(Cape Town, 24 October 2005) The implementation of the Cape Town Central City Improvement District (CCID) in 2000 was a particularly significant event for Cape Town, for it became the first major South African city to have implemented a fully-constituted, legally binding Improvement District covering the entire core of its Central City.

Since that time, the CCID has been most successful in addressing the issues of the level of crime, grime, property take-up levels and perceptions of users of the Central City.

Cape Town’s Central City is showing all the evidence that the boom it is experiencing will continue.

The past year has seen a marked decrease in crime within the Central City, making it one of the safest in South Africa, the area is being cleaned on a 24-hour basis, 7 days a week and building developments has seen the absorption of much vacant office space in Town.  The CCID needs to thank the SAPS and City Police for their cooperation in this regard.

All of this is evidence of substantial confidence in the status of Cape Town’s Central City.

Speaking at the organisation’s 5th Annual General Meeting, CCID Chairman, Mike Flax, said that the year under review had seen many expectations surpassed.

“2005 sees the fruition of a 5-year vision, the skyline of Cape Town’s Central City is peppered with cranes on construction sites, while in many other places, urban regeneration and development is far advanced.  Many buildings have completed their conversion to residential and/or mixed-use, and already many new Central City dwellers have moved into their apartments.

The CCID has, together with the City of Cape Town, contracted service-providers, NGOs and various other stakeholders, and made major inroads into addressing homelessness and poverty in the Central City.  It has, amongst others, initiated a community-based intervention programme in Clarke Estate, Elsies River, after it was found that many of the youth who were “strolling” in the Central City were from this area.  The CCID also funds the Multi-Service Centre in Woodstock which is the hub for the Mayor’s “Smile a Child” campaign.

As the CCID concentrates on the micro-management of urban issues, the assistance and cooperation of certain departments at Council need to be recognized.  Without their assistance, all of the CCID’s efforts would come to nothing.

The CCID’s efforts have recently garnered international attention, and Derek Bock, its Chief Operations Officer, has just returned from Denver, Colorado where he was invited to the 51st International Downtown Association Conference.  This is a clear indication that the CCID’s efforts are working.

Flax concludes: “The focus in the year ahead for the CCID will continue to be on the identified priorities of security, cleansing, and social development as well as operating and delivering to the advantage of all people who use, work in, live in and visit Cape Town’s Central City, making it a city for all.  I also need to thank the staff of the CCID, who under the leadership of Derek Bock work tirelessly on providing a safe and cleaner central city for all Capetonians to be proud of.”

ENDS

For more information contact:

Derek Bock              
CCID
083 409 9999

Enid Vickers            
Corporate Image
083 460 3910