The City’s Solid Waste Management Department provided details for an interim urban management plan for Helen Suzman Boulevard, Green Point, at the Sub-council 16 meeting on Monday February 17.
This follows a motion by the ward councillor Dave Brayant who requested that an urgent plan be put in place to manage ongoing challenges on the boulevard and surrounds.
Among these were the overall maintenance of the Green Point area along Helen Suzman Boulevard, particularly near to the MyCiTi stop, the A-Track parking area and the traffic circle underpass.
He said despite ongoing service requests, on-site meetings and other attempted interventions by the officials, dumping, littering, vandalism, graffiti and rough sleeping continued to be a problem.
Mr Bryant said the challenges were exacerbated by the lack of a co-ordinated management plan or the fact that while surrounding areas were part of City Improvement Districts (CIDs), which benefited from additional cleansing and security services, the area in question was not part of a CID.
The meeting heard that cleansing services are now rendered in the area by the City’s Solid Waste Management Department.
They said they remove refuse and clean the area three times a week, and are involved in joint clean-up campaigns with law enforcement and social development when needed.
They said although the area is cleaned regularly , the homeless people who live close to the boulevard make a mess. They said they had allocated eight workers in the area for cleaning and refuse removal.
Sub-council chairperson Matthew Kempthorne, thanked the department for the work done so far.
Sharing these sentiments, Mr Bryant said posts on social media implied that the City had not done anything in the area in the past six months.
“I know and I’ve seen the work done so far in that space,” he said.