Work is forging ahead in the inner city, with refurbishments keeping pace with changes being undertaken for the Rea Vaya bus system. It is great to see all this energy.

Neil Fraser

THERE is an interesting commentary in the 26 May issue of Time on city limits, by Rami Khouri. The article focuses on the "dazzling metropolises that are rising across the Gulf" - Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and so on.

He uses a new word to describe them - "hypercities"; well, it's new for me. Essentially he is commenting on the fact that fast growth, bold expansion, streamlined service delivery and openness to the rest of the world are remarkable achievements but are not the key attributes of great cities. Comparing them to "enduring cities" such as London, Istanbul, New Delhi and New York City, he says that while they share, to varying degrees, multinational populations, expanding economies and efficient infrastructure, what is missing is cultural production, intellectual and scientific output and pluralistic politics.

Hmmm - makes you think, doesn't it? Don't try to score us; we are evidently suddenly unable even to come to terms with the first of those for whatever the underlying reason. If you didn't read Mamphela Ramphele's article in The Star on Thursday, 22 May, do yourself a favour and do so. She provides an incisive analysis of our current state of affairs.

In her closing remarks she comments: "Self-respect and respect for others is what defines us as human. We need a social movement to promote a value system that balances the material, aesthetic and spiritual needs of our society. Reigniting a focus on ethical behaviour would go a long way to reducing levels of crime and abuse of women and children." And lots else besides!

If you want to provide practical assistance in the current crisis please go to the end of this Citichat.

New Doornfontein
Found some time to do a bit more "city-meandering" this week and had a look at what's happening west to east and generally between Market and Anderson streets, and then around New Doornfontein.

Firstly, some general impressions: the area I went through is decidedly cleaner these days, although there are still problem spots.

Secondly, the new pavement programme is making a difference in the areas that have been completed, but also with some problems. For instance, the Johannesburg Development Agency did a great job of providing new pavements in the Jewel City precinct, with a mixture of brick and concrete paving with some lovely inset mosaic panels done by local artists - but they are already starting to look scruffy. Surely there should be a special and regular cleaning programme, such as high pressure water or steam cleaning, instituted wherever new high quality work such as this has been installed?

The ongoing project of renewing pavements now under way over a large area of Hillbrow - to eventually cover the city centre - will be a waste of money if we are not going to have a proper programme to maintain the surfaces and street furniture from day one. With our volume of foot traffic, it won't take long for the new surfaces to be so ingrained with dust, dirt, vehicle exhausts and general litter that they will look as if they had never been renewed.

Thirdly, an added problem in the Jewel Street area is that there are no refuse bins. Well, I did see three of the old circular concrete bins in Berea Street, which is the eastern edge of Jewel City, but there is not one bin on either side of the upgraded pavements from Main Street right up to End Street - about 200 metres! In fact, the only bin I could find was on the corner of Nugget Street, about 400 metres from Berea Street. Does Pikitup think that the new pavements are going to stop people littering? That's crazy! Everyone throws their rubbish on to the new pavements because there are no bins and the rubbish gets ground into the new surfaces - another example of the council working in silos.

Street signs
Fourthly, some years ago, while visiting Japan, I just couldn't find my way around because I couldn't read the Japanese street names but, at least, there was a sign on every corner for you to co-ordinate with your street map. Here, I drove around the inner city for a couple of hours, a city that I think I know quite well, but trying to keep track of where you see things of interest makes it very apparent that street names are generally conspicuous only by their absence. Hey, when the anticipated mob arrives for 2010, don't tell the visitors to go to such-and-such a road because there is no way they'll find it nor know when they're in it.

This leads me to thinking that we have a long way to go with our much-vaunted new urban management system. Surely missing street names, out of date street signs and those that have been bashed by traffic, human and vehicle, need to be attended to. There's a no-parking pole in Harrison Street close to Market that was knocked flat six to eight weeks ago, if not more. It lies flattened across the pavement and you have to jump over it for fear of tripping. The result is a scruffy, unmanaged, don't care appearance that is disappointing.

If we can get all of these issues attended to before 2010, will we revert to our current levels of management thereafter?

So, is there any good news? Sure - lots! My final impression is, in fact, that there is still a lot of energy in the inner city. Down on the western end, the construction of the Johannesburg Land Company's new high-rise office building, to be the head office of Zurich Re, is moving apace. Now with ground and first floor out of the ground, it won't be long before it makes its presence felt on the western skyline. It will be in good company with the conversions that have taken place to its immediate south-east around Marshall and Anderson streets - the Mapungubwe, Dogon, Ashanti Isibaya, the new AAC parking garage, and so forth.

Still in the early design stage is the extension Standard Bank is planning to its massive campus on what has traditionally been called the Ussher site, but I'm sure it won't be that long before construction commences, maybe next year.

On the opposite, eastern side of town, excavation of the basements of the two huge Absa blocks look as though they are completed but it will still take some time before new construction appears above ground level as they each appear to have quite a number of basement floors to be constructed first. One covers the block between Main and Marshall, Troye to Delvers and the other a double block from Troye to Von Wielligh, Marshall to Anderson. Nice to have two major new office blocks of the order of R1-billion each under construction on opposite sides of the city centre.

Arts on Main
East of the growing Absa campus and just east of the Jewel City precinct is a new development being billed as Arts on Main, using the yard and offices of the DF Corlett construction company, among one of the oldest surviving companies in Johannesburg. The press release I was sent says the following:

"Arts on Main is a creative hub of artists, creative companies and residents. The building has been converted from the DF Corlett construction company offices and warehouse. It is a mixed-use development with commercial, retail, residential and studio spaces. The spaces will be sold as shells so that the buyers have the opportunity to implement their own ideas. The conversion honours the building's history, highlighting features such as the double-volume ceilings, concrete floors and over-sized windows, while adding new features such as the courtyards and roof gardens.

"Other interesting features include an open air cinema, a common area exhibition space and a deli for the convenience of the tenants. Arts on Main is situated in the emerging City and Suburban area in the eastern CBD, in close proximity to the Absa headquarters and Ellis Park, and opposite Jewel City, the expanding diamond exchange.

"The plans have been drawn up by Daffonchio and Associates, whose design work focuses on energy efficiency and awareness of the broader effects that buildings have on the environment. Daffonchio and Associates is one of six architectural firms that has been chosen to design the Monaghan Farm development and it has completed projects such as the Unesco world heritage sight in the Cradle of Humankind.

"There is a strong relationship with the Nirox Art Foundation, an artists' residency and sculpture park situated in the Cradle of Humankind. Affiliated facilities will include city digs for visiting international artists, reciprocal exhibitions and performances, cross-venue workshops, lectures and artists' collaborations, priority participation in events and network access.

"Buyers and tenants in the development will include artists, dance studios, recording studios, advertising companies and other related industries.

"There are limited retail, commercial and residential spaces available to buy and rent. In order to maintain our values, we have placed a strong emphasis on the tenant mix that will define Arts on Main. The most important criterion is that they will have to be involved in a creative industry and add value to the artists' community within Arts on Main."

The city produces some fascinating uses that greatly add to its culture and diversity - that's one to watch with interest!

Refurbishment
Between the new Absa and Zurich Re buildings, east and west, is a great deal of refurbishment activity. OPH has done a fine job of the two once-disgusting blocks on the corner of Eloff, Marshall and Anderson streets, right up to the current sorry mess that is the Irish Barracks - another monument to the state's total inability to maintain and manage its built-form assets.

OPH is also responsible for more refurbishment and alterations to its buildings also in Marshall Street that form the southern boundary of Gandhi Square. Afhco is doing an impressive, large residential block in Kruis Street, between Main and Marshall, and the Colosseum opposite the Carlton Centre appears also to be in the process of conversion to residential. Incidentally, driving west down the short stretch of Main between Kruis and Eloff streets, are some amazing gabled buildings - one building, number 113, proudly proclaims "1914" on its gable and has been really well renovated.

Driving down Commissioner Street, City Props, whose signboard is becoming ubiquitous throughout the inner city, is doing a renovation to the building on the corner of Commissioner and Joubert streets, which I seem to remember as the JBS Building. Opposite, I see that the crumbling old CNA building has a massive billboard covering most of its Commissioner Street frontage. To me, this is cause for great concern as the block with CNA, Shakespeare House and the New Kempsey Building was purchased some years back by Urban Ocean amid lots of publicity about creating new apartments, but the buildings still stand mutely with no signs of progress other than decay.

My concern is that the developers probably are comfortable with its new-found billboard income, as appears also to be the case with its completely wrapped 1 Rissik Street development. Hopefully the new rates legislation, which requires rates on improvements as well as land, will be an incentive to get projects going and producing incomes.

But, surely, we need to not allow non-performing developers the opportunity to earn big bucks from outdoor advertising. That's just plain stupid. I see that Corner House still has a lane closed off in both Commissioner and Simmonds streets. Let's see, that must be four or five years now but there is no building activity in evidence. Diagonally opposite Corner House, the magnificent Standard Bank Chambers building is having scaffolding erected to its Commissioner Street face - hopefully this is for a freshening up of its façade.

Restaurants
Oh, forgot to mention that I had lunch at Picasso's this week. It is at 87 Commissioner Street. The double-volume former banking hall of the 1902/3 First National Bank Building provides a wonderful space for the bar lounge on the ground level and the restaurant encircling it at mezzanine level. Sadly, there were only a handful of people lunching. Over the years I've had so many moans from folk that there is nowhere good to eat in the inner city and, now when there is, they don't support them. Try the grilled cajun calamari - tender and delicious.

Along Commissioner into Sauer and then east up Market: I see a sign for offices to let on the Avril Malan building, not that long ago one of the most disgusting buildings in that part of town so hopefully we'll see it being cleaned up before long. No sign of life around the provincial government buildings that line Market between Sauer and Simmonds nor in regard to the Beyers Naude Gardens.

The old Boland Bank Building, now known as the Steytler, on the corner of Market and Loveday streets, has been completely refurbished as residential apartments. It's about time the City found alternative ranking for the taxis in this section of Loveday Street. It might have once been in the middle of commercial activities but this is increasingly a residential precinct.

The Steytler is followed by another lane closure in Market Street for building work evidently taking place to the buildings on the corner of Market, Rissik and Commissioner streets. These once included the magnificent Old Arcade. I hear on the grapevine that there are emerging plans for the Rissik Street Post Office but don't expect any progress over the next year. Oppenheimer Park remains a disgrace. Progressing up Market Street are some great refurbishments to fine old buildings; City Props appears to be prominent with these.

Reaching the eastern end of Market street gave me an opportunity to shoot up north to look at what progress is being made around the Ellis Park precinct. Wow, this is like a giant civil-engineering site. On its eastern end Bertrams Road has been substantially widened for the BRT between Bezuidenhout Street and where it joins Charlton Terrace. This particular work did come to a grinding halt some time back while the heritage authorities decided on the future of the historic cottages along Derby Road.

I understand that the recently released approval, following an inordinate delay, is to allow demolition of a couple of the cottages on the intersection of Derby and Bertrams to allow the Bertrams road widening for the BRT to continue but to renovate the balance of cottages - sounds okay to me. The section of Charlton Terrace on the northern edge of New Doornfontein has been partially widened and the buildings on the north of Charlton Terrace are being demolished and the service station moved further north for the BRT roadway.

From where Charlton Terrace becomes Saratoga Avenue, much of the road-widening has been completed and demolition has just started on some of the buildings that were used previously by Joburg Tech, now the University of Johannesburg. The white and silver mosaics that were applied to the old columns carrying Joe Slovo Drive Bridge over Saratoga Avenue still look good, although I see the inevitable posters starting to appear on them. Urban management!

The Ellis Park Rugby Stadium has construction work taking place all around it. What appears to be a new multilevel parking garage is being built on its east and structural steel towers or buttresses are being erected on its north elevation, either for additional seating to be provided or roofing over that section - or both. The piece of overgrown open land between the rugby and the athletics stadiums is no longer overgrown but has a multitude of earth-moving equipment crawling over it feverishly reshaping its surface.

There is much happening and much to be done but it is great to see the energy that all of this is producing - now if we can just keep it all reasonably clean and tidy!

Ciao, Neil

Help, please
Feel helpless in the current wave of xenophobia? Here's an email from colleagues with some suggestions of ways you can help:

"1) Drop off clothes, blankets, tinned food and so on at:

• Aletta Sutton Educare Centre: 3 Jubilee Road, Parktown (between the University of the Witwatersrand's education campus and medical school);
• Ann's House: 111 Fulham Road, Brixton - This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ;
• Central Methodist Church - 79 Pritchard Street, city centre, third floor; or
• Jesuit Refugee Services - 130 Commissioner Street, second floor Dynamo House, Johannesburg.

2) Help with feeding refugees at the Rosebank Union Church.

3) Make a donation to the Central Methodist Mission, FNB, Pritchard Street branch, branch code: 251105, account number 50450644817 (please email Tina at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

4) Reassurance - if you are South African, ask those who are around you who you know are from other countries whether they are okay, whether anything bad has happened to them or their families, and whether there is something you can do to assist. Send out the message that not all South Africans are raving xenophobic lunatics - they are by far the minority."

Another cry for help is from MES, one of the most caring and successful of the NGOs focusing on the poor in the inner city. It is committed to helping the 1 500 refugees seeking protection at the Jeppe Police Station.

It has reports that there are "150 babies between the ages of six months and two years; and 150 children two to six years old. Some women have been raped and require trauma counselling. Their medical needs are being taken care of and there are enough blankets - they sleep under tents provided by the police department."

MES desperately needs food for babies, children and adults, especially soup ingredients and fruit, toys and volunteers to assist. The drop off point is the MES head office, 16 Kapteijn Street, Hillbrow but if you don't want to go there please call the organisation on 083 635 9806 and it will make a plan.

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