Tag Archive for: urban management

TVID Takes Matters in Hand

Tygervalley can be assured of a dedicated and comprehensive service being rendered by the TVID (Tygervalley Improvement District), as can be concluded from a report on activities in the area during the past few weeks. 

On the Public Safety front there was a large amount of activity that can set the area’s tenants and residents at peace. 

TVID Urban Safety Team

The public safety officers regularly patrolled within the TVID to secure the safety of the businesses and 

the public. Some of the responsibilities executed, were the following: 

Engaging with all people in the public space to ensure that everyone is aware of our presence and activities. This is done in conjunction with and in support of law enforcement who oversees such activities.  If something suspicious is found, Law Enforcement Officer and or SAPS acts accordingly 

Most of the security activities involving engagement with the public, appear in Havenga Street, Durban Road, Willie Van Schoor Street, Edward Street and Carl Cronje Street. 

According to TVID Manager Clifford Oostendorp, the reason for this is that beggars, bin scratchers and car guards moving from Bellville to Durbanville or from Durbanville to Bellville pass through the Tygervalley area.  

Examples of engaging with the public are the following: 

  • TVID Public Safety Officers engaged with a suspicious-looking man who was in possession of a “tik lolly” on the corner of Oakdale Street and Durban Road. Officers confiscated the item, gave him a warning and removed him out of the area. 
  • On Durban Road officers engaged with a person who had in his possession an undisclosed amount of City of Cape Town blue refuse bags. Our officers confiscated the bags and removed him out of the area. 
  • On 25 October 2017, Public Safety Officers engaged with intoxicated vagrants who were loitering in public in front of Virgin Active, Sportica Road. The persons were cautioned. (See photos) 

Loitering 3

  • Officers also engaged with suspicious-looking men who were in possession of knives on Carl Cronje Street. (photos) 

dangerous objects 1

  • Persons begging for money at Edward Street, Willie Van Schoor Street, Durban Road and Bill Bezuidenhout Street respectively, were cautioned
  • Various suspicious-looking persons were stopped and searched in Edward Street. 
  • On Edward Street, public safety officers engaged with illegal car guards.
  • People scratching in bins at Misspell Street, Durban Road and Sportica Street respectively, were cautioned and requested to leave the area. (photos) 

bin-scratching 4 bin-scratching 1 bin-scratching 2 bin-scratching 3

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Geocentric Launches New App

“As Geocentric we are very proud to launch our new mobile phone reporting application,” said Gene Lohrentz of the urban management company recently. “This is another way in which we are enabling our CID business and property owners to interact with their City Improvement District Management. Geocentric Reporting App 2

“We want our CID contributors to become part of our family by interacting with us about issues they might encounter.  The mobile application makes that possible on the devices most people have with them every day.” 

The Geocentric app allows users to easily report issues in the City Improvement Districts managed by Geocentric Urban Management based in South Africa.  Currently the areas covered by this Application include Beaconvale Industrial Area, Elsies River Industrial, Glosderry, Maitland, Salt River, Somerset West CBD, Stikland Industrial, Strand CBD and the Tygervalley CBD.  

With this application users can report urban defects, crime incidents, public safety issues and general comments.  “We will acknowledge your report and provide you with feedback throughout the process.  We will also send you ‘Alerts’ of problems in your CID area, such as water leaks or power outages and we can even send crime alerts and safety tips to your mobile phone. 

The Geocentric Reporting Application is Free of Charge 

Simply install it and register as a user when using it for the first time.  If you need any help, please contact support@geocentric.co.za 

Geocentric Reporting App 1

Let’s get started! 

  • Simply download and install the App from the Google Play or Apple App Store  
  • Register as a user, using the app when you open it for the first time 
  • We will send you a confirmation email and you will have to activate your app by clicking on the activation link in the email – this is to ensure we are dealing with people and not spammers. 
  • Go to your email and verify your email address 
  • Log in and you are ready to go! 
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Urban Management Trolley Introduced

The Geocentric Urban Management Trolley Project was initiated in 2017. 

The aim of the project is to provide urban cleaning and maintenance teams with a platform to improve their daily tasks, assist with moving of equipment and tools and enable recycling while performing their tasks. 

A few design considerations were introduced into the design of the trolley including 

  • The ability to move heavy loads of litter or recycling from one point to another without effort or potential injury 
  • Create high visibility for the cleaning and maintenance teams 
  • Have quick and easy access to tools and equipment 
  • The ability, even when fully loaded, to easy ascend and descend kerbs and sidewalks 
  • Be able to separate waste as they work to support the recycling initiative 

To achieve some of these design principles, Geocentric looked at simple solutions from other designs, for example, the stair-climbing suitcases used by so many travellers.  By scaling up the design for the urban management trolleys, we could produce a sidewalk and pavement climbing trolley where the urban management worker needs minimum effort to get onto and off pavements to perform their duties.  

(See photos of step 1, 2 and 3 illustrating this concept.) 

step1

step2

step3

The trolleys were also designed to be pushed from any side with key tools located in the middle so that it is in fact easy to use it for a two-man team operation.  On each side of the trolley a plastic tool box allows storage for small tools. 

Recyclables like tin cans, glass and plastic bottles are collected by the urban management workers throughout the day as they clean the streets and public spaces and at the end of each day they separate the items into baskets whereafter Geocentric recycles the items. 

trolley 4

This is another way in which we make CID operations more sustainable and environmentally friendly as we prevent a vast amount of waste from simply going to landfills. 

trolley 5 trolley 6

Geocentric have rolled out these trollies in the Elsies River and Beaconvale City Improvement Districts and plan to roll them out to all the other CIDs under Geocentric management through the course of 2018. 

 

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Cleaning Team Multitasks

The task of the TVID’s maintenance and cleaning team is to clean within the TVID in order to sustain a fresh environment. The following duties were recently completed within the TVID: 

  • Cutting of grass and de-weeding at Havenga Street, Misspell Street and Durban Road respectively. 

See ‘Before’, ‘During’ and ‘After’ pictures to illustrate:

BEFORE

Before 3 Before 2 Before 1

 

DURING

During 1 During 2 During 3

 

AFTER

After 3 After 2 After 1

  • TVID Cleaning and Maintenance Team was deployed to empty green bins in our area. 

greenbins 1 greenbins 2 greenbins 3 greenbins 4 greenbins 5 greenbins 6

  • The Cleaning and Maintenance Team was also deployed to clear and remove illegal dumping in the TVID area. (See ‘Before’, ‘During’ and ‘After’ pictures.) 

BEFORE

illegal dumping (before)

 

DURING

illegal dumping (during)

 

AFTER

 

illegal dumping (after)

  • The team also re-aligned and painted bollards and street signs at Durban Road, Edward Street, Willie Van Schoor Street and Antrum Park respectively. 

bollards 1 bollards 2 bollards 3 signs 2 signs

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Urban Renewal On-going

TVID’s Urban Renewal team has back to back responsibilities relating to the maintenance and beautification of the area, when necessary in collaboration with teams of the City of Cape Town. 

  • The TVID team can be seen replacing a green bin in Edward Street. 

replacing green bins 1 replacing green bins 2 replacing green bins 3

  • The TVID Maintenance Team were deployed to clear and remove a tree that fell over in strong wind. 

removing fallen tree 1 removing fallen tree 3

 

removing fallen tree 2

 

  • City of Cape Town’s Electricity Department repaired Street lights in Willie Van Schoor Street and Sportica Street. 

CofCT repairing lights 2

  • City of Cape Town’s Storm Water and Roads Department reinstated a broken pavement at the corner of Edward Street and Bloemhoff Street. 

Repairing pavement 1 repairing pavement 2 repairing pavement 3

 

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