It’s been all hands on deck for the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) since it geared up to ensure CBD locals and visitors have a memorable year end – for the right reasons.
Says Tasso Evangelinos, CEO of the CCID: “We started planning many months in advance so that our festive season rollout could happen promptly from 1 December and run through to the end of March. We have found that its necessary to implement extra services over a full four-month period to cope with the influx of people.”
Stay safe
With safety and security on top of everyone’s minds, this is always where the CCID concentrates the most effort. Maybe you will already have noticed its boosted public safety officer (PSO) contingent.
Says Muneeb Hendricks, manager of CCID Safety & Security: “From Wednesdays to Saturdays, when the nighttime economy is at its most active, we have had the usual 80 PSOs on duty plus 10 extra officers per shift. Each shift has also had five lock-up vans patrolling along with two rapid-response vehicles. Plus, we've had a six-member management team on rotation throughout the festive season.”
A four-person impact team has also provided a visible presence in hotspot areas as required. “This has enabled us to deploy a target unit directly to an area in need without in any way depleting our usual PSO on-the-ground visibility.”
Stash it, don’t flash it
The festive season is also when the CCID rolls out its “Stash it, don’t flash it” campaign, this year with striking red and green street-pole posters across the CBD.
Says Hendricks: “We are in particular reminding people to keep their belongings safe in their presence, be aware of who may be watching them at ATMs, and ensure that they don’t fall victim to theft out of motor vehicles – either by leaving valuable items in plain site or falling victim to remote jamming.”
CCID PSOs have also conducted in-your-face “disruption” activities at strategic points across the CBD. They educate the public about the perils of ATM fraud, and how easy it is to become a victim of something like pickpocketing or remote jamming.
“Often the perpetrators of these crimes are such slick operators you don’t even know it’s happened until after you’ve become a statistic,” says Hendricks.
Keep it clean
Alongside the additional deployment of its safety and security team, the CCID has also implemented extra measures to keep the CBD clean.
Says Richard Beesley, manager of the CCID's Urban Management department: “We have planned our services to ensure improved coverage of our cleaning, especially across busy public spaces and on big event days.”
Four additional fulltime professional cleaning staff began working in December. And you may have noticed a dedicated multipurpose unit along St Georges Mall and Greenmarket Square since 5 December.
Explains Beesley: “This unit provides dedicated technical services to these areas such as graffiti removal, cleaning and beautification seven days a week.”
But its perhaps the CCID's Dawn Patrol cleaning service – operational from 03h00 till 07h00 each morning from Fridays to Mondays – that has been particularly crucial to ensuring the cleanliness of the CBD.
The measure of their work lies in its invisibility, as they ensure each day begins in the Central City with no trace of the revelry of the night before.
“For a number of these projects,” says Beesley, “the CCID partners with its NGO partner Straatwerk, just as it does throughout the year, to create increasing numbers of work opportunities for the less fortunate over this period.”
Show you care
The final piece of the festive rollout puzzle is CCID Social Development. Department manager Pat Eddy says: “We have had our normal fieldwork assistance during the day as well as a fieldworker on call during the evening and over weekends.”
CCID NGO partner The Carpenter Shop will keep its ablution block open from 15 December until 11 January 2017. This facility, open Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, from 07h30 till 09h30, provides a value service to the CBD's street people in a period when most NGOs close.
Are you planning to spend time in the Central City during the festive season? If so, please take our survey.
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