It's inevitable: 2021 will present unique challenges. Here we outline how the Cape Town Central City Improvement District plans to navigate potentially choppy waters to ensure the organisation once again delivers a crucial, stabilising, and relevant service in the year ahead.
For the CEO of the CCID, Tasso Evangelinos, the answer is simple: we remain focused and agile. This is important as it’s still uncertain how the pandemic might play out, even as vaccine drives, which are no silver bullet, are rolling out.
That said, 2020 provided valuable lessons which can be adopted in 2021. “We know what to expect now which allows us to plan better,” says Evangelinos. “We are still working under Covid-19 conditions and Lockdown Levels, so our strategies are constantly being looked at and adapted when needed.”
Evangelinos says the CCID’s focus for 2021 is: to continue to operate 24/7, introduce new services were possible, remain relevant, provide a level of stability and certainty and to continue to work with partners to support Central City stakeholders to revive the local economy and encourage people to come back to town in a safe manner. Other focus areas include supporting staff and continuing to adhere to Covid-19 safety protocols.
Here’s how the CCID’s departments will be tackling 2021:
URBAN MANAGEMENT
Having learnt to work better as a team and to be patient and optimistic last year, the Urban Management department is approaching the new year with adaptability. “We have approached 2021 with the knowledge that we can tackle change and have acquired the skills to deal with difficult times,” says Kally Benito, manager for CCID Urban Management.
To stay ahead of the cleaning game, the department’s ambitions include a project to deep-clean the CBD. This entails scrubbing pavements and sidewalks of grime, cleaning spaces with bird droppings, oil stains, gum and general dirt as well as scrubbing areas around all green litter bins to remove sticky and dirty substances. The department will also focus on painting bollards, road markings and kerb stones in the CBD. This is in addition to daily cleaning and restoration efforts such as sweeping and litter picking, hotspot cleaning, rodent baiting, unblocking storm water drains, removing graffiti tags, gardening services and road maintenance repairs.
Preferring not to reveal all her cards at once, Kally says CBD users must “watch this space” as “other exciting projects are in the pipeline”. She adds they’ll be working closely with various City of Cape Town departments to resolve urban management issues to ensure that the CBD can once again attract people and businesses back.
SAFETY AND SECURITY
CCID Safety & Security manager, Mo Hendricks says his department learnt to “change things up” last year to create a new way of working. Other important lessons include valuing relationships more to maintain a safe CBD and embracing technology. This is something his department is carrying into 2021 in addition to its usual crime prevention procedures.
“We will be making use of technology to interact with our stakeholders and partners. We will focus on using it to improve the service we render out in the public areas to maintain the low crime base achieved thus far. We want to continue to concentrate on the small things because if these are well managed there will be no big things to worry about,” he says. Another priority area is his staff’s wellbeing to ensure they are “adequately protected and psychologically geared up to tackle their duties during these trying times”.
Hendricks likens their 2021 approach to “eradicating the illness and not just the symptoms”. He explains that if, for example, a particular venue is housing criminality and issues such as drug dealing and theft are happening around it, instead of dealing with the petty crime which is the symptom, they’ll focus on shutting down the venue which is the actual “illness”. “We are going to focus on what is in our control and do it well and not dwell on what we can’t control,” he says.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Pat Eddy, the CCID Social Development department manager, says 2020 cemented that collaborating with numerous partners in the sector is crucial in assisting the homeless whose plight has been worsened by the pandemic. Her department’s key areas for 2021 include providing outreach work on the streets and assessing the needs to see how homeless clients can be assisted. She also notes the need for harm reduction projects to help substance users living on the streets of the CBD and says partnering with NGOs who render these services is critical.
Eddy adds: “We are constantly assessing the changing circumstances and will continue to work with our NGO partners around providing shelter but more importantly considering alternative accommodation models. Work-based rehabilitation projects like the one offered by our Streetscapes partner has proved extremely successful in assisting individuals to restore dignity and enable them to move from the streets and we will continue to motivate for additional opportunities for more people to gain access to this opportunity.”
COMMUNICATIONS
The need to communicate quickly, comprehensively, clearly and concisely to stakeholders was paramount in 2021. For the CCID's Communications department, 2021 will follow the same modus operandi. Says Sharon Sorour-Morris, Communications manager: "Our main aim is to promote the work of the CCID as we continue to navigate what is still a devastating and unpredictable pandemic. So, though our varied and diverse communications channels, including our printed and digital publications, as well as on our social media platforms, we will continue to work hard to illustrate the excellent service provided in the CBD by our hard-working operational teams."
The Central City has been hard hit by the wave of lockdown restrictions and regulations and we will continue to keep our stakeholders informed and advise them on how to survive these tough times. Apart from our intent to publicise the work of the CCID, we will also focus on promoting the Central City as an excellent place to work, play and invest."
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
During the previous year, flexibility and agility are two key traits that enabled the CCID’s Financial Management team to continue to function effectively, both in-office and remotely, says the CCID’s Business manager Stephen Willenburg. Covid-19 positively impacted his department’s audit process and took it online, remote, and virtually paperless. With his department also dealing with staff matters, he says another 2020 lesson is that showing compassion to employees allows them to flourish and provides a catalyst for them to take initiative. Going forward, Willenburg says resilience comes to mind. “The previous year was not an easy year and I believe 2021 will be just as challenging if not more. We must be resilient in our approach and must be able to lean on each other for support in the year ahead.” Willenburg echoes the sentiment by the rest of the CCID managers that more collaboration is needed. He adds that “sharing information more transparently and building relationships within the organisation and outside will go a long way to strengthening the CCID’s already robust foundation”.
IMAGES: CCID, Tasmin Weir, Ed Suter