As we head into the colder months, we’re preparing you with some winter readiness tips to keep both yourself and your property safe.
Additionally, we share some tips on keeping your wheelie bin safe so that you know it’ll always find its way back home, as well as some exciting news about a greening initiative being run in Woodstock.
And, we share some recent updates from our WID manager on their operational achievements in the CID.
February is Cape Town art month – with two major programme highlights being the Cape Town Art Fair from 16-18 February at the CTICC, and the International Public Art Festival from 14-18 February across the City Centre. To celebrate Woodstock’s place on the Cape Town art map, we have compiled our own guide of all the artist hot spots to be found in Woodstock and neighbouring Salt River.
From art galleries and artist studios, to some of the best art stores, framing shops and art colleges in the city, Woodstock is one of the most notable art routes in Cape Town.
Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Road
Arguably one of Cape Town’s most important galleries, representing regional artists on the international art scene such as Zanele Muholi, Penny Siopis, Guy Tillim, Zander Blom, Wim Botha and Pieter Hugo, Stevenson has galleries in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Amsterdam and participates in Art Basel, Frieze London, Paris Photo, Art Basel Miami Beach and of course, Cape Town Art Fair.
76 Albert Road, Woodstock
Art Is It is a vibrant addition to the contemporary art scene, providing a space that both showcases new talent and removes the feeling of intimidation when visiting a gallery to view art.
131 Sir Lowry Road
One of Cape Town’s top young galleries of contemporary art in a small space that hosts excellent exhibitions of solo artists and group shows, 131a Gallery is run by the founder of Cape Town’s artsy Lake magazine, Brett Bellairs.
Cape Town is notoriously prone to wildfires that occur in natural vegetation when it is hot and dry in the summer months, which coincide with the windy season – creating ideal conditions for wildfires to occur and quickly get out of control. This season has already been earmarked to be the worst fire season in 8 years.
Cape Town fires are particularly common in the Table Mountain National Park due to the natural conditions in our fynbos ecosystem. But, homes and businesses are not exempt from danger, as any fire can spread quickly and far – up to tens of kilometres from the source. It is most important to keep your home, family and business safe, protecting life and property, as our urban living spaces share a boundary with the national parks in many parts of Cape Town and the Western Cape.
In Cape Town, there are various organisations in place to manage fire safety and interventions that should be taken, both to avoid fire and to control it when it happens.
Continue readingIt’s been another year of successes and tackling challenges head-on for the Woodstock Improvement District. As part of our renewed commitment to public safety and urban cleaning and management, we persist in leading the way toward the continuous improvement of Woodstock as a thriving residential and business hub.
Our team has increased their presence on the ground, resulting in improved statistics across the board for 2023. We’ve driven more kilometres in our patrol vehicles, engaged with more members of the public and attended to more service requests and urban defects than ever before. We’ll continue with this increased presence in the community in 2024 and the years beyond.
This year, with 51 CIDs now in operation in the City of Cape Town, the new CID by-law and policy has come into effect. Geocentric, who has now been working with city improvement district initiatives for more than 2 decades, is proud to be responsible for over 25% of the total CIDs in operation.
In addition to taking care of the public’s safety and urban cleaning, our CID placed a focus on greening areas across Woodstock in 2023. These urban beautification projects will be continued throughout 2024, in line with the goal of continuously upgrading our community.
“Despite the challenges of a struggling economy, ongoing load shedding and higher fuel prices, the aim of the Woodstock Improvement District remained focussed on delivering top-up services to the public spaces of Woodstock throughout the year,” says Gene Lohrentz of Geocentric Urban Management, tasked with the delivery of the WID services.
The WID Board and Geocentric management team is committed to finding innovative, efficient and cost-effective ways to continue delivering on the vision for a safer, cleaner, well-maintained and vibrant Woodstock. We look forward to more opportunities to make a tangible difference in 2024.
As the festive season approaches, it is essential to prioritise safety at this time, as crime, accidents and fire hazards are usually on the rise during the holiday period.
Being mindful of potential risks and hazards can help safeguard you, your business and your property – from road safety considerations to vigilance against petty crimes in crowded business premises to more serious crimes such as hijacking and robbery.
Along with keeping your personal safety in mind, if you are a business owner, it is imperative to be vigilant and proactive in implementing strategies that protect your assets, property and staff during the busiest time of year.
Prevention is better than cure. That’s why we urge property and business owners to make every effort to prepare their properties, businesses, staff and themselves against opportunists and criminals with our safety tips below:
Continue readingCome October, we hold our Annual General Meeting (AGM 2023) to review the year’s activities and begin our planning for 2024/25. This Spring, we have also undertaken several urban beautification projects, adding greenery and cleaning up public areas of Woodstock to improve the community experience of people living in, working in and visiting Woodstock.
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 16 October.
Wednesday, 25 October 2023, 12:00
No 1 De Waal House, 172 Victoria Road, Woodstock
RSVP to info@wid.co.za
The Woodstock ID embarked on small urban beautification projects this year, which we hope to continue into the next year. The project initially started with the revamping of some of the old public benches in Victoria Road with the help of local businesses. As part of the ongoing project, the WID augmented these seating areas with large planter pots to bring some greenery to the area and will also add public cigarette bins in their vicinity to keep the area clean.
More potted plants were also placed along Victoria Road near the intersection of Mountain Road to create a barrier between pedestrians and vehicle traffic in the adjacent parking area.
Continue readingWhile Spring makes us think “green”, it’s not all spring flowers and baby birds that are in the air. Climate change and its proactive counterpart, Climate Action, is on the world’s collective consciousness with COP26 beginning on 31 October in Glasgow, culminating in this year’s Climate Action Day on 4 November and millions of people across the world who will be out marching for climate justice on Saturday 6 November. Last month Global Day of Climate Action on 25 September, held by Fridays for Future, saw 3500 towns and cities get involved, and this month is also Youth Climate Action Day on 23 October.
But let’s take a step back…
The Table Mountain fires that have just begun to be contained have sparked debate in Cape Town once again around homelessness. On Sunday 18 April, the day that the fires began, reports that Table Mountain National Park “surmised that the origin of the fire is from a vacated vagrant fire” were broadcast in the news. However, forensic expert investigating the fires David Klatzow disagrees, saying he is “not convinced” a vagrant is behind the Table Mountain blaze. He is asking for further investigations into both SANPark’s and UCT’s roles in possible negligence that led to the fires getting out of control in the height of fire season when measures should be taken to prevent the spread of fires that do occur.
It is not hard to believe that there is a bigger picture to consider and that placing the blame on a “vagrant” as an easy scapegoat is too simple an answer.
Did you know? Cape Town’s City Improvement Districts – also known as Special Ratings Area (SRA) – were established in 2000 with the flagship CCID as a non-profit organisation, funded by property owners with a vision to provide essential top-up safety and cleaning services, urban maintenance, social upliftment and upgrading of the environment in the city centre.
The spreading of CIDs and connected forms of public-private partnership as an international model of urban renewal has been linked to the rise of ‘urban entrepreneurialism’ and the neoliberalization of policies and practices, at a time when competition between cities in the global economy has never been greater. Continue reading
It’s all about the ladies this month!
August is a special month – it’s Women’s month! But it’s also a bittersweet event, especially this year. The month is meant to be a celebration of women and the role they’ve played in our history — which is why we celebrate Women’s Day on the 9th of August, the anniversary of the 1956 Women’s March against pass laws — as well as our place in society. But, more often than not, it ends up highlighting the struggles and dangers that women face every day.
We also know that men have been at the top of the leaderboard for years, dominating the world of business and many other industries for reasons that are as complex as they are deep-rooted. But with changes in gender policies and norms and the rise of so many influential women came the launch of a whole new era for businesswomen around the world. Today, women sit side by side with their male counterparts and establish their businesses as household names in a variety of industries, including publishing and broadcasting, science and technology, design, engineering, fashion and beauty.
As a tribute to our local women changing their industries, we’ve put together some of our top female entrepreneurs in Woodstock and surrounds who are making waves. Let’s show our support for our women leaders.
The Woodstock / Salt River area has become a hub (or should that be hop?) of craft beer activity. We love our community, and we love local businesses. When the two come together the local economy, and value of the area, is maintained and even improved. When further combined with an unusual and enjoyable pint, those benefits taste even better! We’ve put together a list of our top Woodstock craft beer breweries and distilleries to encourage you to stop by for a quick pint after work, or why not make a weekend of visiting all of them?
