Clifton ‘safer and cleaner’ thanks to CID

The Clifton City Improvement District (CID) has been operating since October of last year and the manager, Amanda Kirk, who worked with the Observatory CID and now lives in Observatory, says it was a terrific experience to construct the CID from the bottom up.

Ms Kirk says they were able to deal with the issues that the 2023 festive season brought and that they were ready for the matric dance parties as well.

“We have contracted services for cleaning and public safety and there’s about 24 people in those teams. We also have work opportunities for previously street based people who are working with a local non profit, and we have a social development programme that tops up the cleaning services, they take care of the coast line and the green belts while getting psycho-social support and job readiness training,” said Ms Kirk.

There are 500 ratepayers that contribute to the CID, and they have helped SAPS make over 25 arrests and assisted Law Enforcement in seizing over 2000 units of alcohol. They have also collected over eight tons of rubbish.

“Clifton is a tourist destination area, people come here to enjoy the natural beauty and the coffee shops and the restaurants but during the festive season there is a massive influx of local and international visitors. On New Year’s day we had over 2500 people just on Fourth Beach, so for that we have to scale up our services to deal with more litter, there are more petty crimes, substance abuse, there’s lost children and lost dogs as well,” she said.

Besides the safety of residents and the public during the peak times, Ms Kirk says they have to consider the traffic congestion.

“It gets congested here when people want to leave after sunset and there’s taxis and Ubers all waiting in Victoria Road and this causes another set of problems. There’s suggestions that there should be a park and ride service somewhere to make it easier for people to get home and not sit here until late at night,” Ms Kirk said.

“We have a few months to get ready for the next season, to take leave, adjust our programmes and because we had a successful season last time the community does expect us to maintain standard and I have no doubt that we will. I must say there are a lot of community members who are supportive of what we do, they have been really welcoming,” she said.

Ms Kirk says they have good relationships with Law Enforcement, SAPS, the traffic department, and Ward 54 councillor Nicola Jowell.

According to Chris Willemse, chairman of the Camps Bay Clifton Ratepayers’ Association, the control of “crime and grime” has improved, and Ms Jowell also says they have made an impact in the area.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Amanda Kirk. With Amanda’s support, the City has been able to deal with many of the outstanding issues in the area such as broken street lights, sewage blockages and water leaks. We have recently assisted with the upgrading of the Nettleton Road planted circle with City Parks providing the needed plants and the CID’s greening team planting and watering them,” said Ms Jowell.

“Similarly the CID now has their own dedicated law enforcement members who work with their security members on patrol in the area. The season was made that much safer with the dedicated security officers in all public spaces of the area. There is no doubt that the top up services and direct interventions provided by the CID have made Clifton a safer and cleaner place for all residents and visitors too,” she said.