SBID’S TEAM EFFORT PAYS OFF

The many letters and messages of gratitude from businesses and the general public directed to the Strand Business Improvement District, is a testimony that the SBID’s public safety and operations teams are now well-established in the area and their efforts are showing positive results.

Since the establishment of the Strand BID six months ago on 15 October 2014 the SBID’s public safety team and Law Enforcement Officers worked hard in establishing a solid partnership. Bi-weekly public safety forum meetings are held where urgent matters are given priority and action plans drawn up.

The general patrolling of the Strand BID area is a common sight and many issues, such as drinking in public, drug dealings and assaults are dealt with by officers who are on alert throughout the day. Various successful joint operations are being conducted with the Law Enforcement officers who were recently appointed by the Ward councillor.

The SBID’s public safety officers and their partners from Law Enforcement surely have their work cut out of them and apart from ensuring that they are visible on the streets, they also tackle other daily issues, such as:

  • identifying problem areas, suspicious persons and activities;
  • engaging with and assisting the general public;
  • providing public assistance where possible;
  • assisting with arrests and recovery of stolen property;
  • addressing unsocial behaviour such as drinking and urinating in public;
  • confiscation of shopping trolleys, crates and wheelie bins; and
  • confiscating and destroying dangerous weapons found on people on the streets.
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A recent arrest by the SBID’s public safety team. 

There is, however, still ongoing challenges that requires constant attention and solutions, such as people drinking in public, vagrants sleeping on business premises, public spaces or in unoccupied buildings, to name but a few. And while the SBID team is trying to eradicate drinking in public, some liquor stores keep on selling cheap liquor – hence adding to the problem.

 

 

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THANK YOU SBID TEAM!

The Strand BID received a whole lot of complements during the past two months. Here is what the public had to say about the work the team are doing in the business district:

“The SBID team of safety officers are doing an excellent job!” – Bettie Julius [Social Development]

“The park is much neater and has improved a lot in genera thanks to the good work of the SBID team of safety officers and especially their success in preventing people from drinking in public” – Mrs Wildschut, an employee from City Parks.

“I applaud the work that the Safety Officers have been doing in the Strand business distric over the last few months. I can clearly see the difference and appreciates what they are doing. I sincerely hope this operation can be extended to provide an after hour service as well.” – Mr Swart, caretaker at The the Metropole Plaza

“A lot are changing for the better in this area – thanks to the work the SBID’s team of public safety officers are doing. Thank you so much.” – Johan Schoeman, caretaker at the Galloway Centre

 

Dear Johan

 I want to thank you , and Ruaan’s team for the excellent service they rendered on Saturday !

 Ruaan gave me a courtesy call Saturday morning to inform me that he and his team will meet us at the Strand station. They were already there when we arrived to escort the group to the beach and back in the afternoon. The team stayed with us on the station until we left.

We felt so safe with their visible presence right throughout the day.

 A special thanks also to the Law enforcement Mr F Petersen and his team for their assistance.

Johan, thank you and your team once again. I just wish I could have more assistance like this when I I take groups around.

 Regards, Olivia Linders

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Give where it will make a real difference

The Strand 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 Central City Improvement District [CCID]. 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

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BEWARE WHO YOU EMPLOY

Business owners are also discouraged to appoint informal car guards to look after their property or cars of their customers. A lot of criminals nowadays will pretend to be car guards, but in fact using this pretence to commit crimes by breaking into cars, assault drivers or work with syndicates to steal cars.

Gene says that by employing people without any formal credentials, such as a valid identification document or proof of address, could put you in a predicament and expose you to become the victim of a crime. Rather be safe than sorry and make sure all your employees are credible people with traceable identification documents.

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A clean sweep…

The SBID team is building on the good relationships with the local municipal officials responsible for solid waste management to ensure a clean and litter free CBD area.

The Team Leader from Solid Waste Cleansing , Mr Mxolisi Witness Mtyabatiso, is doing an excellent job in the area, especially to secure that defective green litter bins are repaired, replaced or added in high-litter areas.

 

 

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The team beautifying the area.

 

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Improving the urban environment

The SBID team continuously alerts the City of Cape Town about defects in the urban environment of the Strand central improvement area whilst being on their daily patrols. Defects to the urban environments are reported and repaired on a daily basis in the area. Here follows some of those improvements in photos:

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