There is no denying that 2020 will be a tough year but at the CCID we plan to focus on what we do best: ensuring the Cape Town CBD is safe, clean, caring and open for business. We’ll do this by sticking to the basics when it comes to the work of our departments, says CEO Tasso Evangelinos.
Last year, the CCID faced many challenges, and increasing pressure, brought on by a tight economy and a growing CBD. As a result, our modus operandi for 2020 is to focus on what the CCID does best – and to stick to the basics.
As a non-profit company, we are mandated to provide top-up services to those provided by the SA Police Services (SAPS) and the City of Cape Town. We are not the primary service providers. In this regard, we will be consolidating our efforts to assist our primary partners as best we can to provide the best return-on-investment.
In 2020, we will explore every avenue, and leave no stone unturned, to improve our service, stay relevant and continue to do the work we have done for the last 19 years, ensuring the CBD remains the most successful downtown in South Africa.
HARD WORK AND CELEBRATION
I am pleased to say it is also a special year as we celebrate our 20th anniversary in November. So, for us, it is a combination of hard work and celebration.
Looking back, it is incredible what we have achieved with you, our stakeholders, in working towards a vision of a Central City where people want to work, invest, play, stay and visit.
To achieve this goal, we need to collaborate more to build on the success of the CBD. As CCID chairperson Rob Kane said at our AGM last year, “it is time for each one of us to reassess where we want this city to be in two, three, even 10 years’ time, and then for each of us to take responsibility for our role in that vision”.
I share Rob’s sentiments and encourage you to play a more active role as we strive to retain the hard-won benefits we have established since we began our quest nearly two decades' ago to lift the Central City out of the drastic “crime and grime” scenario to which it had fallen prey.
PARTNERSHIPS ARE KEY
As the CCID, we remain committed to strengthening partnerships and want to assure you, as our stakeholders, that we are here for you.
We will focus on keeping the Central City safe, maintaining a clean, attractive and risk-reduced urban environment for all to enjoy, promoting the Central City as a dynamic downtown to encourage investment and economic growth and also making a difference to the lives of the CBD’s most vulnerable individuals, the homeless.
In closing, on behalf of the CCID Board of Directors, my management team and staff, I would like to wish you all a happy and successful 2020.
I remain upbeat about the future of our downtown. Let’s work together to ensure the Cape Town CBD goes from strength to strength.
IMAGES: CCID