Anthony Pamm, Camps Bay
The proposed Camps Bay City Improvement District (CID) will, if approved, result in a large rates increase which many owners in Camps Bay cannot afford and should not have to pay and have imposed on them by others.
If those pushing for the CID do get a majority vote in favour and impose the CID and its costs on those who do not want such, this will, in my view, constitute abuse of democratic process leading to unwarranted oppression of the minority.
Those who want such an organisation should pursue it through another type of structure which they should themselves solely fund and not drag in other, unwilling, owners in Camps Bay to help fund it and thus subsidise the costs of those who do want it.
Camps Bay property owners (who are already overburdened rateswise) should, instead of going for this costly additional bureaucracy, be pushing hard for proper service delivery in Camps Bay in return for the excessive rates already being paid in Camps Bay.
This CID proposal is just letting the City (and its very highly-paid senior officials) off the hook for not doing what it should be doing in Camps Bay and for transferring out of Camps Bay funds realised from rates levied in Camps Bay which should be spent solely in Camps Bay, a suburb which, at monetary cost, provides substantial amenities to all in the City, not just the local residents.
