Public safety in Pinelands is set for a major upgrade as the suburb’s newly approved Community Improvement District (CID) begins to set its plans in motion.
With a total of 2 799 “yes” votes (more than the 60% plus 1 vote needed) submitted to the City of Cape Town at the end of November last year, the application for the establishment of the Pinelands CID (PLCID) was approved in Council on Thursday 25 May.
Yazied Davids, PLCID’s media officer, says it is now in the process of formally registering the organisation as a non-profit company (NPC) and preparing RFQ (request for quotes) documents for service providers.
“The team has engaged with other CIDs and will meet with community-based organisations and safety structures based in Pinelands,” he said.
According to Davids, public safety will be the priority during the initiation process.
“We have engaged with the City’s metro, traffic and law enforcement departments. We were also briefed on the City’s Police Plan proposal that will be published for public participation.”
He added that partnering with the Pinelands Community Policing Forum (CPF) and the stakeholders within this forum will be vital to addressing crime in the area.
“Meetings have been scheduled to acquire the two law-enforcement officers that will be assigned to Pinelands.”
Additional meetings have been scheduled for the installation of CCTV cameras, a control room and a safety app for all residents.
“Visible policing plays an important role in crime deterrence,” says Davids.
“The lack of visible patrols is a concern. We will aim to assign patrollers to hotspots, work with existing security service providers, street committees and neighbourhood watch groups.”
But that is not all that the PLCID’s steering committee will be concentrating on in the next few months.
At present the steering committee comprises Davids, David Owen, Sandy McGuffog and Aslam Clarke. Paul Rist, who was part of the committee, resigned shortly after the CID’s approval.
McGuffog said the PLCID has a four-prong delivery focus: public safety, cleaning, greening and social development.
“Social development is especially important as it directly addressed some of the root causes of crime in Pinelands,” she said.
Davids added that, going forward, the steering committee would meet with community-based organisations to address environmental challenges, including illegal dumping, littering, damage to trees and park equipment and heritage protection.
He said the safety and development of the suburb’s parks would be prioritised.
“Our social development team will work closely with the City’s Displaced Person’s Unit and NGOs in implementing sustainable programmes,” Davids said.
The committee was also in the process of hiring a CID manager and securing premises.
McGuffog said the CID manager job description was on the body’s website.
“Obviously we can’t finalise that until the company is registered, but we are currently accepting applications. The cut-off date for applications will be (Saturday) 15 July.”
As for the search for headquarters she said a property was being sought.
“At the moment we’re still getting the non-profit company registered, which has to be done before we can enter into any contracts.”
When People’s Post last reported on the drive to establish a CID in Pinelands the voting deadline had been extended to Wednesday 30 November 2022.
READ | Voting deadline for Pinelands CID goes into extra time
Residents were asked to complete and submit the consent/objection forms before the end of October last year.
For plans to go ahead at least 60% of residents needed to agree to the formation of a CID. When the clock struck 12 on Monday 31 October, they were still 998 votes short.
Determined to win the outstanding votes, the CID steering committee put together a marketing strategy that included social media and email campaigns, putting up banners in strategic spots and appearances at community events. Volunteer groups advocating for the CID also hit the streets, making door-to-door calls from 17:00 to 18:00.
Davids said the group would like to thank everyone for supporting this initiative “to help make Pinelands safe, clean and green”.
“A special thanks to our wonderful group of volunteers who helped mobilise residents through their door-to-door campaign. The support from community organisations and local businesses has been overwhelming and we look forward to working with you.
“We are also grateful to the previous Pinelands CID steering committee members who initiated this process years ago.”
The full application report and minutes is available here.
