintain the space to reasonable standards. The city suffers but what do the politicians care - they never have to use the space except for special occasions when it is magically spruced up.
4. ‘Skysignage’. Since I wrote about this issue exactly one month ago in Citichat 4/2007, the situation has worsened. Described by the speaker as ‘some kind of madness afoot’ and ‘sheer lunacy’ he pointed out the ‘Cell C vinyl cap’ that now covers 11 Diagonal Street as well as the sign on top of the previous Standard Bank H/Q building in Fox Street – signs that totally destroy the visual quality of the buildings as does further ‘predatory financial decisions’ relative to signage on the Carlton and the old Trust Bank Building. He, as I did some weeks ago, commented on the deteriorating quality of the cityscape one is confronted with as one drives over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge – a cityscape that continues to be defaced by signage and advertising We are indeed turning the city into a visual joke. The question, again, is who makes these decisions in such poor taste – surely not the Mayoral Committee? How do we build pride in a city that is beginning to look like a poor-man’s Disneyworld?”
One of the most recurring pleas that have emerged from all the SWG sessions is for the City just to do its job. ‘Please,’ is the constant refrain, ‘ask the Executive Mayor to ensure that the city is managed as it should be, as ratepayers could expect it to be and as any World Class city needs to be.’ These are just four examples amongst many that reflect a deep seated malaise in the city administration.
Cheers, neil.
Four disgraceful inner city issues.
“There are four fixable, destructive and disgraceful issues that are adding to the dysfunctionality of the inner city” one of the participants in yesterday’s Arts, Culture, Heritage and Public Space workgroup stated. A lot more than four flashed through my mind as I listened with great interest. The particular speaker knows and has been involved in the inner city for many years, had an office outside it for quite some time but moved back into the inner city again a few years back.
1. The Rissik Street Post Office (RPO). Why, he asked, did the City not take control of the situation instead of standing back and watching the building slowly implode on itself through sheer neglect?
Good question. The background to this issue is that the building, erected during 1895/97, was occupied by the previous Department of Posts and Telegraphs up until the early 1990s. In terms of their lease, they were responsible for the maintenance of the exterior of the building. They did absolutely nothing and, as a result, paid a penalty to the Council when they left the building. In 1994, when Provincial Government decided to move to the Inner City, the building was identified as an extraordinary opportunity for Offices for the Premier of Gauteng. A deal was done with Provincial Government, professionals appointed and private sector funding raised for the refurbishment of the building. The plans were well advanced when, for reasons never conveyed to the project team, Provincial Government withdrew from the project. As a result they had to pay for a great deal of abortive work. The building then stood for years slowly decaying, the money paid for repairing the façade, I seem to remember a figure of R3,1 million, disappeared into the coffers of the City never to emerge again.
A few years later the Council, in its wisdom, did a deal with a Malaysian Group linking the proposed Huddle Park development to the RPO. I distinctly remember being reprimanded in an Inner City Meeting as being ‘negative and cynical’ when I said that the deal sounded like another ‘mickey mouse’ arrangement! Well, it never materialized.
In July 2002 (Citichat 28/2002) I wrote the following “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.”
In September 2002, writing about the future of the building, I said (Citichat 36/2002) “The good news is that a small task force has been appointed to look at the refurbishment of and possible uses for the rapidly decaying Rissik Street Post Office. The bad news is that it is not just the clock that has been stolen (Citichat 28 of 19 July 2002) but that everything of value has been systematically pilfered, from brass window fittings and door handles to even some of the wooden flooring and stair balustrades. Whilst the latter has probably been used for firewood, the former must surely have been sold to antique dealers.”
Some time later, the City, via its Property Company, blocked all the windows and ‘wrapped’ the clock tower to prevent further damage by vandals and inclement weather and then, in 2004 went out on a proposal call for the future use of the building. Of the proposals received, the preferred proposal was to refurbish the building into retail, offices and residential on the top floor. The recommendation to proceed with the proposal was made to the Mayoral Committee and was turned down. They had been ‘leant on’ by their senior political comrades, the Legislature, who now wanted the building for their own use. A sale price of only R25 million was agreed and, as far as I know, at least one payment of R4 million was made but I haven’t been able to ascertain if the full amount was ever paid. There clearly was no clause included in the deal, as would be normal in the private sector, requiring the buyer to complete the work in a certain period. So the building stands, every day a little bit worse than the previous day, a stark reminder of ineptitude and disinterest. To make matters worse, there is currently a private investor who is prepared to invest some R200.00 million in the building and start tomorrow!
2. The Space between the Legislature (previously the City Hall) and the RPO. What once was a ‘generous, friendly space’ graced with a fountain in the island in the middle of Rissik Street, has become just another unkempt public space, stated the speaker. The fountain no longer works, in fact there are weeds growing out of it and it is used by some street people to wash their clothes in, and yet this is the site for the Premier to address the people of his Province.
I for one have never liked the fountain and the way that it bisects Rissik Street is clumsy and makes for poor traffic flow. I would prefer to see it gone and I think that the public space between the two historic buildings would be greatly enhanced. But the fact that both the area and the fountain have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that they have is quite unacceptable.
At a number of our Stakeholder Working Group sessions we have been constantly reminded that this is a Provincial capital, which fact should be celebrated instead of which we appear to be prepared to accept a complete lack of respect for the space and sub-standard maintenance. As I wrote some time ago, drive further up Rissik Street - our so-called ‘ceremonial way’ – and look at the quality of the pavements and flower boxes – makes one want to weep!
3. Beyers Naude Square. The speaker pointed out that it is now many months since the ill considered decision to demolish numerous heritage building was overturned resulting in the scuppering of equally ill-considered plans to create an underpass below Market Street, a badly conceived extension to Beyers Naude Square and a bespoiling of the Square itself.
The appalling edge buildings to Beyers Naude Square are still standing continuing to destroy ‘the fine public space that once existed’ and creating a major traffic hazard as people are forced to walk in extremely busy streets. The Square itself continues to be left in a disgusting state with barbed wire and broken paving. The fault must be laid at the door of the Council who sold off this space to the Province and now turn their back on the lack of maintenance from Provincial Government or the Legislature who appear unable to come to a reasonable alternative nor to maintain the space to reasonable standards. The city suffers but what do the politicians care - they never have to use the space except for special occasions when it is magically spruced up.
4. ‘Skysignage’. Since I wrote about this issue exactly one month ago in Citichat 4/2007, the situation has worsened. Described by the speaker as ‘some kind of madness afoot’ and ‘sheer lunacy’ he pointed out the ‘Cell C vinyl cap’ that now covers 11 Diagonal Street as well as the sign on top of the previous Standard Bank H/Q building in Fox Street – signs that totally destroy the visual quality of the buildings as does further ‘predatory financial decisions’ relative to signage on the Carlton and the old Trust Bank Building. He, as I did some weeks ago, commented on the deteriorating quality of the cityscape one is confronted with as one drives over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge – a cityscape that continues to be defaced by signage and advertising We are indeed turning the city into a visual joke. The question, again, is who makes these decisions in such poor taste – surely not the Mayoral Committee? How do we build pride in a city that is beginning to look like a poor-man’s Disneyworld?”
One of the most recurring pleas that have emerged from all the SWG sessions is for the City just to do its job. ‘Please,’ is the constant refrain, ‘ask the Executive Mayor to ensure that the city is managed as it should be, as ratepayers could expect it to be and as any World Class city needs to be.’ These are just four examples amongst many that reflect a deep seated malaise in the city administration.
Cheers, neil.
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