It’s been a number of years since the CCID has published a newsletter. The revived version was borne out of a desire to find the best way to stay in touch with all our Central City stakeholders – whether readers work, study, live, invest or play in South Africa’s oldest downtown, or just have a real interest in the area.
The inspiration for this came from the variety of e-newsletters the CCID receives on a daily basis, from other improvement districts across the globe and thought-provoking sites highlighting the challenges and triumphs of urban areas. What they all have in common is there embrace of e-news, which has evolved to become the "dashboard" from which we steer our daily lives. We look forward to communicating with all our stakeholders in this way too.
From October onwards, we will release this newsletter at the middle of every month. It will feature stories and videos produced by the CCID's Communications team, as well as other, curated content relevant to the Central City community.
The top story in our inaugural edition focuses on the CCID Safety & Security team's rollout of body-worn video cameras to all our branded public safety officers. To demonstrate the picture and audio clarity of the system, we’ve included a video link, shot on one of the actual cameras, with Safety & Security manager Muneeb “Mo” Hendricks explaining the process of capturing and storing footage.
The first newsletter also has a story on the veg garden the CCID's Urban Management department has developed on the Spin Street centre island, plus the latest developments coming out of our partner NGO Khulisa’s StreetScapes garden in Roeland Street, with which both our Social Development and Urban Management teams assisted. And, with Cape Town officially in Spring, we've linked to an Inhabitat story that'll help you create your own urban garden.
Finally, there is a report-back on our two-person team’s experiences from the recent International Downtown Association conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. And we take a look at the proposed Zero-2-One Tower in Strand Street.
Each e-newsletter will also invite you to take part in a spot survey, so that we can find out what you think and want to know about the Central City. Thanks for joining us on this new journey.
Tasso Evangelinos
Chief Executive Officer, CCID