agm | Beaconvale Improvement District

This October, we hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM 2023) to review the year’s activities and begin our planning for 2024/25. We hope all our members can attend. Non-members still have time to register. The new City of Cape Town CID by-law and policy came into effect on 1 July and that is available to view online.

Our CID has undertaken several urban beautification projects this Spring, adding greenery and cleaning up public areas of Beaconvale, as well as upgrading our security camera network.

Lastly, the recent bout of storms and cold fronts experienced in the Cape have certainly added to the work of the CIDs, in particular in the way of road maintenance and fallen trees. We’d like to remind you at this time to assist us in providing effective service by logging a service request for any faults encountered.

Our AGM is coming up

All stakeholders are invited to a review of the year’s activities and planning for 2024/25.

Resolutions presented at the AGM can only be voted for by bonafide members. All non-members wishing to take part must be registered before 12 October.

View all AGM documents here.

AGM Details

Monday, 23 October 2023, 10:00
Fi Group, Unit A1, Connaught Park, McGregor Street, Beaconvale
RSVP to info@beaconvalecid.co.za

New CID By-law Policy

The new CID by-law policy came into effect from 1 July, which serves “To provide for the establishment of City Improvement Districts; to provide for additional rates; and to provide for matters incidental thereto.”

The City of Cape Town’s by-law and policy regarding the establishment and management of City Improvement Districts has gone through several iterations over the years since the concept of a CID was first tested in the year 2000.

The latest revisions of the by-law and policy comes as more than 50 CIDs are now in operation.

The by-law is available to download online here at openbylaws.org.za.

Spring greening Beaconvale – A New Pop-Up Park

The Beaconvale CID continues to beautify the area in an effort to create an attractive and inviting urban environment for the entire community and those visiting the area.

In the last year we created a pop-up park with welcome sign and a potted garden, as you approach one of the main entrances to Beaconvale, on the corner of Jan Smuts and Beaconvale at the Metro Police facility.

The good news is that we will continue with these projects through the area in an effort to make Beaconvale even more inviting and attractive.

New security cameras for Beaconvale

We have continuously expanded the camera network of the Beaconvale Improvement District as the funding becomes available. However, one of the areas where we have experienced new impact from criminal activity recently was with the Beaconvale boundary with Van Riebeeck Road on the western boundary of the improvement district. This criminal activity was mostly against the properties that border onto Van Riebeeck Road. In order to address this issue, we have deployed several new cameras on that perimeter.

These static CCTV cameras are equipped with artificial intelligence for human detection. Whenever these cameras detect human movement during late-night and early-morning hours, an alert is triggered. This alert is then shared with our public safety provider’s control room and their patrol vehicles, which actively participate in patrolling the area as part of their routine neighborhood patrols. Whoever is on patrol that night, receives the alert first and is able to investigate the movement and ascertain if there is any criminal activity involved.

Logging a service request with the City

You too can assist with urban management and the growing number of faults and service requests that the City and our CID deal with on a daily basis. By reporting water and electricity faults and other maintenance requirements such as potholes, missing road signs or blocked stormwater drains, through the correct channels, we and the City are able to attend to these service requests and log their status in an effective way.

There are multiple channels through which you can do this – the easiest being the online portal at capetown.gov.za/servicerequests, which is also now available in the City of Cape Town mobile app.

View all the steps to log a service request on the flyers below.

Since launching on 31 July 2017, Beaconvale Improvement District (BVID) has brought a “quick and obvious” turnaround to an industrial area that “was not in a great state at all”.

So says Chairperson Sean Lavery in an overview of the BVID’s first four months of operations.

“One of our biggest challenges was the fact that there was a lot of work to do. It took quite a few weeks for the guys to make inroads. But the upside of that is, the change was apparent very quickly. You could see the difference,” he explains.

Measures that have been put into place in the area include:

The appointment of safety officers in partnership with Zonewatch Security
The appointment of cleaning teams
Improvement of lighting

According to Lavery all the teams have been performing above and beyond the initial expectations.

“The safety officers have, for instance, been walking people who work in the area and commute by train from the station in the morning and back again in the evening. Just being able to make people feel safe in their working environment is a big achievement on its own.”

With the year now drawing to a close, Lavery and team hope to build on this with the majority of the year’s R3.6million budget being pushed toward further enhancing safety services – investing in additional patrol vehicles and officers – as well as cleaning.

“We are also hoping to put some money aside for other projects, such as installing CCTV cameras throughout the area and erecting a fence on the corner of Van Riebeeck Street and Fransie van Zyl to improve the safety of workers walking to and from work.”

These official improvements have also had a positive knock-on effect among businesses, as the visible care being taken of the area encourages others to take more responsibility of their own.

While it’s still early days, Lavery believes that Beaconvale’s businesses are satisfied with their investment and that they can look forward to many more improvements over the coming months and years.

Ultimately, the BVID hopes to attain the following goals:

Reduce crime significantly by proactive visible patrolling and cooperation, along with existing SAPS and City of Cape Town Law Enforcement, as well as other security service providers in the area
Create a safe and clean public environment
Manage existing and new public infrastructure
Protect property values
Attract new investment
Support the promotion of the BVID industrial area as a safe and clean environment by promoting greening, energy efficiency, recycling and risk/disaster management
Support and promote social responsibility in the area

“It has been a privilege dealing with Gene and Geocentric in getting the Beaconvale CID set up. He has assisted and guided the steering committee throughout the process and continuously delivered on time,” Lavery concludes.

Beaconvale Improvement District

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AGM Save the Date & Spring greening Beaconvale