The proposed Camps Bay CID, for which voting commences on Monday November 6, after a second meeting of property owners, is sadly creating a divide in our community, seen in angry posts for and against the CID in local WhatsApp and Telegram groups, as well as in letters in your paper.
Not all our property owners are for the CID. The main concerns are the immense annual budget of close to R30 million, compared to those of other CIDs in Cape Town suburbs. Older residents in particular are concerned about not being able to pay the extra CID rate.
They are also concerned about the way in which the latest attempt at creating a CID in Camps Bay has been handled: eight property owners voted themselves onto the Steering Committee with no community nominations or acceptance sought, on a buddy buddy basis. No community input was sought prior to the presentation of a Draft Business Plan in August. Important volunteer groups have been ignored in its Plan, and generally the role of volunteers has been bashed.
Concerns are how the voting for/against the CID will be controlled, whether proxy votes will be accepted on behalf of absent owners, and how the property ownership relative to the voting person will be controlled.
Having failed to make a success of the CBCSI, it is these main players that are creating the proposed CID, the community having little faith in the success of the CID as a result. Transparency has been poor, much information about the CID having become available through questions asked by property owners rather than supplied proactively.
Property owners feel that the CID is being pushed through, with only two property owner meetings, a final Business Plan now presented, and one useless ‘Focus Group’ attended by only six property owners (out of more than 2000).
The community feels that as a start the CID should only focus on the Beachfront stretch of Victoria Road, from the end of Glen Beach to Balie Bay/Bakoven.
There is little trust that the CID can deal with and remove vagrants if the City of Cape Town is not even able to do so.