CITICHAT 25/2008 - 27 June 2008
Braamies
Looking at my Citichat records, it appears that the last time I wrote about Braamfontein, apart from covering the individual projects taking place there, was two years ago. Time for a revisit, so I did one of my meanders last week to catch up on what’s happening in the area.
First, some historical background. According to G.A.Leyds’ “History of Johannesburg”, Braamfontein (“the spring by the brambles”) was originally a farm and the property of one Lindeque who sold it to one F.D.Geldenhuys,. The farm evidently covered an enormous area as Leyds says that “Parktown, Melville, Greenside, Roosevelt Park and Northcliff, etc.” were all established on it at one time or another! According to other sources, the original owner of the farm, dating back to 1853, was actually a Gert Bezuidenhout. He in turn sold it to F.J.Bezuidenhout who subdivided it probably for family because there is a record of G.P. and C.W. Bezuidenhout each buying a third in 1862 and further subdivisions being made in 1886 “at escalating prices”. The Braamfontein township itself appears to have been declared in 1888/9 when it was recognised as an ‘official extension of Johannesburg proper.’ But it seems to have also been called ‘Clifton’, a name that subsequently disappeared and the name of the farm retained to identify the area we know it now. Leyds records that “a portion was bought by the Transvaal Consolidated Land Co. Ltd.” (which had close ties with the “Corner House Group) who laid out the Braamfontein township. This original township stretched from the Old Cemetery along Noord Street to Joubert Park and included the old Wanderers’ Ground. Lindeque, evidently, only bought a portion of the farm much later, in 1884, and the portion he bought was where the Country Club was established in 1906.
Leyds records that part of Braamfontein along Smit and Wolmarans Street became known as ‘Wanderers’ View’ “when the Wanderers’ Ground had many trees and was pleasant to look on”. This was also the site for a number of up-market houses but, because they faced south and never had any sun, their owners soon sold them. Nigel Mandy, “A City Divided” says that eventually “the realisation dawned that in the southern hemisphere a north facing aspect is best. Soon the rich were moving over the crest of the ridge to sunny sheltered Parktown with its wide views of the north. The middle classes went north and east, first to Central Braamfontein and then to suburbs like Hillbrow, Yeoville and Bellevue”. Keith Beavon, describing the area in the 1950s in his ‘Johannesburg, the Making and the Shaping of the City’ refers to it as “a low income white working class area – Braamfontein was then an area of semi-detached cottages, small flats, cheap hotels and canteens.” Leyds wrote that most of the up-market houses “ended their existence, which had started so full of hope and promise, as second rate lodging houses, now being replaced with blocks of flats.”
In the early to mid 1950s two initiatives positively changed the nature of Braamfontein although both were to have a reciprocating negative impact on the CBD. The first was the decision by the then City Council to relocate from the CBD to Braamfontein Hill and, the second, was the rezoning of land in Braamfontein to commercial rights. Some business rights had been granted in 1946 but it was only in the early 1950s that business started to view Braamfontein as an alternate to the CBD or an alternate to going further north. As a result Braamfontein attracted the likes of Escom, SAB, ICI and Shell. Beavon records that, in 1950, there were only 5 000 sq metres of office space in Braamfontein but that this increased to 163 000 sq metres by 1965 (today’s office space is something of the order of 475 000 square metres).
Braamfontein became the home of landscaped A-grade office blocks, upmarket restaurants, some service retail, theatres, hotels and sought after flats along the northern ridge. Students also lunched, shopped and sought entertainment (ie quaffed vast quantities of beer!) in Braamfontein.
In the 1990s, whilst the entire inner city area was in freefall, Braamfontein was considered “too far south for comfort” and the area joined the general decline of the CBD. Wits University’s once porous border shared with Braamies was made impermeable and the university created some retail and service retail on the campus dealing a blow to retail in the precinct itself that they had traditionally supported.
Another problem in the area was its "alleyways" - required in a by-gone planning era but adding to the feeling of an unmanaged environment - dirty and dark and perceived as magnets to criminals.
The concept of a Braamfontein Regeneration Initiative was first raised at the Urban Futures Conference hosted by Wits University in July 2000. It was to have three main thrusts - from the University, the Council and the Private Sector. Braamfontein, surprisingly to some at the time, was still the home to heavyweights such as Sappi, Liberty, SA Breweries, the JD Group, etc.
Citichat 20/2003 covered the Braamfontein Regeneration initiative as follows: “the macro objective for this area is to re-establish Braamfontein as an area that is well-managed, vibrant, physically attractive and well-lit with a growing evening economy offering an excellent public environment to the number of corporate head offices clustered in the area as well as to the commercial, residential, hotel and restaurant sectors. The total value of the various projects that make up the overall activity is probably of the order of R200 million.
• The Sappi Corporate Head Office Development sees the stitching together of two existing buildings through the construction of a third between them which appears to be growing at speed
• The construction of the Sappi basement parking under Ameshoff and Simmonds is well underway –it will be utilised by the Civic Theatre for secure parking at night and over week ends, a great plus for the Civic
• Work is about to start on the public park upgrading, the park lies to the south of the Civic Theatre
• Work is complete on the Liberty parking garage on the corner of Melle and Ameshoff and I hear that the JD Group will also be investing in a parking garage on the vacant site behind their corporate head office between the new Liberty parking garage and the Sappi development.
• Tenders have been called for the privately funded ‘corporate public space upgrade’ which will see Hoofd, Ameshoff and Stiemens as well as their north-south connecting roadways being transformed.
• Work has already started south of this area on the Council financed public space upgrade which picks up Jorrissen and De Korte Streets
• Work has also started on the upgrading to Jan Smuts/Bertha linking into the new Nelson Mandela Bridge whilst the steel footway bridge over Bertha is being demolished. “
Remember that frightful bridge over Bertha Street? Isn’t it great that it has not only gone but that it provided space for the erection of the quite stupendous Eland public artwork right where such animals and many other species would have roamed just a century-and-a-half ago.
A critical part of the Braamfontein Regeneration Initiative was the establishment of a City Improvement District to provide security and maintenance of the upgraded environment. A drive round the area today reflects all the marks of attention to localised urban management with a high visibility of the CID staff, banners, greening and a general feeling of order.
Since the work listed above was completed, a great deal has happened in the precinct. The upgrading of the urban environment attracted investment back to the area and numerous office blocks, maybe as many as fifty, were either upgraded or they were converted into residential accommodation. I would think that quite a couple of thousand residential units ranging from student accommodation to middle-to-higher income units have been provided in just the past three or four years. Currently, a new block of apartments is under construction on the western end of Smit Street whilst on the eastern side the high rise Traduna office building is about to be converted into apartments. What a view they will have! Interesting to see some of the names of buildings still reflecting earlier investors’ obsession with New York - so we have Times Square, The Liberty, Broadway and The Manhatten, etc. One of the quite spectacular refurbishments was that of Stirling House in Smit Street which has stunning views over the city and of the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Behind it, Juta Street provides the playful “steel trees” public artworks. New eateries have also started springing up.
The Civic Theatre has also added to the revitalisation of the precinct, not just with its outstanding programmes that play to full houses, but also with its beautifully upgraded park and the next door headquarters for the National Ballet looking over the Sappi piazza. All of this was financed by Sappi. The Alexander Theatre, closed for many, many years, re-opened some time ago. Some developers were quick to recognise the potential offered by buildings of a bygone era. The Bridge Precinct - named because of its proximity to the Nelson Mandela Bridge - encompasses five interlinked sites bound by De Beer, Smit and Melle Streets. It was recently announced that all 5,000sq metres of commercial space in the development (started three years ago) is now fully let.“A perfect example of a successful transformation of old buildings to buildings which add value to the urban landscape.” An hotel built in 1906, has now been converted into an office furniture showroom; an old butchery that was completely abandoned has now been revamped into a chic office loft setup. Rosebank College has become the tenant in another building that had also been standing vacant for many years, now totally revamped and modernized and they will also be the tenant for a new 1500square metre building that is being constructed adjacent to the existing building they occupy. This is one of the first totally new commercial buildings constructed in Braamfontein in many years.
The Bus Rapid Transport project is planned to link the city with Braamfontein and Braamfontein with its eastern neighbour, Hillbrow. The last proposal I saw has the system looping Smit and Wolmarans at Melle which continues north up to Jorrisen and De Korte linking back to the loop that goes around the Metro Centre. The Gautrain station is progressing on the east side of Rissik and I’m sure that Braamies will be set for far higher density living and one can expect new and extended residential over the next few years.
Downsides? Firstly, I understand that the revitalization has brought higher rentals which have negatively impacted on many of the smaller entrepreneurial businesses that have been operating in the precinct for many years. Somehow, the City must help retain them for they add something special to the area and most return-driven investors just won’t be interested. Secondly, there is the ‘wrapping’! The two buildings that flank the northern end of the Nelson Mandela Bridge are both completely wrapped in advertising – the building on the eastern edge has been vacant as long as I can remember, the owner clearly enjoying the income he receives without the hassle of tenants, but we are all subjected to vast urban pollution as a result. There is a proliferation of giant size advertising in the precinct - we somehow do not seem to be able to get our outdoor advertising policy into balance.
Thirdly, the issue of pedestrian friendly streets. Generally the streets are clogged with parke vehicles. Braamfontein has become something of a disaster, the corporates have all looked after their staff with fine parking garages – I see Liberty now has a bridge link across Ameshoff between their offices and parking. Maybe we need a new bylaw requiring a decent percentage of private parking blocks to also provide for the public! Jorissen Street, before the addition of a BRT lane, is already very choked – another example of a street grid-locked by double parking and little enforcement. I received a note during the week titled: “Communities can be designed or modified to significantly reduce auto dependency.” It suggests that we look hard at the following:
”Features that decrease the number and length of auto trips include:
• Convenient access (within a ten-minute walk) to a comfortable, safe and dependable transit system
• An easy-to-use and safe network of bike routes and trails for cyclists of all ages with links to transit and other destinations
• Pedestrian-friendly streets linking major destinations
• A compact development pattern with a mix of homes, stores, schools and offices
• Centrally located neighborhood-serving retail and services
• A variety of apartments, condominiums and townhouses suitable for all family sizes and income levels
• Squares and plazas, cultural centers, parks and playgrounds”
Braamies has a great deal of the right ingredients, we need to ensure that we build on what has been done and not allow the precinct to slowly subside beneath the renewed pressures that revitalization brings with it. Braamies has done well – the old ‘divide’ between corporate north and schlock south has disappeared and “the spring by the brambles” is looking good, let’s build on that.
Wrap up warmly for the weekend, ciao, neil
Friday, June 27, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
BRT ; 2010 Tears Citichat 20 June 2008
CITICHAT 24/2008 - 20 June 2008
BRT and “Letters From the Heart”
Have been looking at the latest available plans for the routing of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system through the inner city. That we need an efficient and effective public transport system is without question. It is long overdue and I’m pretty sure that, without the pressure of 2010, it may not have happened for quite some time. But, I must admit to still being very concerned regarding the model that has been chosen. Not that there is anything wrong with the model per se, it has worked extremely well in a number of South American cities. But I think that its literal ‘imposition’ onto our grid may well be more difficult than it appears to be and could cause more problems in regards to traffic flow than it solves. It is no secret that we have a very problematic grid pattern behind which, as is inevitable with Joeys, lurks another fascinating story. Seems that the first ‘unofficial’ township, Marshallstown, was laid out in late September 1886. by entrepreneur Henry Brown Marshall on the northernmost portion of the farm Turffontein A few weeks later the first mining camp was laid out on the adjacent farm, Randjeslaagte, consisting of two separate strips each with its own grid plan. As you will know from driving north up Rissik Street, the alignment of the north-south streets in the two camps was a tad out!
In applying a grid plan for Johannesburg the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) government perpetuated an already established tradition. A grid plan had been used for the very first settlement at the Cape and in 1685 for Stellenbosch and the tradition was continued by the Boers of the Transvaal when they started to lay out their own towns.
The grid plan used in South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries was related to the plans bequeathed by the European metropolitan powers to settlements in their colonies, where it applied not only because it was convenient for the military engineers to implement or because it made administration easy, but more particularly because it served as a symbol of rational order within an untamed environment. In fact, it was seen as an expression of centralised power. D.Stanislawski (1946,1947) has shown that, contrary to what one would expect, the grid plan does not necessarily suggest itself as the logical pattern for the lay-out of a town. Like a radial town plan, the grid is also derived from a specific cultural strategy i.e. that of an orderly democratic society.” (Gerhard-Mark van der Waal).
However, the layout of the mining camp differed dramatically from that of the Boer towns. In the latter, the focal point was always the church square – “a manifestation of the hierarchial role of the church in those times.” But mining towns focused not on church squares but on the diggings which often were outside of the camp itself. “The unifying spiritual or emotional force of the Boer towns was completely absent.”
In addition, Oom Paul, the ZAR President, was convinced that this would be just another gold-rush town, disappearing as quickly as it would rise. His interest was therefore to “demarcate as many stands as possible within as small a space as appeared reasonable for a mining camp or a village. Furthermore, as corner stands could be leased at a higher rental than others, the idea was to keep the street blocks small as a way of increasing the number of blocks and maximising the number of corner stands…..these would be attractive to the expected flurry of canteens and brothels, which would pay higher rentals for such stands.” (Beavon).
That decision would have a major negative impact on traffic and contribute to the city’s current traffic woes and, I think, will negatively impact on the practicality of the South American BRT model laid onto the grid. As I understand the plan, there will be a number of parallel east-west/west-east routes in Main; Commissioner; Market; Gwigwi Mrwebi/Plein; Wolmarans; Smit; De Korte; Jorissen; Hoofd and Kotze Streets whilst the north-south/south-north routes will be in Miriam Makeba; Rissik; Troye; Edith Cavell; Joubert; Loveday; and Melle Streets. Some of these are in fact quite short - De Korte and Jorissen running between Melle and Loveday and Hoofd being just the circle around the north end of the Metropolitan Centre. This BRT model is based on dedicated lanes that may be used exclusively by buses, in other words, cars are actually kept out by physical barriers (that’s going to mess up jay walking!) Place such a lane east to west down Commissioner between Troye and Miriam Makeba and you remove 20% of Commissioner Street’s non-bus carrying capacity – put it into Market Street and one may lose 25%. Some of the other streets could lose up to 50% of their lanes! There also will be a problem for the many drivers who, sometimes with an indicator but more often than not without, drive across three or four lanes of traffic to turn!
With that in mind, back to my comments of a few weeks ago when I was meandering through the city. The current situation is that the city is clogged rotten. Because there isn’t enough parking, streets are literally impassable due to double parking of cars, vehicles trying to load/unload and non-existent traffic management. If we are going to proceed with the BRT I think we may well find the traffic in the inner city even more shambolic than now. Unless of course someone is planning a London scene of charging entry into the city or even of banning cars from the central area. What with the price of fuel, it may well be the time to go back to the bicycle but I don’t see bicycle lanes being planned! And the taxis? Don’t ask!
“Letters From the Heart”
Every week I enjoy getting e-mails from a wide variety of folk, literally from all over the world, who agree or disagree with things that I’ve said, or to offer encouragement or commiserations, or who just want to chat about the city. I also get lots of requests for information which stems from the fact that for a number of years Citichat has been on the Joburg web page from which folk pick up my contact details. So I get requests such as “My aunt emigrated to South Africa from Australia in the early 1900s. We don’t know her married name but her first name was Shirley. We think she lived in Johannesburg in a place called Doornfontein. Would you be so kind as to help us trace her?” A couple of years back, I had a letter from a lady in Glasgow who asked if I could throw any light on a family member whose name was Archie Crawford. The most amazing coincidence was that, on the evening prior to receiving the e-mail, I had just finished reading “the Notorious Syndicalist” by Jonathan Hyslop, in which Archie Crawford plays quite a role. He is first introduced as “a young fitter….who had served his apprenticeship in Glasgow.” He later married Mary Fitzgerald after John, her husband, died, although it was rumoured that they had been lovers for many years. I sent the lady a copy of the book as it contained information on her family but also on the period in which he lived in Joburg.
But here is a letter I received yesterday from a young man who keeps in touch with me on a regular basis because he has a real interest in the city, in fact a passion for it. The e-mail was titled “Cry My Beloved City”.
“I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the title of this email and yes, it’s not a mistake, I’m crying for my beloved city.
We are currently 722 days to the World Cup and about half of those days to FIFA’s 2009 Confederations Cup and I can’t wait to see thousands of fans flocking into our city. But my main concern is regarding our estimated large numbers of fans coming to the city while we have security problems! Even though the city is doing a great deal to make sure that tourists and we, the Joburgers, are safe, there is still a lot that we have to accept needs to still be done to assure the world that Jozi is a safe haven for all. I’m glad that the CCTV cameras are now working. But, are we expecting visitors to come to a city where they might be burnt because they are not South Africans even though they are Africans? With a city dubbed the murder capital of the world, I still have to convince myself that we will lure a huge number of tourists and visitors to our shores. We have the Metro Police who are very inefficient and are not doing anything to make sure that the city is safe for all of us.
I might be called a pessimist, but I still stand my ground on what I say and my love for this city will make me exercise my freedom of speech until all these issues are addressed. We see Metro Police guys walking around the western parts of the city in numbers of 2 to 5, or even more, while taxi drivers are causing chaos around Noord Street Taxi Rank and illegal street hawkers operate in Hillbrow, the corner of Sauer and Bree Streets, actually I should basically say the whole of Bree Street around the Noord Street Taxi Rank plus Joubert Park, Eloff Street and other parts of the city. We see Metro Police vans and vehicles going past them as if nothing they are doing is wrong. Have they, Metro Police, forgotten their duty of making sure that we all adhere to the city’s by-laws? Are they ignoring the by-laws because they will never get enough bribes? We will never achieve the status of a true World Class African City while we ignore the basics of keeping our pavements clean and arranging proper trading stalls for our people. If the Metro Police lack resources why don’t they ask for funding and hire more? A clean, walkable and friendly city will create more opportunities for our people than a filthy one. A city where tourists can walk freely will help bring more investment which will result in more jobs created. Is it so complicated for our city administrators to think of it this way? I hate it when they come with projects that take a month to clean a place or to get rid of crime as if they make a difference, because after that one month, the situation goes to what it used to be like.
Illegal advertising is messing up nice buildings in Hillbrow. How difficult is it for Metro guys to pick up the phone and dial those companies that are advertising as they leave their numbers visible?
I honour Mr Masondo for all the good work he is doing and the results are showing. But I still say that more care needs to be taken for places where most of our poor people are found in numbers. We cannot afford to see places like Newtown and the West of Jozi being the only places that are being taken care of while we know very well that large numbers of our very poor people are doing their business around Joubert Park, around Noord Street Taxi Rank and the area around Plein Street. Cleaning and providing security for those parts of the city will for sure bring investment out of which the same poor people will benefit.
I go to Hillbrow once a week to check progress of the landscape upgrade that is being undertaken by JDA and, honestly, Hillbrow is changing to the best.
I applaud JDA for taking the effort to beautify Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville and I must say that the drive I took around those areas showed me that we as a city can turn things around. Again, as I see these projects being undertaken and the lives of our people being improved, I say thanks to our African ancestors and God the Father for bringing us a person of Mr Masondo’s calibre.
As we know that our city is the main attractor of our African brothers from neighbouring countries, we need to make sure that they are able to find and identify places that they going to and it brings me back to the point you raised in your last few Citichats about street names. We really need to have visible street names and, again, we need to identify different precincts around our city. For example, Fashion District, Hillbrow, Ellis Park Precinct and all the others for which boards must be visible. The only area that one can easily identify is Newtown and even then the signage is insufficient. I’m sure there are lots of companies that can sponsor better.
Lastly, we need art performers in our city, we need to listen to nice African music while we walk streets like Main and Pritchard during lunch times and breakfasts. This will create a lovely atmosphere in the city. But for all these to succeed, the whole city needs to be a CID so that we can have security personnel on every corner.
I’m crying for this city, I love this city and I think with less than 12 months left to the Confederations Cup, we can still make it one of the most attractive cities in the world. We, as the youth, need to be given a chance to participate in making this city work.”
Nice one Pule, thanks, neil
BRT and “Letters From the Heart”
Have been looking at the latest available plans for the routing of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system through the inner city. That we need an efficient and effective public transport system is without question. It is long overdue and I’m pretty sure that, without the pressure of 2010, it may not have happened for quite some time. But, I must admit to still being very concerned regarding the model that has been chosen. Not that there is anything wrong with the model per se, it has worked extremely well in a number of South American cities. But I think that its literal ‘imposition’ onto our grid may well be more difficult than it appears to be and could cause more problems in regards to traffic flow than it solves. It is no secret that we have a very problematic grid pattern behind which, as is inevitable with Joeys, lurks another fascinating story. Seems that the first ‘unofficial’ township, Marshallstown, was laid out in late September 1886. by entrepreneur Henry Brown Marshall on the northernmost portion of the farm Turffontein A few weeks later the first mining camp was laid out on the adjacent farm, Randjeslaagte, consisting of two separate strips each with its own grid plan. As you will know from driving north up Rissik Street, the alignment of the north-south streets in the two camps was a tad out!
In applying a grid plan for Johannesburg the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) government perpetuated an already established tradition. A grid plan had been used for the very first settlement at the Cape and in 1685 for Stellenbosch and the tradition was continued by the Boers of the Transvaal when they started to lay out their own towns.
The grid plan used in South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries was related to the plans bequeathed by the European metropolitan powers to settlements in their colonies, where it applied not only because it was convenient for the military engineers to implement or because it made administration easy, but more particularly because it served as a symbol of rational order within an untamed environment. In fact, it was seen as an expression of centralised power. D.Stanislawski (1946,1947) has shown that, contrary to what one would expect, the grid plan does not necessarily suggest itself as the logical pattern for the lay-out of a town. Like a radial town plan, the grid is also derived from a specific cultural strategy i.e. that of an orderly democratic society.” (Gerhard-Mark van der Waal).
However, the layout of the mining camp differed dramatically from that of the Boer towns. In the latter, the focal point was always the church square – “a manifestation of the hierarchial role of the church in those times.” But mining towns focused not on church squares but on the diggings which often were outside of the camp itself. “The unifying spiritual or emotional force of the Boer towns was completely absent.”
In addition, Oom Paul, the ZAR President, was convinced that this would be just another gold-rush town, disappearing as quickly as it would rise. His interest was therefore to “demarcate as many stands as possible within as small a space as appeared reasonable for a mining camp or a village. Furthermore, as corner stands could be leased at a higher rental than others, the idea was to keep the street blocks small as a way of increasing the number of blocks and maximising the number of corner stands…..these would be attractive to the expected flurry of canteens and brothels, which would pay higher rentals for such stands.” (Beavon).
That decision would have a major negative impact on traffic and contribute to the city’s current traffic woes and, I think, will negatively impact on the practicality of the South American BRT model laid onto the grid. As I understand the plan, there will be a number of parallel east-west/west-east routes in Main; Commissioner; Market; Gwigwi Mrwebi/Plein; Wolmarans; Smit; De Korte; Jorissen; Hoofd and Kotze Streets whilst the north-south/south-north routes will be in Miriam Makeba; Rissik; Troye; Edith Cavell; Joubert; Loveday; and Melle Streets. Some of these are in fact quite short - De Korte and Jorissen running between Melle and Loveday and Hoofd being just the circle around the north end of the Metropolitan Centre. This BRT model is based on dedicated lanes that may be used exclusively by buses, in other words, cars are actually kept out by physical barriers (that’s going to mess up jay walking!) Place such a lane east to west down Commissioner between Troye and Miriam Makeba and you remove 20% of Commissioner Street’s non-bus carrying capacity – put it into Market Street and one may lose 25%. Some of the other streets could lose up to 50% of their lanes! There also will be a problem for the many drivers who, sometimes with an indicator but more often than not without, drive across three or four lanes of traffic to turn!
With that in mind, back to my comments of a few weeks ago when I was meandering through the city. The current situation is that the city is clogged rotten. Because there isn’t enough parking, streets are literally impassable due to double parking of cars, vehicles trying to load/unload and non-existent traffic management. If we are going to proceed with the BRT I think we may well find the traffic in the inner city even more shambolic than now. Unless of course someone is planning a London scene of charging entry into the city or even of banning cars from the central area. What with the price of fuel, it may well be the time to go back to the bicycle but I don’t see bicycle lanes being planned! And the taxis? Don’t ask!
“Letters From the Heart”
Every week I enjoy getting e-mails from a wide variety of folk, literally from all over the world, who agree or disagree with things that I’ve said, or to offer encouragement or commiserations, or who just want to chat about the city. I also get lots of requests for information which stems from the fact that for a number of years Citichat has been on the Joburg web page from which folk pick up my contact details. So I get requests such as “My aunt emigrated to South Africa from Australia in the early 1900s. We don’t know her married name but her first name was Shirley. We think she lived in Johannesburg in a place called Doornfontein. Would you be so kind as to help us trace her?” A couple of years back, I had a letter from a lady in Glasgow who asked if I could throw any light on a family member whose name was Archie Crawford. The most amazing coincidence was that, on the evening prior to receiving the e-mail, I had just finished reading “the Notorious Syndicalist” by Jonathan Hyslop, in which Archie Crawford plays quite a role. He is first introduced as “a young fitter….who had served his apprenticeship in Glasgow.” He later married Mary Fitzgerald after John, her husband, died, although it was rumoured that they had been lovers for many years. I sent the lady a copy of the book as it contained information on her family but also on the period in which he lived in Joburg.
But here is a letter I received yesterday from a young man who keeps in touch with me on a regular basis because he has a real interest in the city, in fact a passion for it. The e-mail was titled “Cry My Beloved City”.
“I’m sure you’ll be surprised by the title of this email and yes, it’s not a mistake, I’m crying for my beloved city.
We are currently 722 days to the World Cup and about half of those days to FIFA’s 2009 Confederations Cup and I can’t wait to see thousands of fans flocking into our city. But my main concern is regarding our estimated large numbers of fans coming to the city while we have security problems! Even though the city is doing a great deal to make sure that tourists and we, the Joburgers, are safe, there is still a lot that we have to accept needs to still be done to assure the world that Jozi is a safe haven for all. I’m glad that the CCTV cameras are now working. But, are we expecting visitors to come to a city where they might be burnt because they are not South Africans even though they are Africans? With a city dubbed the murder capital of the world, I still have to convince myself that we will lure a huge number of tourists and visitors to our shores. We have the Metro Police who are very inefficient and are not doing anything to make sure that the city is safe for all of us.
I might be called a pessimist, but I still stand my ground on what I say and my love for this city will make me exercise my freedom of speech until all these issues are addressed. We see Metro Police guys walking around the western parts of the city in numbers of 2 to 5, or even more, while taxi drivers are causing chaos around Noord Street Taxi Rank and illegal street hawkers operate in Hillbrow, the corner of Sauer and Bree Streets, actually I should basically say the whole of Bree Street around the Noord Street Taxi Rank plus Joubert Park, Eloff Street and other parts of the city. We see Metro Police vans and vehicles going past them as if nothing they are doing is wrong. Have they, Metro Police, forgotten their duty of making sure that we all adhere to the city’s by-laws? Are they ignoring the by-laws because they will never get enough bribes? We will never achieve the status of a true World Class African City while we ignore the basics of keeping our pavements clean and arranging proper trading stalls for our people. If the Metro Police lack resources why don’t they ask for funding and hire more? A clean, walkable and friendly city will create more opportunities for our people than a filthy one. A city where tourists can walk freely will help bring more investment which will result in more jobs created. Is it so complicated for our city administrators to think of it this way? I hate it when they come with projects that take a month to clean a place or to get rid of crime as if they make a difference, because after that one month, the situation goes to what it used to be like.
Illegal advertising is messing up nice buildings in Hillbrow. How difficult is it for Metro guys to pick up the phone and dial those companies that are advertising as they leave their numbers visible?
I honour Mr Masondo for all the good work he is doing and the results are showing. But I still say that more care needs to be taken for places where most of our poor people are found in numbers. We cannot afford to see places like Newtown and the West of Jozi being the only places that are being taken care of while we know very well that large numbers of our very poor people are doing their business around Joubert Park, around Noord Street Taxi Rank and the area around Plein Street. Cleaning and providing security for those parts of the city will for sure bring investment out of which the same poor people will benefit.
I go to Hillbrow once a week to check progress of the landscape upgrade that is being undertaken by JDA and, honestly, Hillbrow is changing to the best.
I applaud JDA for taking the effort to beautify Hillbrow, Berea and Yeoville and I must say that the drive I took around those areas showed me that we as a city can turn things around. Again, as I see these projects being undertaken and the lives of our people being improved, I say thanks to our African ancestors and God the Father for bringing us a person of Mr Masondo’s calibre.
As we know that our city is the main attractor of our African brothers from neighbouring countries, we need to make sure that they are able to find and identify places that they going to and it brings me back to the point you raised in your last few Citichats about street names. We really need to have visible street names and, again, we need to identify different precincts around our city. For example, Fashion District, Hillbrow, Ellis Park Precinct and all the others for which boards must be visible. The only area that one can easily identify is Newtown and even then the signage is insufficient. I’m sure there are lots of companies that can sponsor better.
Lastly, we need art performers in our city, we need to listen to nice African music while we walk streets like Main and Pritchard during lunch times and breakfasts. This will create a lovely atmosphere in the city. But for all these to succeed, the whole city needs to be a CID so that we can have security personnel on every corner.
I’m crying for this city, I love this city and I think with less than 12 months left to the Confederations Cup, we can still make it one of the most attractive cities in the world. We, as the youth, need to be given a chance to participate in making this city work.”
Nice one Pule, thanks, neil
Friday, June 13, 2008
Halala 2008 Citichat 13 June 2008
CITICHAT 23/2008 - 13 June 2008
“Halala Joburg” (and ‘une terrible gaffe’)
According to Wikipedia (was there life before it?) an award is “something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence”
Awards are truly ubiquitous covering every aspect of human endeavour and the urban world has its fair share – whether it is for urban art, urban design, land-use practices, city sustainability, urban leadership, different types of projects or developments, whatever - there is some award for excellence internationally, nationally or locally – wherever! So, I liked Wikipedia’s added comment that “awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder.”
The urban awards I am most familiar with are the annual awards of the International Downtown Association, an organization I have been a member of for many years. In fact the Central Johannesburg Partnership has received a couple of their awards over the years. This year they have the following categories with a special emphasis on Diversity and Sustainable Development:
Downtown Leadership and Management; Economic Development; Keep America Beautiful (A cigarette litter prevention programme); Marketing & Communication; Organisational Communication; Planning; Public Space; Social Issues; Special Events and Promotions; Sustainable Development and Transportation.
IDA also recognises individuals through their Individual Achievement, Lifetime Achievement and President’s Awards
The award winning entries are each covered not only at a ceremony at the annual IDA Conference but by a CD that thus provides one with a library of ‘best-practice’ examples of what is being done in towns and cities, not just across North America, but amongst the world-wide membership of IDA.
Municipalities in South Africa use ‘the freedom of the city’ as their most prestigious honouring of an individual – in the post ’94 era I think Johannesburg has thus honoured Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Beyers Naude – but I don’t know of any local government that recognises the efforts of their citizens, be they community, business, NGOs, etc., in adding value to the city in a variety of ways. This makes the ‘Halala’ Awards something unique! “Halala Joburg” means “let us honour the city of Johannesburg” and the Awards are thus the way that the City of Johannesburg, SA’s biggest and most influential city and its highly successful implementation agency, the Johannesburg Development Agency, honours “the city of Joburg and the people who have steadfastly supported her rebirth, recognising and celebrating projects which have made a fundamental difference in regenerating the Inner City.”
An independent adjudication body was appointed with Prof Alan Mabin as Chairperson. Alan, in his foreword to the Awards booklet says “Together the entries – and the prize winners among them – tell a story of the inner city’s development as a place to live, work and play, a remade and extraordinary urban environment. It is not a place which is retracing its pasts, but rather one building on those pasts and discovering new urbanisms in a different era.” I like that. The city is an evolving story and the past decade has been such an important period of that evolution and the struggle for what I call ‘normalisation’.
So, the City and the JDA held their first Halala awards dinner on Wednesday night which was greatly enjoyed by quite the largest gathering of the inner city’s movers and shakers from Business, Community and Council that I have seen for many years. It was a fun, relaxed and most enjoyable evening held at Constitution Hill in the functions dome, which wrapped the interior in a gigantic and wonderful backdrop of a night-time image of the city.
This, then, is the first time that the Halala Awards have been presented and I’m sure that the event will stir many nominations in future for deserving projects and people. Certainly, I thought that there were many projects and names of notable contributors that were missing – not the fault of the organizers but of ourselves for not having put names forward. It will now become an annual event which will provide an opportunity to rectify this.
The guiding philosophy for the awards rests in three tenets:
• The recognition of efforts that have broken new ground in urban regeneration, advancing sustainable economic growth, community wellbeing and the quality of life of all residents of the Inner City (encouraging extraordinary effort).
• The recognition of pioneering programmes and innovative projects initiated by audacious thinkers whose passion has opened new horizons in decaying areas (fostering originality)
• The recognition of commitment and dedication to fostering partnerships, initiating joint programmes and catalyzing sustainable developments that promote social harmony (encouraging participation, equality and inclusivity)
The categories that were developed from these were:
• “Caring Joburg – Supporting Joburg’s Citizens”
• “Relaxing and Playing Joburg – The Recreation Destination”
• “Living Joburg – Not houses but homes”
• “Working & Buying Joburg – Creating a Business Destination” and
• “Believing in Joburg – Joburg the home of Innovators, Investors and Implementers.”
Nice range which I’m sure will be expanded over years to come although one must find a balance between its uniqueness and relevant aspects to be honoured..
The “Caring Joburg” category was awarded to Metro Evangelical Services, known generally as “MES”. It is now a 22 year old organization that was established to address the pressing needs of the poor in the inner city. I was so delighted that their work has at last been recognised. This is such a great organization that has really been one of the inner city’s unsung heroes. They provide crèches, drop-in centres for Youth at Risk; overnight shelters; primary health care services; accommodation for young women at risk, transitional housing and assist skilled and unemployed matriculants gain year long community work. Building off a base of spiritual care they thus provide health care, basic care, social services, housing, education, training and job placement.
“Relaxing and Playing Joburg” went to Gandhi Square, the physical result of the personal vision of Gerald Olitzki, which has transformed one of the “sinkholes” of Johannesburg into a lively social meeting place. Gerald was probably the first developer to be brave enough, during a period when city property was in a nose-dive, to recognize the potential of a regenerated city and the part that could be played by focusing on the upgrading of the urban environment. Today the Square boasts a wide array of eateries and related businesses and is active and vibrant forming the model for a number of urban environment upgrades.
The “Living Joburg” category was subdivided into three awards:
‘Lower Income Developer’ which was awarded to the Johannesburg Housing Company’s Brickfields Project in Newtown. Under the visionary leadership of Taffy Adler, JHC is not a conventional social housing developer but a builder of communities and a changer of lives. The Brickfields project brings together all the aspects that Taffy is passionate about and that have become the hallmark of the JHC’s work in the inner city.
‘Lower Income Management’ was awarded to the Madulamoho Housing Association, which has developed a sustainable model for integrated housing through a housing continuum; from shelter to transitional housing to communal housing and through to market related housing all managed in one structure. It then partners with MES which provides the wide range of services previously mentioned. Although the organization is relatively young it incorporates some critical projects such as the previous Europa Hotel; (now an integrated housing unit covering the full spectrum of housing needs) Cornelius House (a transitional housing development for the previously homeless); the New Regent (communal housing); El Kero House (integrated housing) and BG Alexander Estate Phase 1( integrated housing).
‘Upper Income’ was awarded to the Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments. The project was developed by relative newcomers to the Johannesburg Inner City scene although well known in a number of other cities. Property developer and owner Atterbury Property and management and marketing agent Circlevest Properties have produced a great four star establishment for the business and leisure markets. Great choice as they again have had the vision and the guts to pioneer a concept that has filled an important space in the inner city needs.
“Working & Buying Joburg” went to WORKS@registry an initiative of City Property. Another relative newcomer to the Joburg inner city scene, but long established in Pretoria, they have made a hug impact by buying probably between 70 and 80 properties that they have refurbished, converting a large number into excellent middle income level apartments. One of their purchases was a derelict building formerly known as Registry House that was overrun by illegal occupants. They developed a concept aimed at encouraging the SMME sector through providing retail and workshop units to suit the needs of SMMEs and entrepreneurs. And it is right in the heart of the Fashion District.
For my sins, I was awarded the “Believing in Joburg” category.
Some thoughts on the event are (i) I really hope that the event will attract many more entries in the future and that these will provide a more inclusive palette to choose from (ii) the award winners were mainly white males, again not the fault of the judging panel, but of the range of submissions (iii) watching the videos that covered the finalists in each category, I was again struck by the huge innovative reservoir that the city draws from and how the video shown of the work of each group of finalists spliced together would illustrate so visibly what Alan Mabin commented on in his Foreword “….. the diversity of talent and energy which is reshaping the physical and social nature of inner city Joburg.” A CD made available to prospective investors and city aficionados locally and internationally, would be a great marketing tool for the inner city.
And “une terrible gaffe”? Have you ever had a word in your mind that is very close to another word that means something terribly different to what you intended and, so intent are you on using the right one, that the wrong one comes out? Well, in my acceptance speech I wanted to thank ‘the three women in my life’ two for their support and encouragement - my wonderful wife, Hazel and my business partner Katherine Cox (the third being the Inner City itself which my wife calls my ‘mistress‘). I wanted to particularly thank Hazel for putting up with many years of my ‘workaholism’ but it came out as ‘alcoholism’. Well, it raised the best laugh of the evening and left me somewhat embarrassed, ‘specially as I don’t drink!
Have a wonderful long-weekend.
HALALA JOBURG! Regards neil, hic!
“Halala Joburg” (and ‘une terrible gaffe’)
According to Wikipedia (was there life before it?) an award is “something given to a person or a group of people to recognize excellence in a certain field; a certificate of excellence”
Awards are truly ubiquitous covering every aspect of human endeavour and the urban world has its fair share – whether it is for urban art, urban design, land-use practices, city sustainability, urban leadership, different types of projects or developments, whatever - there is some award for excellence internationally, nationally or locally – wherever! So, I liked Wikipedia’s added comment that “awards can be given by any person or institution, although the prestige of an award usually depends on the status of the awarder.”
The urban awards I am most familiar with are the annual awards of the International Downtown Association, an organization I have been a member of for many years. In fact the Central Johannesburg Partnership has received a couple of their awards over the years. This year they have the following categories with a special emphasis on Diversity and Sustainable Development:
Downtown Leadership and Management; Economic Development; Keep America Beautiful (A cigarette litter prevention programme); Marketing & Communication; Organisational Communication; Planning; Public Space; Social Issues; Special Events and Promotions; Sustainable Development and Transportation.
IDA also recognises individuals through their Individual Achievement, Lifetime Achievement and President’s Awards
The award winning entries are each covered not only at a ceremony at the annual IDA Conference but by a CD that thus provides one with a library of ‘best-practice’ examples of what is being done in towns and cities, not just across North America, but amongst the world-wide membership of IDA.
Municipalities in South Africa use ‘the freedom of the city’ as their most prestigious honouring of an individual – in the post ’94 era I think Johannesburg has thus honoured Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Beyers Naude – but I don’t know of any local government that recognises the efforts of their citizens, be they community, business, NGOs, etc., in adding value to the city in a variety of ways. This makes the ‘Halala’ Awards something unique! “Halala Joburg” means “let us honour the city of Johannesburg” and the Awards are thus the way that the City of Johannesburg, SA’s biggest and most influential city and its highly successful implementation agency, the Johannesburg Development Agency, honours “the city of Joburg and the people who have steadfastly supported her rebirth, recognising and celebrating projects which have made a fundamental difference in regenerating the Inner City.”
An independent adjudication body was appointed with Prof Alan Mabin as Chairperson. Alan, in his foreword to the Awards booklet says “Together the entries – and the prize winners among them – tell a story of the inner city’s development as a place to live, work and play, a remade and extraordinary urban environment. It is not a place which is retracing its pasts, but rather one building on those pasts and discovering new urbanisms in a different era.” I like that. The city is an evolving story and the past decade has been such an important period of that evolution and the struggle for what I call ‘normalisation’.
So, the City and the JDA held their first Halala awards dinner on Wednesday night which was greatly enjoyed by quite the largest gathering of the inner city’s movers and shakers from Business, Community and Council that I have seen for many years. It was a fun, relaxed and most enjoyable evening held at Constitution Hill in the functions dome, which wrapped the interior in a gigantic and wonderful backdrop of a night-time image of the city.
This, then, is the first time that the Halala Awards have been presented and I’m sure that the event will stir many nominations in future for deserving projects and people. Certainly, I thought that there were many projects and names of notable contributors that were missing – not the fault of the organizers but of ourselves for not having put names forward. It will now become an annual event which will provide an opportunity to rectify this.
The guiding philosophy for the awards rests in three tenets:
• The recognition of efforts that have broken new ground in urban regeneration, advancing sustainable economic growth, community wellbeing and the quality of life of all residents of the Inner City (encouraging extraordinary effort).
• The recognition of pioneering programmes and innovative projects initiated by audacious thinkers whose passion has opened new horizons in decaying areas (fostering originality)
• The recognition of commitment and dedication to fostering partnerships, initiating joint programmes and catalyzing sustainable developments that promote social harmony (encouraging participation, equality and inclusivity)
The categories that were developed from these were:
• “Caring Joburg – Supporting Joburg’s Citizens”
• “Relaxing and Playing Joburg – The Recreation Destination”
• “Living Joburg – Not houses but homes”
• “Working & Buying Joburg – Creating a Business Destination” and
• “Believing in Joburg – Joburg the home of Innovators, Investors and Implementers.”
Nice range which I’m sure will be expanded over years to come although one must find a balance between its uniqueness and relevant aspects to be honoured..
The “Caring Joburg” category was awarded to Metro Evangelical Services, known generally as “MES”. It is now a 22 year old organization that was established to address the pressing needs of the poor in the inner city. I was so delighted that their work has at last been recognised. This is such a great organization that has really been one of the inner city’s unsung heroes. They provide crèches, drop-in centres for Youth at Risk; overnight shelters; primary health care services; accommodation for young women at risk, transitional housing and assist skilled and unemployed matriculants gain year long community work. Building off a base of spiritual care they thus provide health care, basic care, social services, housing, education, training and job placement.
“Relaxing and Playing Joburg” went to Gandhi Square, the physical result of the personal vision of Gerald Olitzki, which has transformed one of the “sinkholes” of Johannesburg into a lively social meeting place. Gerald was probably the first developer to be brave enough, during a period when city property was in a nose-dive, to recognize the potential of a regenerated city and the part that could be played by focusing on the upgrading of the urban environment. Today the Square boasts a wide array of eateries and related businesses and is active and vibrant forming the model for a number of urban environment upgrades.
The “Living Joburg” category was subdivided into three awards:
‘Lower Income Developer’ which was awarded to the Johannesburg Housing Company’s Brickfields Project in Newtown. Under the visionary leadership of Taffy Adler, JHC is not a conventional social housing developer but a builder of communities and a changer of lives. The Brickfields project brings together all the aspects that Taffy is passionate about and that have become the hallmark of the JHC’s work in the inner city.
‘Lower Income Management’ was awarded to the Madulamoho Housing Association, which has developed a sustainable model for integrated housing through a housing continuum; from shelter to transitional housing to communal housing and through to market related housing all managed in one structure. It then partners with MES which provides the wide range of services previously mentioned. Although the organization is relatively young it incorporates some critical projects such as the previous Europa Hotel; (now an integrated housing unit covering the full spectrum of housing needs) Cornelius House (a transitional housing development for the previously homeless); the New Regent (communal housing); El Kero House (integrated housing) and BG Alexander Estate Phase 1( integrated housing).
‘Upper Income’ was awarded to the Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments. The project was developed by relative newcomers to the Johannesburg Inner City scene although well known in a number of other cities. Property developer and owner Atterbury Property and management and marketing agent Circlevest Properties have produced a great four star establishment for the business and leisure markets. Great choice as they again have had the vision and the guts to pioneer a concept that has filled an important space in the inner city needs.
“Working & Buying Joburg” went to WORKS@registry an initiative of City Property. Another relative newcomer to the Joburg inner city scene, but long established in Pretoria, they have made a hug impact by buying probably between 70 and 80 properties that they have refurbished, converting a large number into excellent middle income level apartments. One of their purchases was a derelict building formerly known as Registry House that was overrun by illegal occupants. They developed a concept aimed at encouraging the SMME sector through providing retail and workshop units to suit the needs of SMMEs and entrepreneurs. And it is right in the heart of the Fashion District.
For my sins, I was awarded the “Believing in Joburg” category.
Some thoughts on the event are (i) I really hope that the event will attract many more entries in the future and that these will provide a more inclusive palette to choose from (ii) the award winners were mainly white males, again not the fault of the judging panel, but of the range of submissions (iii) watching the videos that covered the finalists in each category, I was again struck by the huge innovative reservoir that the city draws from and how the video shown of the work of each group of finalists spliced together would illustrate so visibly what Alan Mabin commented on in his Foreword “….. the diversity of talent and energy which is reshaping the physical and social nature of inner city Joburg.” A CD made available to prospective investors and city aficionados locally and internationally, would be a great marketing tool for the inner city.
And “une terrible gaffe”? Have you ever had a word in your mind that is very close to another word that means something terribly different to what you intended and, so intent are you on using the right one, that the wrong one comes out? Well, in my acceptance speech I wanted to thank ‘the three women in my life’ two for their support and encouragement - my wonderful wife, Hazel and my business partner Katherine Cox (the third being the Inner City itself which my wife calls my ‘mistress‘). I wanted to particularly thank Hazel for putting up with many years of my ‘workaholism’ but it came out as ‘alcoholism’. Well, it raised the best laugh of the evening and left me somewhat embarrassed, ‘specially as I don’t drink!
Have a wonderful long-weekend.
HALALA JOBURG! Regards neil, hic!
Friday, June 6, 2008
Charter; Midtown Progress Review Citichat 6 June 2008
CITICHAT 22/2008 - 6 June 2008
Charter Update & Midtown Meander
The third Inner City Partnership Forum meeting was held on Tuesday. The Forum is a product of the Inner City Charter Process, an opportunity for civil society to come together quarterly with the Council, led by the Mayor, and to receive progress reports on the extensive commitments contained in the Charter and generally to raise issues of concern or delight. I say ‘delight’ because it is important that one gets beyond the constant whinging and shows appreciation for what is actually being achieved, which appears considerable. The brief report back from the Inner City Programme Manager, Yael Horowitz, showed encouraging progress – 86% of commitments to the end of March had been achieved. It was a brief report because she had just returned from overseas leave two days prior to the meeting – how is it that the female sex can look so good after interminable intercontinental flights and six hours of time change whilst men look chagrined and crumpled?
It was a good meeting with a distinctly positive feel. The Mayor made some critical comments regarding the recent xenophobia reminding the gathering that as a city we have a strong history and a practice of living with and assimilating migrants – in-migration will not stop, he said, and we need to ensure that we lead from best practice and integrate all into our communities. He expressed his and the Council’s appreciation for those individuals and organisations that have tried to make those displaced as comfortable as possible and said that the full Council had distanced itself from any form of violence.
From the time that the Inner City Charter Partnership Forum was envisaged, and, more particularly at the previous meeting held on the 4th March 2008, the intent of the Forum’s Terms of Reference have been under scrutiny and debate. In particular, issues such as the Forum’s decision-making ability; how its working groups will function; what the meaning of a ‘real partnership’ is and how to monitor and, if necessary, have recourse against non-delivery have been the subject of much discussion. Agreement was reached at this session that the Inner City Charter Partnership Forum is not a decision making structure of any organisation or partners represented on the Forum but, notwithstanding this, the “the Forum may make decisions, reached through discussion, debate and agreement which decisions will have a strong mandatory effect on all partners.”
Working Groups and Special Working Groups to focus on specific issues will be established and will be required to “report back to the Charter Partnership Forum on the substance and conclusions of any discussions” and, where decisions on specific issues are required, Special Working Groups will report decisions back to the Forum.
A two stage independent assessment process will be adopted with a ”neutral and independent specialist” who will review evidence of progress and make a conclusive determination on whether progress has in fact been made against Charter commitments. All these various proposals were approved at Tuesday’s meeting and will now be built into the Terms of Reference. If you’d like a copy of the TOR drop me a line and I’ll let you have. Also, if you’d like to take part in a “Satisfaction Survey” which is to test the level of satisfaction with the role and functioning of the Forum, let me know as well.
The meeting positively received a fine preliminary presentation by Kagiso Urban Management on the proposed major revamp to the urban environment of the Retail Improvement District area which will have a strong impact on what I call Midtown and will commence from July onwards as a partnership between business and Council. There will also be further consultation with various stakeholders before the final plan is approved.
However, two inputs from the floor, reminded everyone of the magnitude of the challenges still facing inner city revitalisation. The first came from one of the longest serving ‘urban activists’ in the city, architect Robin Fee, whose involvement goes back to the 1960s. Robin pointed out “four disgraceful” issues, actually six in all:
1. The Main entrance to the City via the Nelson Mandela Bridge has one leaving the constantly improving Braamfontein end and landing in a complete mess on the other side in Newtown. I know that the Chairman of the JDA suggested some years ago that this become a notable ‘gateway’ to the city and Rob’s reminder is a timeous one.
2. The disgusting state of Ntemi Piliso Street (previously West Street). Particularly important because of the new presence of a number of corporates clustering in this area which will increase pedestrian and vehicle flows. Possibly this will be taken into account in the planned revamp of the Diagonal Street precinct..
3. The non-defined relationship between the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Council which has resulted in the appalling state of
3.1 Beyers Naude Square and the
3.2 Rissik Street Post Office
Whilst I have ‘unofficially’ been told that plans are well advanced for these areas, they are of such central and historic importance to the city that it would be good for their future development to be placed on the public table for scrutiny. In a separate discussion to that of the Forum meeting, the issue of how the Province has such a large influence on Beyers Naude Square was raised. It is acknowledged that the Harry Hofmeyr parking garage (which is in quite an awful state at present) was evidently purchased by Province, the question remains as how the Square itself, the City’s public open space can be controlled by the Province?
4. The issue of sky-signage and building wraps. I’ve also raised this issue before and it certainly is something that we need more clarity on.
“If we do everything else we are talking about and don’t attend to these”, Rob said, “we will be like the ugly sisters in Cinderella leaving the mess to be cleaned up to someone else whilst they rush off to the ball!” Nice one, Rob, and very true. There are still a large number of Cinderella situations in the city that need tlc.
The second major issue raised was regarding the continuing non-performance of the JMPD as regards the inner city. Their lack of a presence in relation to by-law enforcement and particularly their disinterest in managing the growing traffic congestion in the city was again highlighted. One of many examples that I can also attest to, is the intersection of Rissik and De Villiers where combi taxis in both directions in De Villiers constantly jump the traffic lights and block the northern flow of traffic up Rissik Street.
As part of the protocol of the Forum, these issues will be dealt with at its next meeting.
Robin could have added another issue to his list, one close to his heart through his original involvement in its design and construction - The Carlton Centre. I received this e-mail from a Citichat reader last week: “I took advantage of a day off work recently to spend some time in the city centre and was tremendously impressed by the progress being made.
My one disappointment was the Carlton Centre. While the shopping centre is clean (and throngs with shoppers), and the parkade and office tower are well used, I do not believe the Carlton is being used to anywhere near its true potential. I understand that Transnet wishes to dispose of the Carlton – a good idea, I think, since a seasoned property company would better utilise and develop the asset. I was under the impression that this would happen soon, but have heard nothing since the initial announcement. Has Transnet changed its mind?” Good question - what a tragedy if what was once hailed as the beacon of hope in the inner city turns into the opposite with the rest of the inner resuscitated around it!
Midtown Meander
Continued my driving tour of parts of the city this week – this time “Midtown” from Ntemi Piliso Street in the west to End Street in the east and President to Wolmarans Streets south to north.
Not going to give street by street comments but rather some overall impressions. Firstly this area is the ‘gritty” centre of the city particularly as one moves east. It pumps people in endless flows – ever tried driving across the pedestrian crossing in Pritchard between the Smal Street Mall and the Methodist Church even when the light is in your favour? People just spill across the street. We really are a city of incredibly undisciplined pedestrians, and I include myself as one of those. Since the upgrading of Pritchard in front of the High Court there seems to be an increase of illegal parking particularly in Pritchard at the east end of the Court which causes added chaos to that area. In fact traffic in the midtown area has become positively diabolical. And much of this is for the very reason raised at the Charter Forum meeting – lack of JMPD officers. In President, Pritchard, Jeppe Bree and Plein, loading bays are generally used exclusively by illegally parked cars which results in an enormous amount of double-parking for vehicles that are trying to offload (and shoppers dodging into retailers to get something). In President Street a huge pantechnicon was double parked on the left of the street in order to unload its cargo whilst thirty metres further on the right the same situation was repeated which resulted in the street effectively closing down to a single lane. Not a cop in sight. Kerk Street linear market has strings of cars illegally parked down its length. Add to the resultant chaos combi taxis, and it becomes diabolical. So many of the combi taxi drivers have no consideration for other traffic nor for pedestrians. Many sections of pavements in ‘east midtown’ are cluttered beyond belief with informal traders and stacks of refuse. That the city is alive and pumping there is no doubt but it could do with some authority to bring order to the confusion. We seem to have generally lost respect for each other and behave just as we want to and to hell with the consequences.
Again, I found a significant absence of street signage – there are more “no-name” intersections than those that are signed! It suddenly struck me that we once had street names on both poles and curbs – with all the road widening and curb replacement, I don’t see new curb signage. Surely a good time to introduce some new form of street identification – I’ve seen concrete curbs overseas with street names recessed into the face, sometimes the letters are left bare, others are painted or the recesses filled with brass (not that I’m suggesting that here!) but I did see brass inlaid names on the top ‘surface’ of pavement corners in Seattle which is useful for pedestrians! What about every corner section throughout the city being designated a corner through the use of granite curbs with the street names carved into the stone? Cost? Negligible in relation to what we are spending on widening streets for the BRT and the new pavement programmes! No maintenance and lots of job creation that could be stretched over a number of years! And, we’d have permanent street names!
As compared to such a drive ten years ago where almost every building in midtown looked unloved and uncared for, now, in every street there are a growing number of buildings that have either had their external façades cleaned or repainted. Unfortunately that often shows up the decay of their neighbours even more than normal but I think we need a by-law that requires everyone to clean up their facades before 2010! I’m not looking to ‘sanitise’ the city but, man, we have some incredibly beautiful buildings in this city but you only really appreciate them, like Cher, when they are face-lifted or made over! Otherwise they merge into the general drabness of the cityscape. I commented a couple of weeks back on the ubiquitous City Props signs but between them and AFHCO it’s more like a rash across the city – a good rash showing the pulse of change and all their buildings are being beautifully restored. City Props have also introduced some real quality retail back into their buildings which is so encouraging at street level. Other buildings, now getting fewer in number, are positively disgusting. I think I’m going to do a meander to ‘name and shame’ the culprits one of these days.
The area around Joubert Park/Union Gardens is indescribable – the sheer volume of people, combi taxis, hawkers (and dirt) is staggering. Talk about energy pumping! Added to all this, however, is the fact that almost all the roads in this area are being widened and it is utter chaos.
Just back to the issue of the visibility of the JMPD. In two-and-a-half hours of driving the streets of midtown I saw the following. After an hour and a quarter I saw a JMPD van driving through the Fashion District. Later as I was turning driving north up Rissik, a bakkie had broken down in the middle lane – a JMPD vehicle drove past leaving the bakkie and the ensnarled traffic to sort itself out. Traffic lights weren’t working at four major intersections in the city but I saw no officers. And then, voila, a large detachment of JMPD officers on motorbikes, about twelve in all screeching down Pritchard, sirens blaring, providing escort to a SAPS van clearly conveying prisoners from the High Court. However dangerous the criminals being transported might be – twelve escorts when the city is gridlocked because of double parking and combi-taxis jumping traffic lights, blocking the normal flow of traffic and four sets of traffic lights completely dead.- seems weird!
In my last meander I mentioned the pole in Harrison Street that had been knocked over and had been lying flat on the pavement for a number of weeks/months. It’s gone! Hallelujah! I’m not naïve enough to think it was the power of the pen but what I found interesting is that 5 metres away from where it was flattened on the pavement is a parking meter on a pole that stands at 45 degrees to the pavement. It probably was bent like that in the same incident that flattened the no parking pole for it has been like that for the same length of time. That still stands! Different departments? Strange!.
ciao, neil
Charter Update & Midtown Meander
The third Inner City Partnership Forum meeting was held on Tuesday. The Forum is a product of the Inner City Charter Process, an opportunity for civil society to come together quarterly with the Council, led by the Mayor, and to receive progress reports on the extensive commitments contained in the Charter and generally to raise issues of concern or delight. I say ‘delight’ because it is important that one gets beyond the constant whinging and shows appreciation for what is actually being achieved, which appears considerable. The brief report back from the Inner City Programme Manager, Yael Horowitz, showed encouraging progress – 86% of commitments to the end of March had been achieved. It was a brief report because she had just returned from overseas leave two days prior to the meeting – how is it that the female sex can look so good after interminable intercontinental flights and six hours of time change whilst men look chagrined and crumpled?
It was a good meeting with a distinctly positive feel. The Mayor made some critical comments regarding the recent xenophobia reminding the gathering that as a city we have a strong history and a practice of living with and assimilating migrants – in-migration will not stop, he said, and we need to ensure that we lead from best practice and integrate all into our communities. He expressed his and the Council’s appreciation for those individuals and organisations that have tried to make those displaced as comfortable as possible and said that the full Council had distanced itself from any form of violence.
From the time that the Inner City Charter Partnership Forum was envisaged, and, more particularly at the previous meeting held on the 4th March 2008, the intent of the Forum’s Terms of Reference have been under scrutiny and debate. In particular, issues such as the Forum’s decision-making ability; how its working groups will function; what the meaning of a ‘real partnership’ is and how to monitor and, if necessary, have recourse against non-delivery have been the subject of much discussion. Agreement was reached at this session that the Inner City Charter Partnership Forum is not a decision making structure of any organisation or partners represented on the Forum but, notwithstanding this, the “the Forum may make decisions, reached through discussion, debate and agreement which decisions will have a strong mandatory effect on all partners.”
Working Groups and Special Working Groups to focus on specific issues will be established and will be required to “report back to the Charter Partnership Forum on the substance and conclusions of any discussions” and, where decisions on specific issues are required, Special Working Groups will report decisions back to the Forum.
A two stage independent assessment process will be adopted with a ”neutral and independent specialist” who will review evidence of progress and make a conclusive determination on whether progress has in fact been made against Charter commitments. All these various proposals were approved at Tuesday’s meeting and will now be built into the Terms of Reference. If you’d like a copy of the TOR drop me a line and I’ll let you have. Also, if you’d like to take part in a “Satisfaction Survey” which is to test the level of satisfaction with the role and functioning of the Forum, let me know as well.
The meeting positively received a fine preliminary presentation by Kagiso Urban Management on the proposed major revamp to the urban environment of the Retail Improvement District area which will have a strong impact on what I call Midtown and will commence from July onwards as a partnership between business and Council. There will also be further consultation with various stakeholders before the final plan is approved.
However, two inputs from the floor, reminded everyone of the magnitude of the challenges still facing inner city revitalisation. The first came from one of the longest serving ‘urban activists’ in the city, architect Robin Fee, whose involvement goes back to the 1960s. Robin pointed out “four disgraceful” issues, actually six in all:
1. The Main entrance to the City via the Nelson Mandela Bridge has one leaving the constantly improving Braamfontein end and landing in a complete mess on the other side in Newtown. I know that the Chairman of the JDA suggested some years ago that this become a notable ‘gateway’ to the city and Rob’s reminder is a timeous one.
2. The disgusting state of Ntemi Piliso Street (previously West Street). Particularly important because of the new presence of a number of corporates clustering in this area which will increase pedestrian and vehicle flows. Possibly this will be taken into account in the planned revamp of the Diagonal Street precinct..
3. The non-defined relationship between the Gauteng Provincial Government and the Council which has resulted in the appalling state of
3.1 Beyers Naude Square and the
3.2 Rissik Street Post Office
Whilst I have ‘unofficially’ been told that plans are well advanced for these areas, they are of such central and historic importance to the city that it would be good for their future development to be placed on the public table for scrutiny. In a separate discussion to that of the Forum meeting, the issue of how the Province has such a large influence on Beyers Naude Square was raised. It is acknowledged that the Harry Hofmeyr parking garage (which is in quite an awful state at present) was evidently purchased by Province, the question remains as how the Square itself, the City’s public open space can be controlled by the Province?
4. The issue of sky-signage and building wraps. I’ve also raised this issue before and it certainly is something that we need more clarity on.
“If we do everything else we are talking about and don’t attend to these”, Rob said, “we will be like the ugly sisters in Cinderella leaving the mess to be cleaned up to someone else whilst they rush off to the ball!” Nice one, Rob, and very true. There are still a large number of Cinderella situations in the city that need tlc.
The second major issue raised was regarding the continuing non-performance of the JMPD as regards the inner city. Their lack of a presence in relation to by-law enforcement and particularly their disinterest in managing the growing traffic congestion in the city was again highlighted. One of many examples that I can also attest to, is the intersection of Rissik and De Villiers where combi taxis in both directions in De Villiers constantly jump the traffic lights and block the northern flow of traffic up Rissik Street.
As part of the protocol of the Forum, these issues will be dealt with at its next meeting.
Robin could have added another issue to his list, one close to his heart through his original involvement in its design and construction - The Carlton Centre. I received this e-mail from a Citichat reader last week: “I took advantage of a day off work recently to spend some time in the city centre and was tremendously impressed by the progress being made.
My one disappointment was the Carlton Centre. While the shopping centre is clean (and throngs with shoppers), and the parkade and office tower are well used, I do not believe the Carlton is being used to anywhere near its true potential. I understand that Transnet wishes to dispose of the Carlton – a good idea, I think, since a seasoned property company would better utilise and develop the asset. I was under the impression that this would happen soon, but have heard nothing since the initial announcement. Has Transnet changed its mind?” Good question - what a tragedy if what was once hailed as the beacon of hope in the inner city turns into the opposite with the rest of the inner resuscitated around it!
Midtown Meander
Continued my driving tour of parts of the city this week – this time “Midtown” from Ntemi Piliso Street in the west to End Street in the east and President to Wolmarans Streets south to north.
Not going to give street by street comments but rather some overall impressions. Firstly this area is the ‘gritty” centre of the city particularly as one moves east. It pumps people in endless flows – ever tried driving across the pedestrian crossing in Pritchard between the Smal Street Mall and the Methodist Church even when the light is in your favour? People just spill across the street. We really are a city of incredibly undisciplined pedestrians, and I include myself as one of those. Since the upgrading of Pritchard in front of the High Court there seems to be an increase of illegal parking particularly in Pritchard at the east end of the Court which causes added chaos to that area. In fact traffic in the midtown area has become positively diabolical. And much of this is for the very reason raised at the Charter Forum meeting – lack of JMPD officers. In President, Pritchard, Jeppe Bree and Plein, loading bays are generally used exclusively by illegally parked cars which results in an enormous amount of double-parking for vehicles that are trying to offload (and shoppers dodging into retailers to get something). In President Street a huge pantechnicon was double parked on the left of the street in order to unload its cargo whilst thirty metres further on the right the same situation was repeated which resulted in the street effectively closing down to a single lane. Not a cop in sight. Kerk Street linear market has strings of cars illegally parked down its length. Add to the resultant chaos combi taxis, and it becomes diabolical. So many of the combi taxi drivers have no consideration for other traffic nor for pedestrians. Many sections of pavements in ‘east midtown’ are cluttered beyond belief with informal traders and stacks of refuse. That the city is alive and pumping there is no doubt but it could do with some authority to bring order to the confusion. We seem to have generally lost respect for each other and behave just as we want to and to hell with the consequences.
Again, I found a significant absence of street signage – there are more “no-name” intersections than those that are signed! It suddenly struck me that we once had street names on both poles and curbs – with all the road widening and curb replacement, I don’t see new curb signage. Surely a good time to introduce some new form of street identification – I’ve seen concrete curbs overseas with street names recessed into the face, sometimes the letters are left bare, others are painted or the recesses filled with brass (not that I’m suggesting that here!) but I did see brass inlaid names on the top ‘surface’ of pavement corners in Seattle which is useful for pedestrians! What about every corner section throughout the city being designated a corner through the use of granite curbs with the street names carved into the stone? Cost? Negligible in relation to what we are spending on widening streets for the BRT and the new pavement programmes! No maintenance and lots of job creation that could be stretched over a number of years! And, we’d have permanent street names!
As compared to such a drive ten years ago where almost every building in midtown looked unloved and uncared for, now, in every street there are a growing number of buildings that have either had their external façades cleaned or repainted. Unfortunately that often shows up the decay of their neighbours even more than normal but I think we need a by-law that requires everyone to clean up their facades before 2010! I’m not looking to ‘sanitise’ the city but, man, we have some incredibly beautiful buildings in this city but you only really appreciate them, like Cher, when they are face-lifted or made over! Otherwise they merge into the general drabness of the cityscape. I commented a couple of weeks back on the ubiquitous City Props signs but between them and AFHCO it’s more like a rash across the city – a good rash showing the pulse of change and all their buildings are being beautifully restored. City Props have also introduced some real quality retail back into their buildings which is so encouraging at street level. Other buildings, now getting fewer in number, are positively disgusting. I think I’m going to do a meander to ‘name and shame’ the culprits one of these days.
The area around Joubert Park/Union Gardens is indescribable – the sheer volume of people, combi taxis, hawkers (and dirt) is staggering. Talk about energy pumping! Added to all this, however, is the fact that almost all the roads in this area are being widened and it is utter chaos.
Just back to the issue of the visibility of the JMPD. In two-and-a-half hours of driving the streets of midtown I saw the following. After an hour and a quarter I saw a JMPD van driving through the Fashion District. Later as I was turning driving north up Rissik, a bakkie had broken down in the middle lane – a JMPD vehicle drove past leaving the bakkie and the ensnarled traffic to sort itself out. Traffic lights weren’t working at four major intersections in the city but I saw no officers. And then, voila, a large detachment of JMPD officers on motorbikes, about twelve in all screeching down Pritchard, sirens blaring, providing escort to a SAPS van clearly conveying prisoners from the High Court. However dangerous the criminals being transported might be – twelve escorts when the city is gridlocked because of double parking and combi-taxis jumping traffic lights, blocking the normal flow of traffic and four sets of traffic lights completely dead.- seems weird!
In my last meander I mentioned the pole in Harrison Street that had been knocked over and had been lying flat on the pavement for a number of weeks/months. It’s gone! Hallelujah! I’m not naïve enough to think it was the power of the pen but what I found interesting is that 5 metres away from where it was flattened on the pavement is a parking meter on a pole that stands at 45 degrees to the pavement. It probably was bent like that in the same incident that flattened the no parking pole for it has been like that for the same length of time. That still stands! Different departments? Strange!.
ciao, neil
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