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Preparing for the Inner City Summit later this year, a workshop identifies places in the inner city that have been neglected and allowed to decay, writes Neil Fraser.
"THERE are four fixable, yet destructive and disgraceful issues that are adding to the dysfunctionality of the inner city," one of the participants in last week's arts, culture, heritage and public space workgroup stated.
The workgroup was meeting ahead of the Inner City Summit to be held in May. The first meeting of the sector was discussed in Citichat in January.
A lot more than four flashed through my mind as I listened with great interest. The particular speaker knows and has been involved in the inner city for many years; he had an office outside it for quite some time but moved back to the inner city a few years ago.
Rissik Street Post Office
Why, he asked, did the City not take control instead of standing back and watching the building slowly implode on itself through sheer neglect.
It's a good question. The building, erected in 1895 to 1897, was occupied by the previous national department of posts and telegraphs, until the early 1990s. In terms of its lease, it was responsible for the maintenance of the exterior of the building.
But the department did absolutely nothing and, as a result, paid a penalty to the council when it left the building. In 1994, when the provincial government decided to move to the inner city, the building was identified as an extraordinary opportunity for Offices for the Premier of Gauteng.
A deal was done with the provincial government, professionals were appointed and private sector funding was raised for refurbishing the building. The plans were well advanced when, for reasons never conveyed to the project team, the provincial government withdrew.
As a result, it had to pay for a great deal of abortive work. The building then stood for years, slowly decaying, the money paid for repairing the façade I seem to remember a figure of R3,1-million disappeared into the coffers of the City, never to emerge again.
A few years later the council, in its wisdom, signed a deal with a Malaysian group linking the proposed Huddle Park development to the post office building. I distinctly remember being reprimanded at an inner city meeting for being "negative and cynical" when I said that the deal sounded like another "Mickey Mouse" arrangement. Well, it never materialised.
In July 2002, (Citichat28, 2002) I wrote the following: "A reader with a passionate interest in the Rissik Street Post Office kindly sent me some fascinating information regarding the clock in the clock tower.
"It was built in London by Gillett and Johnston in Croydon, and shipped to South Africa early last century. Its largest bell, named 'Little Evelyn', weighing in at 1 050kg, was an exact replica of the smallest bell in London's Big Ben, of which the Rissik Street clock is an exact replica in miniature absolutely unique.
"For nearly 80 years, three times a week, two apprentices spent the better part of a morning winding the three weights of 225kg, 293kg and 360kg for the clock movement; hour and quarter-hour strike respectively. On two occasions in the past (1936 and 1952) a weight fell due to overwinding, crashing through two floors and landing in the main foyer.
"In 1980 the winding mechanism was automated, a concrete slab cast under the clock to avoid such accidents (a similar one in Big Ben is five metres thick) and the four light bulbs illuminating the clock face replaced with 16 neon tubes. Exciting stuff, but the bad news is that the clock has been stolen."
In September 2002, writing about the future of the building, I said in Citichat 36, 2002: "The good news is that a small task force has been appointed to look at the refurbishment of and possible uses for the rapidly decaying Rissik Street Post Office.
"The bad news is that it is not just the clock that has been stolen, but that everything of value has been systematically pilfered, from brass window fittings and door handles to even some of the wooden flooring and stair balustrades. While the latter has probably been used for firewood, the former must surely have been sold to antique dealers."
Some time later, the City, via its Property Company, blocked all the windows and "wrapped" the clock tower to prevent further damage by vandals and inclement weather. Then, in 2004, it sent out a proposal call for the future use of the building. Of the proposals received, the preferred one was to refurbish the building into retail, offices and residential on the top floor.
The recommendation to proceed with the proposal was made to the Mayoral Committee and was turned down. The committee had been "leaned on" by senior political comrades, the Legislature, which now wanted the building for its own use.
A sale price of only R25-million was agreed and, as far as I know, at least one payment of R4-million was made but I haven't been able to ascertain if the full amount was ever paid. There clearly was no clause included in the deal, as would be normal in the private sector, requiring the buyer to complete the work in a certain period.
So the building stands, every day a little bit worse than the previous day, a stark reminder of ineptitude and disinterest. To make matters worse, there is currently a private investor who is prepared to invest some R200-million in the building and start tomorrow.
The space between the Legislature and the Rissik Street Post Office
What once was a "generous, friendly space" between the old City Hall and the post office, graced with a fountain in the island in the middle of Rissik Street, had become just another unkempt public space, stated the speaker at the arts, culture, heritage and public space workgroup meeting.
The fountain no longer works; in fact, there are weeds growing out of it and it is used by some street people to wash their clothes, and yet this is the site from which the premier addresses the people of his province.
I, for one, have never liked the fountain; and the way that it bisects Rissik Street is clumsy and makes for poor traffic flow. I would prefer to see it removed and I think that the public space between the two historic buildings would be greatly enhanced. But the fact that both the area and the fountain have been allowed to deteriorate to the extent that they have is quite unacceptable.
At a number of our stakeholder working group sessions we have been reminded that this is a provincial capital, which fact should be celebrated; instead we appear to be prepared to accept a complete lack of respect for the space and sub-standard maintenance. As I wrote some time ago, in Citichat 5, 2007, drive further up Rissik Street - our so-called "ceremonial way" - and look at the quality of the pavements and flower boxes; it makes one want to weep.
Beyers Naude Square
The speaker pointed out that it was now many months since the ill-considered decision to demolish numerous heritage buildings was overturned, resulting in the scuppering of equally ill-considered plans to create an underpass below Market Street, a badly conceived extension to Beyers Naude Square and a bespoiling of the square itself.
The appalling buildings along the edge of Beyers Naude Square are still standing, continuing to destroy "the fine public space that once existed" and creating a major traffic hazard as people are forced to walk in extremely busy streets. The square itself continues to be left in a disgusting state, with barbed wire and broken paving.
Fault must be laid at the door of the City council, which sold off this space to the province and now has turned its back on the lack of maintenance from the provincial government or the Legislature, which appear unable to come to a reasonable alternative nor to maintain the space to reasonable standards.
The city suffers but what do the politicians care they never have to use the space except for special occasions when it is magically spruced up?
Skysignage
Since I wrote about this issue exactly one month ago, in Citichat 5, 2007, the situation has worsened.
Described by the speaker as "some kind of madness afoot" and "sheer lunacy", he pointed out the "Cell C vinyl cap" that now covers 11 Diagonal Street as well as the sign on top of the previous Standard Bank headquarters building in Fox Street. These signs totally destroy the visual quality of the buildings, as does further "predatory financial decisions" relative to signage on the Carlton and the old Trust Bank Building.
He, as I did some weeks ago, commented on the deteriorating quality of the cityscape one is confronted with as one drives over the Queen Elizabeth Bridge - a cityscape that continues to be defaced by signage and advertising.
We are indeed turning the city into a visual joke. The question, again, is who makes these decisions in such poor taste - surely not the Mayoral Committee? How do we build pride in a city that is beginning to look like a poor man's Disneyworld?
One of the most recurring pleas that have emerged from all the stakeholder working group sessions is for the City just to do its job.
"Please," is the constant refrain, "ask the executive mayor to ensure that the city is managed as it should be, as ratepayers could expect it to be and as any world-class city needs to be."
These are just four examples among many that reflect a deep-seated malaise in the city administration.
Cheers, Neil
Walking and Bus Tours by the Parktown and Westcliff Heritage Trust
The costs below are for members and non-members respectively. Booking must be done at Computicket on 011 340 8000 or through the Computicket website. For more information, phone 011 482 3349 in the mornings only.
Saturday, 10 March: Sophiatown, a walking tour recall the turbulent history of Sophiatown with a specialist guide from Cultural Encounters. Meet at St Joseph's Home, on the corner of Good and Herman streets, Sophiatown, at 2pm. The tour lasts three hours and costs R100 and R120.
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