Michael Bleby

Writer at Large

Melville is in for a facelift. The suburb variously described as “the closest thing Johannesburg has to Cape Town” and “Jo’burg’s bohemia” badly needs it. Melville’s unique character — since Hillbrow became more dangerous than fun — as a place to hang out in venues that spill onto the street is under threat.

Increasing crime, open drug dealing and a loss of decent restaurants all formed the preview to a slide down the Hillbrow path. The strip that was the inspiration for SABC2’s 7de Laan TV series risked becoming more Gotham City than the mythical and cutesy Hillside.

Under a plan outlined last week by members of the Melville Residents’ Association, however, that will be reversed.

Traffic will be curtailed on the central strip of Seventh Street when the footpaths are widened and it becomes a one way street. Lighting, benches and an outdoor art gallery are planned. And come evenings, the street will be closed to cars altogether, to give pedestrians more room to move.

The derelict area west of Seventh Street known as Faan Smit Park and best known for its dysfunctional tennis courts will be developed. An underground parkade for 300 cars will be built, and a ring of residential and commercial developments placed on top of a redesigned park.

What gives this story national, rather than local significance, is the tale it tells of bringing life back to community areas in a country where they are largely shunned in favour of private spaces. Melville, beloved of local students, creative types and even journalists, has a level of activity and social mixing that is worth preserving.

“It’s a model of more village style of living that is possible in our climate and desirable,” says Conway Falconer, a resident and owner of the Soulsa restaurant on Seventh Street.

“It is also one of the most integrated areas in the country. It’s important to protect that.”

Pretoria-based Atterbury Property Developments, the company building the R25bn Waterfall City development near Midrand, will build the new residential and commercial complex on Faan Smit Park and it will bear the R5m cost of paving Seventh Street.

There is a lot to reverse.

“It used to be a trendy, vibey place where people used to come with their children and go home and the night crowd would come in about 10pm. Now the night crowd comes in a lot earlier. It’s easy to buy drugs in the street,” says local councillor Sharon Sabbagh.

Sabbagh, who patrols the streets on weekend nights with residents, says the problems are compounded by drug dealers who pay off police, car guards who act as tip-offs for car-theft syndicates and bar owners who don’t obey licensing laws, but play music too loudly and stay open longer than they should.

“While I think their proposal is a good proposal, what we need to do is address the irregularities that are there at the moment in terms of the clubs. They need to respect the laws and bylaws,” she says.

The strategy is to make Melville a more up-market destination. The area will be maintained under a privately funded Community Improvement District scheme, the same scheme used in Sandton and Rosebank.

The new development in Faan Smit Park will encourage landlords in Seventh Street to upgrade their own premises, says Heidi Holland, an author and owner of one of Melville’s 40-odd guesthouses. The clientele will change as a result.

“I have always believed that the key to the upliftment of Melville lay not in moaning, praying or yelling for the police, but in raising the price of beer. Once everything else starts going up, so will the cost of drinking on Seventh Street.”

Atterbury director Coenie Bezuidenhout says that if City of Johannesburg approval is given within the next six months for the development plans, the upgrade will be completed in time for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, when thousands of foreigners are expected to visit the city.

Holland says the city council is behind the plan.

“The council was very keen to have Melville, which is known internationally, in shape for 2010,” she says.

Johannesburg city spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said the developers would have to complete a traffic impact assessment, which could take as little as four to six weeks and a rezoning exercise, before any work could begin. While rezoning can “drag a bit” as it usually required public participation, if there were no objections it could happen in as short a time as three months, Modingoane said.

The development will not bring more food and drink outlets into the area, apart from one family restaurant, to limit the number of alcohol outlets. The aim is to bring back retail stores, which will ensure local residents use the area more.

“With any new development you attract new tenants,” Bezuidenhout says. “Our focus would be to have an anchor like Woolworths, then concentrate on fashion.”

What is unclear is how far the upgrade will go towards resolving the problems of residents in the area. One consequence of the area’s decline has been that restaurants have moved out, to be replaced by bars. When the bars close at 2am, people carry on partying in the streets, many buoyed by alcohol sold out of car boots.

Whether moving more cars into underground parkades will keep the streets quieter or simply allow more people to drive in is unclear.

“We still have to look at the best way to deal with traffic,” says architect Jeremy Rose, who drew up the plans for the upgrade. “That’s part of the design process.”

Source: Business Day