December 2011
Catching up!

This week, some more updating on issues I’ve missed out on over this year – next year we’ll look more closely at what is happening on the ground.

Joeys – city of contrasts!

Looking through my file in which I keep all the bits ‘n pieces that folk send me about the inner city, I came across the following two, both some months old but that reminded me again of the huge contrasts the central city offers. The first was an announcement that “Johannesburg makes Wallpaper magazine's list of 5 Best Cities”. Wallpaper*, the famous British magazine focusing on architecture, fashion, lifestyle and design, announced its Design Awards 2011. Rio de Janeiro was voted World's Best City and Johannesburg was among the top 5, together with Chicago, Hong Kong and Oslo.

According to the magazine, "South Africa's commercial capital has bloomed and boomed since the end of apartheid. The townships show there is a long way to go, but Johannesburg pushes on, shaping itself into a world-class city. Its arts scene is a major draw…….and in the heart of Jo'burg, the converted warehouse complex Arts on Main is a shining example of urban preservation done well. A true creative hub, its tenants include Bailey Seippel Gallery, publisher David Krut and eaterie Canteen.”

Amongst the urban developments ‘worth noting’, the article listed: Gautrain rail link; Rea Vaya bus system; renovated former industrial complexes in Newtown, such as the Workers' Museum and Turbine Hall Square.

The second article was about an informal trader on the corner of Rissik and Bree Streets who sells false teeth from his pavement stall. The false teeth are collected from undertakers in Johannesburg, (Proudly South African!) disinfected (hopefully!), and sold for R20.00 for a pair whilst used singles only cost R10.00. You are invited to test them until you find the perfect match! Hmmm, wonder why Wallpaper* didn’t include it in their ‘worth noting section? At less than two pounds a pair they are a bargain!

Now this is urban regeneration!

When we bandy about words like ‘urban renewal’, ‘urban regeneration’ and ‘urban revitalisation’ everyone nods knowingly but many have totally different perceptions of what is meant. Those perceptions range from ‘greened’ iconic soaring glass and aluminium towers replacing the drab cityscape to the sanitation of all public space preferably by removing indigent street people and the informal traders who add to the detritus. That’s not it!!!!!

The words renewal, regeneration and revitalization are all positive words that speak of renewed life and vitality and above all, renewed energy!

Wallpaper* has got it right ‘Arts on Main’ “is a shining example of urban preservation done well.” Starting just a few years back, Jonathan Liebmann bought the old D.F.Corlett construction offices and builders yard on the block bordered by Main, Berea and Fox Streets. At the time, a friend of mine, in the ‘city business,’ said that this was the most ‘unlikely to succeed’ investment given the area and what the developer wanted to do. This type of project stood no chance of success, she said, no chance at all!

Some weeks prior to this conversation, I had been invited by Jonathan to visit the site he had bought. As we traipsed through building rubble and contractor's mess, he spoke of his vision for the building and the area. I was impressed! The building was to become ‘Arts on Main’ a project that incorporated a number of old, mostly industrial buildings, into mixed-use space that would offer alternative lifestyles, workspaces and retail outlets. One of the first buyers was in fact William Kentridge. Following his interest the project drew Goodman Gallery, The Nirox Foundations and The Goethe Institute. In just a couple of years Jonathan created what has become a fundamental component of Johannesburg’s cultural landscape, hence its mention in Wallpaper*.

But this was only the beginning and the spur to a much broader concept of transforming the entire area around Arts on Main into a fully integrated, mixed use community. Comprehensive and mixed income residential offerings were introduced in the next phase. Two more remodeled buildings (‘Main Street Life’ and ‘12 Decades’) have been added and I understand that five more associated projects are in various stages of completion.

Some time ago two German artists came to South Africa and collaborated with a Sowetan artist on the “Remote Words” project, which resulted in the word ‘Maboneng’ being produced as text artwork on the roof of Arts on Main. This Sotho word, meaning “Place of Light”, spoke to Liebmann’s vision for an enlightened community in the area. As his marketing brochure says “The regeneration efforts go beyond developing old buildings in that the company also focuses on engaging with and uplifting the community. The company has placed a strong focus on the creation of lifestyle spaces for members of the community as well as encouraged support for existing businesses in the surrounding areas. The company has also formed partnerships with community initiatives and continues to work on projects that involve securing and lighting the streets as well as improving the transport systems to and from the area.”

It’s all about the people, now that’s what I call urban regeneration!

Frank’s Ashes

Referring to my story in the last Citichat regarding the ashes of Frank Wild, Flo Bird dropped me a note to say “as regard’s Frank’s ashes, we (Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust) have put a box with a plaque recording the fact that they were there for so many years and their removal for interment alongside Shackleton.” Thanks Flo, that’s great because the story would have been otherwise lost.

The Legislature (old City Hall).

One of the reasons I was given some years ago for the Gauteng Legislature buying the Old City Hall, where they were tenants of the City Council, related to maintenance or lack thereof. During the Legislature’s tenancy of the building no maintenance of the building had been provided by the City. The Legislature which is not allowed through statute to spend money on properties they do not own, was therefore unable to provide the much needed maintenance. The obvious solution was to buy the building which happened in November 2001 for the ridiculous sum of R20 million, another example of one level of government scratching another’s back! (If I got my computer correctly to calculate the value of the building today, 100 years later, at an average inflation rate of just 2.5%, the value of the building would be in excess of R100 million!).

For whatever reason, the promised maintenance/restoration failed to materialise and the building continued to deteriorate badly. The good news is that an announcement was recently made that “the general renovation of the exterior of the institution has commenced. In essence, this project, which will extend over a three year period, will restore the sandstone exterior of the GPL building back to its original colour and at the same time, repair damaged sandstone either by replacement or reconstitution. In addition, the renovation work will address the balustrades, the window frames, window putty, the guttering, and the roof tiles, all with a view to refurbishment or replacement – where absolutely necessary – of those components of the building. The end result will be a fully restored exterior of the building akin to its appearance when it was originally commissioned in 1915.”

Whoopee!!! Interesting that the entire building took only three years to build originally (1912 to 1914) at a cost of R900 000!

Rissik Street Post Office

As you know, following repeated warnings to the Council of the dangers of allowing vandals and various people turning it into their personal night shelter, the derelict Rissik Street Post Office was badly damaged by fire on the 1st of November 2009.

A group of indiduals and organization, incensed by the Council’s criminal neglect of the building, attempted to lay a charge against both the City and the Provincial Government but the SAPS refused to accept the charge - which had to be directed against the Executive Mayor (as representing the City) and the Premier (as representing the Province). “You are not allowed to lay charges against the Mayor and/or Premier” we were told by a succession of police officers starting with the charge officer on duty; then his supervisor; then his officer in charge, then the lieutenant who referred us to the captain. The captain said our charge was framed under the wrong clause in the Act and told us to “go away” and redraft it. The lawyers pointed out that it was the correct provision and so on and on.

In the end the Council undertook to effect repairs and the work was declared the responsibility of the Johannesburg Property Company under whose stewardship the building had been allowed to quietly implode on itself for fifteen years. Being aware of their poor track record and the excellent work done by the JDA, we implored the Executive Mayor to move the job to the JDA, to which he agreed. However internal politics then came to the fore and the decision of the Executive Mayor was reversed. It soon became clear that the Council were only interested in restoring the structure to the extent of the insurance payout. This is exactly what some of us had been concerned would happen. Time should have been spent on looking at a number of other alternatives – going out for proposal calls on what was left after the fire with the insurance money provided to the developer; leaving the exterior of the building as a monument to inefficiency but inserting a new building within the exterior (as was done so successfully at Turbine Hall and the JDA’s offices in the Bus Factory), leaving the private sector to come up with ingenious proposals whilst respecting the heritage envelope of the building, etc. etc. Instead we now have what we basically had before the fire, another derelict building but with a new roof! The insurance recovery evidently didn’t even cover the cost of repairing the bell tower – work that one out! So what happens next…..? Suggestions have been floating around about using the building for the offices of the Executive Mayor but don’t hold your breath. It has only taken us just under 20 years to get where we are from when the building was vacated by the Post Office – it took local government about the same time between making the decision to vacate the old City Hall and move into its current Gulag 17 on Braamfontein Hill! On second thoughts a Gulag is the wrong description as Aleksandr Solzheitsyn said that the gulags were “a system where people were worked to death”. No chance of that happening!!!!!!!

Marshall Street Barracks

Another result of government neglect, this time Central Government, also leading to a fire and continuing disinterest in the gutted historic building from the government department concerned, is the Marshall Street Barracks. Continuous pressure on Public Works to “do something” has resulted in indifference. Now Flo Bird has taken up the cudgels and if anyone has the determination to get action it is Flo, so watch this space.

Rand Steam Laundries

Remember the historic Rand Steam Laundries complex that was totally annihilated by the Imperial Group in early 2008 - notwithstanding its provisional status as a Provincial Heritage Site? (The name of their car rental agency was incidentally changed subsequent to the incident through partial acquisition by Europcar). Well, they have applied to Council for the site to be used temporarily as a parking area but that has not as yet been agreed to. But they will have to comply with redevelopment terms that all future development will have to be in terms of an overall urban development framework (UDF) that in turn has to address a whole host of issues including the reconstruction of the laundry buildings along Napier Road, the restoration of the existing laundry building and the circular tower and the commemoration of the Amawasha site. The restoration and reconstruction of the laundry buildings have to occur simultaneously with or before any further development of the site. Again, the driving force in protecting the future of the site has been the Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust

Charter

Since the last Citichat, I managed to get some answers regarding the fate of the previous Charter and the future intentions. Firstly, the overall responsibility has been taken away from the Development, Planning and Urban Management Department and transferred to the Region F office. For me this is a big disappointment – not that the Nathe Mtetwa is not competent, I regard him as one of the best – but with the amount of strategic thinking that has to go into this process, I was really hoping that the work would fall under the JDA. They have been ‘mothering’ the process for the past few months. However, I’m sure that Nathe will take a firm grip on where the Charter is going with the political direction being the responsibility of Ros Greeff. What will be interesting will be how she will structure the process given that the Inner City 79 Committee and inner city mayoral sub-committee have been scuttled. I gather that the broad thinking is to have another round of consultations with the CoJ stakeholders and the charter partners. Then another Summit (another mountain to climb!) and a new Charter which I assume will pick up all the issues not completed in the previous Charter. I believe that the previous charter will still undergo external audit. My concern that the Charter has been lost in the Growth and Development Strategy is evidently incorrect. The GDS is considered the high level strategy to which the Charter (and other Council programmes/ processes) respond.

Tourism

Apart from the Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust’s brilliant tours of many years standing and which cover a far wider area than just the inner city, I spent quite some years as being the only other regular “tour show” in town. By “tour show” I mean one with a focus on inner city regeneration. Before I moved down to Montagu I was asked by the JDA to develop a tourist guide training programme covering urban renewal and arts in the inner city. I then ran a number of training sessions to probably a hundred individuals and organization interested in this field and have been delighted that there now appear to be regular and varied tours on offer. One that caught my eye is a company that goes by the name Past Experiences (www.pastexperiences.co.za). It is evidently a small family business - Jo Buitendach and Tania Olsson are the tour guides. They both possess that critical quality for guiding – passion – passion for the inner city, for its many and varied peoples, its buildings, its history, its art and culture and, of course its regeneration. I believe that passion is the core ingredient for successful tour guiding so that the fact that they are ideally qualified sharing degrees in archeology, history and linguistics is almost secondary.

I recently received the Cape Info December newsletter (well I do live in the Western Cape!) and two issues jumped out at me. The first was the tremendous support Cape Town received from its citizens et al in seeking and winning two major awards (apart from "World's Top Destination"!) namely World Design Capital 2014 and Table Mountain's New 7 Wonder of Nature status. The report made a comment that we Joburgers need to think seriously about – “Both (awards) introduce a paradigm shift in the way people around the world will think about Cape Town. One must wonder if other SA towns work hard enough.” Well we don’t have a Table Mountain but we do have a hell of a lot else, we need to get our act together!

The second issue was a comment made about the Joburg Tourism Company. They had evidently agreed to take part in a National Tourism Survey (in which 69% of respondents were from the Western Cape!) and the article says JTC had agreed to participate in the survey to increase responses from Gauteng. They evidently did ask a claimed 8,000 subscribers to participate by clicking on a link in their newsletter. But the link was to their Travel Information page. Cape Info pointed the error out and JTC offered to add a banner but never bothered to correct the incorrect URL!

Hey Jozi, we need to get our act together! Ciao, neil