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The latest news on the mayoral inner city tour and the Seventh Charter Partnership Forum, from the desk of Johannesburg's Inner City Programme Manager Santhurie Naidoo.
Galito’s in the Inner City! On the corner of Commissioner and Kruis Streets is the Inner City’s new Galito’s!
Where this was once a derelict place is now an attractive, bright and vibrant area that is open until late at night, bringing the life and energy back into the Inner City at night.
With the implementation of the Inner City Charter and the successful partnering with Inner City stakeholders, the Johannesburg Inner City has been seeing a huge increase in the number of restaurants in the CBD in the past few years - from five star restaurants, to bistros, franchises and take-aways, and it’s with great appreciation that the City welcomes Galito’s to the Inner City.
Executive mayor Amos Masondo engages with private developers
The renovations cost Galito’s a staggering R1.7-million, and saw jobs created for 13 Inner City locals.
A very hearty congratulations to Galitos on the opening of your new restaurant! We are certain that it will be of paramount success. Thank you for investing your time, resources, employment of Inner City locals and most importantly for your energy and confidence in the Inner City. Your choice to locate in the Inner City is highly valued.
Executive Mayor’s tour
The full day Inner City tour by the mayoral committee and the City’s executives started at 5am on 25 August. The tour was hosted by Region F. The agenda was comprehensive and the site visits were thoroughly examined by the mayor. Probing questions were asked by the mayor and quality results are immediately expected.
The tour began with a visit to the Governor’s House and the Hillbrow Recreation Centre, where the angel art works were also viewed.
The City has committed to using 1% of all capital projects on public art, and the angel in Hillbrow is significant of the guiding spiritual force in the area. The Governor’s House was viewed because prior to the upgrade, there were more than 50 squatters living at the house under appalling conditions. Apart from this, it was also damaged by a fire that destroyed the entire wooden floor, the wooden ceiling and the latticework on the veranda. The floor has since been replaced with oregon pine obtained from demolished houses, while the latticework has been replaced with steel for easy maintenance. The wood slated ceiling has also been replaced, to maintain the original heritage of the house.
The tour then moved on to view the vacant Shell garage and BRT station in Hillbrow, the Quartz Street linear market and the upgraded and non-upgraded sanitary lanes in Hillbrow. The mayor also viewed the progress on Soper and Abel Streets and illegal structures that need to be demolished, as well as the public environment infrastructure upgrades in Hillbrow.
Trump Street interim international buses site
The next site was the new cross border busses location at Trump Street, under the M2 freeway. The mayor engaged with bus drivers and tour operators at the site, listening to their concerns and suggestions for a better facility. At the time of the tour, the site had no water connection, but this has since the tour been resolved.
Investment
The regeneration of the Inner City will not be possible or sustainable without the large-scale investment that the private sector constantly brings into the area.
The mayor was then taken to view the massive and iconic 120 End Street by Afhco in Doornfontein. Afhco have also developed the park across the road on End Street.
The tour group visited this park, where some of the children from Afhco’s City Kidz Primary School sang a beautiful song for the mayor. The park has a play space for toddlers, a separate play area for older children, soccer fields, a water fountain and ablution facilities.
Four CCTV cameras have been installed on the corners of End Street Park. They will be overseen and maintained by the Affordable Housing Company, and local residents will be employed to clean them.
Parallel to the major developments occurring in End Street is the redevelopment of the Davies Street Corridor. The mayor viewed the current development challenges posed by the developers on Davies Street as a walkabout was conducted.
The tour then progressed to the upgrade of Transport Square and Ndlovu House also in Doornfontein where a previously cemented, weed and litter filled square, is now a new taxi rank in Doornfontein, complete with cow sculptures and taxi parking bays. This area will also become a park-and-ride facility for Ellis Park events. The two dilapidated buildings surrounding the square have been refurbished by Afhco Group Holdings into affordable rental units.
William Kentridge sculpture of a woman with a brazier
The tour moved onto the Ellis Park Precinct, the ABSA Towers precinct development with a massive R1-billion investment, the international headquarters of Anglo Gold Ashanti at the iconic Turbine Hall in Newtown and then to the redevelopment of Africa’s only night market in Fordsburg Square.
The William Kentridge sculpture of a 10m tall statue of a woman walking with a burning brazier on her head at the southern end of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge, which represents female entrepreneurs in the area that sell corn and roasted sheeps head to pedestrians, was also viewed.
The mayor also went on a walkabout in an Inner City Block of Bree Street, Plein Street, Harrison Street, Jeppe, & Rissik Streets which then progressed to view the very derelict Kazerne taxi rank and urban management challenges experienced with the taxis and public transportation in that area.
The mayoral tour visited the transitional housing at the City-owned Moth Building in Loveday Street, as a concerted means to resolve the overcrowded situation at the Central Methodist Church. The Moth Buildings has been revamped and welcomed the first group of foreign nationals who took up accommodation in the top three storeys. It is expected that a further 700 more people will move into the ground and basement floors by the end of September 2009. It must be noted that the Moth Building is also being used for transitional housing for people living under unhygienic and hazardous conditions in bad buildings.
At 6.30am, the tour concluded with a debriefing session at the City’s prime Joburg Theatre Complex, which has brought world-class shows to the Inner City.
The Seventh Charter Partnership Forum
The mayor chaired the seventh Charter Partnership Forum meeting with all the signatories, roleplayers and stakeholders in the Inner City on 01 September.
The Forum was held at the Hillbrow Health Precinct, a regeneration partnership between the City's Health Department, the University of the Witwatersrand's Reproductive Health Research Unit, the Johannesburg Development Agency, and the Gauteng Department of Health.
The main items for discussion were housing in the Inner City, the Inner City Urban Design Implementation Plan, a presentation by Region F on Urban Management in the Inner City, and the Charter progress.
The discussion at the forum covered various aspects, apart from the official presentations above.
Schools in the Inner City were discussed, the need for intensive visible policing and by law enforcement, reducing congestion in the Inner City, street trading and the management thereof in the Inner City, bottlenecks in expediting much needed development in the Inner City, and stakeholder participation in the delivery of the Charter.
The seventh Charter Partnership Forum was a success where stakeholders were heard, concerns were raised, challenges were discussed, and a way forward in achieving the charter deliverables were discussed. It is with confidence that it can be said that the City is committed to delivering on the charter with our signed partners on all deliverables.
From Santhurie Naidoo
Inner City Progamme Manager
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