This has been an exciting time for the Blackheath Industrial Area with the realisation of essential infrastructure and capital Projects that have been fought for, planned and saved up for over many years.  The Non-motorised Transport project was rolled out through most of the Blackheath Industrial Area by the City of Cape Town and this stage has now been completed.  This has not only seen to the safety of pedestrians being addressed, but also the installation of formal kerbs and other essential infrastructure throughout many parts of Blackheath.

Kerbs, formalised and paved intersections, storm water, pedestrian walkways, tree planting and greening projects, bus stops, channels, road surfaces and public lighting installations have taken place and our long awaited CCTV project has been rolled out.

Further major Capital projects are planned for the remainder of 2015 with the promise of a further major resurfacing project for Range Road.

In addition to this, we have performed many major area clean-ups on behalf of the City of Cape Town.  Litter and illegal dumping are a huge challenge to us here in Blackheath.  We also have major challenges with some of the businesses operating within the local area and their attitude towards the upkeep and cleanliness of and the infrastructure within Blackheath Industria.

Responsible Business owners within the Blackheath Industrial Area support and drive the Blackheath CID and contribute to its success.  Unfortunately, there are a handful of users within the Blackheath area that have no regard for that which the BCID initiative sets out to achieve.  These businesses and or their patrons usually operate outside of their factory premises and create damage to infrastructure, spoil the character and cleanliness of the area and negatively impact on their neighbours.  These actions are mostly illegal and include breaking up of scrap and dumping on the Council verge, illegal parking and loading in and on the road infrastructure and related pedestrian infrastructure and the general spoiling of the character of the area that we all work so hard to promote.

We appeal to Business and Landlords to take responsibility for your operation and the area around your premises and assist us to do the challenging work that we do with the limited resources that we have here at the Blackheath CID?  Our infrastructure comes at a great cost and is essential to the value of your investment and the easy roll out of your daily business activities that generate profit.

The CCTV Network includes both License Plate Recognition and Overview CCTV technology and is employed to ensure that we are covered in the event of criminal activity taking place within the Blackheath Industrial Area.  Those who know me would know that I have not always been in favour of the rollout and expense relating to the rollout of CCTV infrastructure, until such time that the technology improved and became more reliable and that its effectiveness could harness and ensure the securing of the Blackheath Industrial area.  I believe that the time is right for this now that the LPR network is alive and well supported between Public and Private Partnerships in the City of Cape Town and that the capital investment is affordable and good value for money within a sustainable project.

I also would like to request that every business that borders onto the public space and that have either CCTV technology in place or who may be in a position to add to our ever improving network, contact me and form a partnership with the Blackheath CID to roll out even more CCTV technology to assist in the monitoring and securing of our Industrial area.  Footage collected is only for use by the authorised authorities in responding to incidents crime.  A full confidentiality agreement is in place with our suppliers and the system is registered with the City of Cape Town where it forms part of the local LPR network.

Every year around this time the BCID staff and Directors conduct a Survey of the Members of the Blackheath Industrial node and the effectiveness of the program and that of the Local Government, whilst updating our records and more specifically the Blackheath Business Directory.

The attached survey (click here to download) requests your kind response to some standard questions as well as the potential to have a presentation made to us by the Department of Trade and Industry that will detail the available investment incentives offered by the DTI.

We have also reached the end of our financial year now and will be moving towards the hosting of our Annual General Meeting, that will be held on the 07^th of October 2015 at 13:00 at the HomeChoice Building in School Road, that is in place to report back on our financial position and the renewal of the term of operation of the Blackheath CID for a further 5-Year period.  We hope that the Members of the Company will be in support of this extension and will attend the feedback session.  A formal Notice will be delivered in due course.

For all issues relating to the business of the Blackheath City Improvement District in the Blackheath Industrial Area, please do not hesitate to contact me or the Chairperson Mr. Andre Smuts immediately.

This year marks the 5^th Anniversary of the Blackheath Rail Crossing Tragedy and in honour of this an event was held to memorialise this disastrous tragedy by officially opening the memorial wall that has been constructed at the … in memory of the lives of the ten learners who died when a taxi darted through the lowered booms in an attempt to beat an oncoming train.

Pupils killed at Buttskop crossing remembered

FIVE years after 10 pupils – between the ages of 8 and 18 – were killed while on their way to school, their families are still finding it difficult to come to terms with their deaths.

The minibus taxi transporting them was hit by a passenger train at a level crossing in Blackheath.

The driver, Jacob Humphreys, jumped a queue of cars waiting to cross the Buttskop crossing and then attempted to cross the tracks while the booms were down, in August 2010.

Humphreys was originally handed a jail sentence of 20 years in December 2011 for his role in their deaths. However, on appeal, it was reduced to eight years.

Yesterday, the City of Cape Town unveiled a memorial wall in the Welmoed cemetery – where six of the children are buried – in honour of the 10 children who died|in the crash.

The family of Jason Pedro are still finding it difficult to deal with his death, but his mother, Ursula , said they soldier on each day.

“I dreaded this day, it still feels like you don’t want it to come because it just takes you back to that tragic day. It caused a lot of|damage to my family.”

Jason, 15, was her eldest son. Pedro said her other sons sometimes still “struggle to go to school because of the pain”.
“My 16-year-old says he feels empty after his brother’s passing. But we are trying to cope, we take it step by step. We still can’t believe that it happened.”

She said the family were grateful for the wall of remembrance and said she liked the picture of her son placed in the plaque with her son’s name and date of birth.

At eight years old, Reece Smith was the youngest of the children.
His mother, Rochelle, said Reece’s brother, Wyman,16, was unable to verbalise what he felt, but “he was still very hurt”.

Story: Yolisa Tswanya / Photograph: David Ritchie
(Read the full story in the Cape Argus or get the app at www.myindependent.co.za)

As previously stated, major cleansing operations have taken place on the residential boundaries of Happy Valley and Blackheath and Gaylee during August, where residents litter and throw garden refuse and general waste over their walls and into the public space.  300 Blue bags were filled with litter from these locations in a two week period between the 3^rd and the 15^th of August 2015.  200 of these bags were filled along the stretch between Happy Valley and Wimbledon Road where the majority of dumped waste included spent nappies…

In September, as we welcome Spring, we also welcome growth.  This will be a month of trying to mow all verges and prune trees around the Blackheath Industrial Area where you will see our team attending to pruning during this and next week.

Give them a hoot and a wave in encouragement as they are very hard working and committed to the task.

Happy Feet Crèche

Sing For Africa Grade “R” School

Both schools in Happy Valley are functioning very well and they are busy as always with fun learning activities with our little learners.

Happy Feet Crèche is at the full capacity as parents return to work after the Winter months.  Many of the parents are seasonal workers on the neighbouring farms.

The Sing for Africa Grade “R” School is sitting with a full class room of 48 learners and teachers have their hands full with these busy bee learners in the class.  The ECD Centre also started with a small vegetable garden and are making compost by using all sorts of organic ingredients.

The March edition of the Blackheath City Improvement District was slightly delayed due to fact that sometimes good news takes a bit longer to present than expected and some of our most important projects sometimes don’t finish at month end and deserve a bit of extra time so that we can ensure that we can bring the news to you.

The news that makes us the winning team that we are! The news that means more safety, more security, better property values and a closer-knit community that strive to make Blackheath a safe and preferred Industrial Area where we do business and where our business partners envy us and speak about the progress that we make, together.

For years we as a team and as business owners in Blackheath have been discussing infrastructure. Roads, storm-water, water supply, sewerage, street lighting, schools, formal housing in Happy Valley, road networks, painted lines, stop streets, speed calming, pre-schools, early childhood development centres and the partnerships with the

role players were all items featuring high on our list of objectives.

Services relating to Law Enforcement including Traffic Services, SAPS, Metro Police and also Health, Welfare, Social Development, Environmental Health, Area Cleansing and Area Cleaning all featured just as high on our list of priorities.

What we see today in Blackheath is a dramatic turnaround, although only the beginning of progress in infrastructure and a further progression of efforts in advancing the infrastructure in the Blackheath area made possible by the Blackheath CID team.

It is by no means a small achievement and is the result of much hard work, not only by the team at the Blackheath CID, but also by all property owners who contribute to the initiative AND the Officials of the City of Cape Town who support our cause and drive this process with us and for us for the benefit of all including property owners, business owners, tenants and staff of the Blackheath Industrial Area.

I may be rambling slightly, but I think it is important that we all realise just how much effort goes into the results and progress that we see on a daily basis and who the people are who contribute to this and, in addition, that the contribution includes that made by all property owners within the Blackheath CID footprint.

Those who have noticed “The eyes of Big Brother” at the entrances to the Blackheath Industrial Area will know that we are now monitoring all the entrances to the Blackheath Industrial Area via CCTV. In Partnership with the City of Cape Town, The South African Police Services, and the locally based Security suppliers, ST3 Security and Astrosec we have our “eyes” on deterring and reducing crime within the Blackheath Industrial Area.

The system is already up and running and we have accepted the handover of the equipment from the installations team last Wednesday the 08th of April. The system is therefore fully operational and actively listing and recording all movement into and out of Blackheath, whilst flagging suspicious vehicles and persons, reinforced with oversight cameras storing footage for use by the authorities only. This footage is only available to the Blackheath CID and our partners in Law Enforcement and is controlled by legislation in the form of the City of Cape Town Policy for the Regulation of external and privately owned CCTV cameras on City property policy – (Policy number 21207).

Information and images collected will assist us in responding to crime and in investigating incidents of crime in partnership with the SAPS and local Law Enforcement initiatives. We aim to respond immediately to the threat of suspicious persons / vehicles flagged on the system on entering the area and to tie into the City-wide LPR Network.