The Salt River BID team would like to urge business owners not to give recycled material to homeless people and in the same light, also help to discourage members of the public to give money to beggars. “In both cases, this humble gesture causes more harm than good”, says Gene Lorentz, manager of Geocentric Urban Management.

Gene says that by giving money to people begging, in whatever form, causes them to stay on the street without trying to find jobs and create better lives for themselves. It is easy to collect money or material which they can recycle for money and live of that for a day. The next day they do the same. It is just not sustainable.

He is a great supporter of the Give Responsible campaign, an initiative of the City of Cape Town and the Central City Improvement District. The campaign urges the public to rather give their money or donations to NGOs such as shelters of halfway houses that are helping provide people living on the streets with warm beds, hot meals, family reunification services, trauma therapy and the necessary life skills to help them built a new life for themselves. For more information on the Give Responsible Campaign, go to www.giveresponsibly.co.za

Over the past few months, a lot of the local businesses in the area are taking an active role in making the area a much neater place, such as repainting or restoring parts of their business premises. Businesses in the area are benefiting from this new exciting growth and positive attitude shown of late in the Salt River BID and the team thank the people responsible for improving the look and cleanliness of the area.

One such example is the upgrading of Fashion Fabrics at no 33 Salt River road which is being restored and window frames painted. Another firm, Strandfoam on the corner of Birkdale avenue and Victoria road, deployed their own maintenance team to restore their building. Window frames were painted and broken windows and window sun shades were replaced

Although the SRBID cleaning and urban maintenance plan makes provision for only three urban management workers, Geocentric decided to employ a fourth worker at the company’s own cost to ensure that there is enough hands to cover the vast area and getting it into a better condition. This extra deployment coincided with the refinement of the urban cleaning plan for the SRBID which for now consists of four cleaning sectors, each with its own dedicated worker.

Gene Lorentz, CEO of Geocentric Urban Management, said with the 4th member of the urban maintenance team is another step in the right direction towards the overall improvement of the Salt River area.

The cleaning team takes on a huge array of tasks every day which includes clearing of illegal dumping and removal of illegal posters, general area cleaning and litter picking, dumping of collected waste at the designated drop-off facility and cleaning of public open spaces and parks (see photos below).

One of the priorities is to assist members of the public at large. The safety officers help with directions, vehicle break-downs, assist in medical emergencies or even finding lost children.  There is a high number of visually impaired persons in the area and you regularly see the SRBID’s public safety officers assisting such people, especially when there are crossing busy roads and intersections.

During December 2014, Metro Police in conjunction with SRBID, Woodstock SAPS and the City of Cape Town Traffic Department launched Operation Awareness, an initiative to create awareness about safety in the SRBID amongst the members of the public.

Here are some tips to remember, especially when walking alone at night:

• awareness is your first line of defence – be aware of yourself and your surroundings
• avoid walking alone;
• trust your instincts: if something feels wrong, it most probably is;
• avoid headphones: you need your ears to hear what is going on around you;
• when walking alone, don’t talk on your cell phone – you will be distracted and not aware of what is going on around you. Also, keep your phone out of sight;
• strap your bag across your chest and hold it tight, without looking nervous. Keep the zip opening towards you. Remember, backpacks can easily be tampered without you noticing it;
• do not carry too many packages at once – you must always have clear visibility and freedom of motion;
• do not wear expensive jewellery;
• do not carry large amounts of cash and avoid to draw money when walking alone at night;
• stick to well-lit and busy streets. Avoid dark areas, parking lots or alleys;
• don’t wear shoes or clothing that restricts your movements; and
• carry a noisy friend – a whistle! Carry it around your wrist or in your hand, it will not be of any use in your bag.

The SRBID meets with all safety and security role-players once a week to share public safety and security information and concerns.  Joint planning of actions and operations are also discussed and crime trends are shared with the members of the meeting.  The SRBID in turn applies the information and actions to their own public safety plan for the week thereby proactively acting against public safety threats in the area.

The SRBID joined the Upper Eastside Hotel in conjunction with Woodstock SAPS and Metro Police in implementing a Whistle Blow Campaign. This venture aims to ensure a safe environment for the public within the boundaries of the SRBID, especially factory workers, hotel and restaurant staff that work different hours than normal daytime working hours. During the launch campaign members of the public were equipped with whistles which they can use when they find themselves in life threatening situations. Altogether 30 whistles were distributed to at the launch of the initiative. This is an ongoing campaign and whistles will be distributed on a monthly basis in the SRBID area.

The SALT RIVER BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NPC will be hosting a Special General Meeting and all stakeholders are invited to a review of the year’s activities and planning for 2015/16.

Date:     19 February 2015

Time:     16:00

Venue:              Conference Venue, Double Tree by Hilton Cape Town, Upper East Side, 31 Brickfield Road, Woodstock.

Resolutions presented at the SGM can only be voted on by bona fide members of the SALT RIVER BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT NPC. This membership is available free of charge to all owners of commercial or industrial properties within the SRA footprint, but they must be registered before 13 February 2015.

For further information on how to register click here to go to our SGM page or e-mail info@srbid.co.za or call 083 255 7657

After months of hard work to gain support and submit an application to the City of Cape Town for establishment, the Salt River Business Improvement District (SRBID) took its first few steps on Monday 1 September 2014. The City of Cape Town approved the SRBID application on the 29th of May 2014. Given this approval the SRBID had to comply with a number of administrative requirements in order to become operational.

The SRBID Vision
The vision of the SRBID is to establish and maintain a safe, clean, well-managed CBD area that attracts and retains business investment and attractive retail opportunities.

The SRBID Mission
It is the mission of the SRBID to create an inviting and safe business district attractive and safe for visitors and shoppers alike.

The full operational deployment of the SRBID includes a dedicated full time BID manager, a public safety deployment of foot patrollers and patrol vehicles and an urban maintenance group that will perform additional cleaning and urban maintenance tasks in the SRBID area.

The Salt River Improvement District Board appointed Geocentric to manage the SRBID. The Geocentric Manager appointed to manage the area is Melvin Myburgh.

The Salt River Improvement District Board appointed Zonewatch to provide the public safety services for the SRBID.

The Public Safety Team did not waste time to get on patrol and immediately deployed in the area. Pre-deployment meetings were held with the Woodstock SAPS management to determine problem areas and the patrol plans were developed with their input.

Social Responsibility

Part of the SRBID plan is to assist the public at large and those that are homeless and vulnerable. Therefor the SRBID management engaged with some of the local NGO’s even before the start to find ways of working with them in the SRBID.

Geocentric, responsible for the management of the SRBID then offered permanent employment for previously homeless people living at one of the Shelters in Salt River to form part of the urban maintenance and cleaning team. Loaves and Fishes, located in Salt River provided potential candidates and they were offered employment positions on the cleaning and maintenance team. In addition to these opportunities the SRBID will earmark some of the budget to assist homeless people and those in need on the streets of Salt River within the SRBID Boundary.

For public safety emergencies please contact the Zonewatch Control Room on 086 15 15 800.
Contact the Public Safety Manager – Ashwin Jack on 062 252 7658.

Contact the SRBID Manager – Melvin Myburgh on 074 426 6816 or email him at melvin@geocentric.co.za
Additional information available on www.srbid.co.za

Be on the lookout for our patrol and maintenance staff in their high-visibility uniforms and brightly branded patrol vehicles.

We look forward to a successful partnership to create a Safer, Cleaner and Attractive Salt River!