Ward 54 Newsletter July 2022 - Cllr Nicola Jowell

 

Dear Residents Without a doubt we have been in the worst LOAD SHEDDING session since this unwelcome reality became part of our lives 14 years ago in April 2008. Thankfully we have not had the full brunt of Stage 6 in our area unlike the rest of the country but the onslaught has been overwhelming for all. A four hour outage, absolutely crippling for business, hospitals, old age homes and just South African's trying to carry on every day.  It has not been easy and I think everyone for their patience as every day the schedule has chopped and changed as we trying to limit the impact in Cape Town, and sadly with the prolonged severity this has not always been possible as we need to build up reserves. The city's infrastructure has taken a terrible beating with faults occurring when power has turned back on and putting terrible strain on the teams from the electricity department. But without a doubt all South African's are simply "over it" and the city is pushing ahead as fast as possible with its plans to end load shedding over time.  This last week there were three occasions in which residents had contacted me about extended water or electricity (not load shedding) outages. Understandably irate by the time they contact me it was alarming to note in all three incidents that there had not been an actual report to the city to log the fault. When reported they were resolved quickly. I appeal to residents to please ensure that they log a SERVICE REQUEST for any fault, don't assume your neighbour or someone else has. By far the easiest and quickest is to log it online or via SMS. You can send an e-mail and for water faults even an Whats App. And last resort is to give the call center a call. All the contact details are below. Rather ensure its logged than not logging it at all.  STREET CHILDREN have been a large concern in the area over the last few months. A sudden increase in the number of children who are living on the streets many unaccompanied and some with their parents. A successful operation was held in Camps Bay with Provincial Social Services. In Sea Point the City's Metro Police have been running operations over the last few weeks to assist these minors. So far around 10 children have been assisted off the streets and into the capable hands of Provincial Social Services. These operations will be ongoing and we anticipate that there will be further children assisted through this process.  Thank you for taking the time to review my newsletter. I have added a general media release section towards the bottom which is a couple of the releases from the city from the last month -there can be many a day! Plus an event section has been added in which I will try to keep you notified of the bigger events on the horizon in the ward that may impact on your travel movements, or hopefully you just may want to join in.  Wishing you well and for those of you with young children I hope you are able to have wonderful family time in the last week of the winter school holidays! Take care Nicola How to Contact The City" Residents can contact us at on the following details: Cllr Nicola Jowell Email: nicola.jowell@capetown.gov.za Mobile: 072 653 5763 Simone Nathan - my excellent Ward Assistant Email: simone.nathan@capetown.gov.za Phone: 021 400 1466 (08:00 - 13:00) If you have any service delivery issue it's important that you log the matter directly with the City of Cape Town (known as a C3): phone 0860 103 089, or submit online at CCT Service Requests WATER FAULTS - SMS 31373, Whats App 060 018 1505, e-mail water@capetown.gov.za ELECTRICITY FAULTS - SMS 31220, e-mail power@capetown.gov.za For the latest news and updates on what I've been up to, please do follow my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/nicolajowellward54   SAFE SPACE HAS GROWN The City has expanded the current Safe Space 2 in Culembourg with four more large sleeping quarters. The additional capacity at this site alone will be 100 more permanent beds, which adds to the additional 550 that the city has funded with existing shelters through the Winter Readiness Grant-in-aid program. One of the living quarters will be a dedicated space for homeless people who identify as being from the LGBTQIA+ community. Space is also being set aside and made suitable for couples. On arrival a new client is assigned to a social worker who will help them with a personal development plan. There is help to get ID documents, job placements, tracking or speaking to families, medical referrals or enrolments onto the Matrix addiction program. A new client will also receive a personal care pack as well as a tea/coffee pack etc. These packs are also given out monthly to the clients at the safe space.  There is a lot more on the way in terms of additional capacity serving the Atlantic Seaboard and the CBD/City Bowl and we will put out confirmed information as soon as it is available.  *A reminder that the Safe Space is not a formal shelter but a transitionary safe sleeping space for those wanting to leave the streets. A space that social development can start to provide assistance and a path towards long term options for sustaining lives off the streets. The limitations are due to legislation from the constitution and municipal finances act which determines what municipalities can spend money on.

WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL PROGRAM I had the pleasure of welcoming a full Sea Point Civic Hall full of learners from St Paul's Primary School to the ward. This forms part of the city's school awareness program and focuses on the proper and safe disposal of waste, preventing illegal dumping, recycling and environmental responsibility. An impressive understanding of the impact of waste and the changing environment which was exhibited through art, poetry, songs, dance and more. Well done to the City's Urban Waste Directorate for rolling out these programs and creating "Waste Wise Schools" Read more on the media release from the city here. URBAN MOBILITY Councilors have an essential oversight role and part of our work is on a portfolio committee focused on departmental oversight. Mine is Urban Mobility (previously Transport). This month we had extensive site visits through Khayalitsha. Read more about this here.  Last month I joined members of the GHOST SQUAD in one of their over night operation. An opportunity to see first hand their interventions in the area targeting noisy vehicles, speeding or racing and any other traffic or moving violations. These operations have been ongoing and will continue, in addition to the work done by the local traffic services team.  SUB-COUNCIL CLEANING TEAM: This team which was referred to in the recent Atlantic Sun article (https://www.atlanticsun.co.za/.../r1-million-proposal-to...) has been doing phenomenal work across the sub-Council area. The program started in April this year and the new round of funding will mean it carries on for the new financial year. The team works according to a roster that Ward Councilors have compiled, of our areas with problematic dumping or littering and that require higher levels of in-depth cleaning and reasources. It is frustrating that this amount of waste is being left, primarily in green belt areas of my ward (but not limited to that). This Sub-Council team has been nothing short of fantastic working hard in some very tough conditions with humour and vigour. Thanks so much to each and every team member! Glad that we are able to continue tackling these problematic littering areas and also provide employment for the members of this team. Earlier this month the Sub-Council was presented with an updated reported on designs and costing for a coastal walkway between Bantry Bay and Clifton. A project first conceptualized in 2010 and relook at this last year by Coastal Management at the Sub-Council's request. Its an ambitious project for a walk way that would be an asset to the city and assist in managing many of the issues along this coastal section. Think a mix of the Kirstenbosch Boomslang and the Hermanus coastal path. But an incredibly expensive project, when the city's has to focus on massive basic infrastructure investment among other priorities. But a project that I am glad we have been able to discuss again. And while our focus must be on basic service delivery, economic growth and assisting the homeless off the streets its certainly a project that I hope we can investigate further over the next 5 years and assess the possibilities. IGNISIVE The impressive team from Ignisive (Camps Bay), joined by their partners presented the Ignisive strategy and philosophy to the City's social development forum. Made up of organisations, NGOs and shelters across the city who are working on assisting the homeless off the streets. This is a monthly workshop and sharing platform to grow and develop interventions, share strategies and best practice and also to aid the city officials from social development in decision making and policy planning. What a pleasure to join the A+ Team from Ignisive! Thank you.   I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking to a group of Law Enforcement EPWP trainees. Along with Alderman Grant Twigg and Cllr Francine Higham we spoke to the group about the importance of Law Enforcement and the vital role that they will have when they graduate from training. The Department is growing in number all the time and we are looking forward to additional deployments that will over the Atlantic Seaboard too. DONATION If you have warm clothes and blankets to donate this will be in great need. You can drop these at the at the Blue donation boxes located at the Sea Point CID office (open 24/7) or at the Sea Point library (open 10:00-17:00). They can also be dropped at the Haven nigh shelter or the City Safe Space in Culembourg. WHATS APP NUMBER FOR WATER/SANITATION REPORTING: The city has relaunched the WhatsApp channel number to report any water and sanitation issues. The number is 060 018 1505 and is monitored 24/7. Please remember to include your full address or account number when you are reporting an issue, photos can also be sent easily which is an added bonus. Residents can scan the QR code to easily add the number to their contacts. This line can be used to report Water & Sanitation problems, making reporting easier for our residents. WARD 54 - UPCOMING EVENTS: Castle Lager Rugby Championship Springboks vs Wales at the DHL Cape Town Stadium. Kick off is at 17:05 with an anticipated full stadium. Road closure around the stadium and traffic services will be out in numbers to manage the volumes. Please do not drive into the precinct but rather make use of e-hailing, taxis, walking or the MyCiti bus which will be activated.  Cape Town Festival of Running 16th July 07:00 and 17th July 07:30. The event takes place along the Promenade starting outside the Rocklands play area. This is an early morning event and volumes are not high.  PSFA Blisters for Bread on the 28th August from the Green Point Cricket Club along the Promenade. Currently 2 000 taking part. Great to have this event back on the calendar!  Please see below details for two applications that I am aware of that have been made to Heritage Western Cape (HWC). The applications are not dealt with by the city but only by HWC as they are properties over 60 years old and the applications are for full or partial demolition.  Below are a selection of CITY MEDIA RELEASES that may be of interest to you. There any a number of releases that are sent out daily and the full list can be viewed here.  Investing in resilient future water remains the City's priority in the face of climate change Draft Mobile Business Policy opens for public comment New Payment methods for payment of fines City lauded by Ratings Afrika City encourages residents to connect with their Sub-Council's City working relentlessly to dismantle youth unemployment City disburses R10m to NGOs to assist people off the streets.