CID is the acronym for a City Improvement District, a non-pr

• Published date: 05 October 2023
• Author: Spencer McNally, Chairperson, Camps Bay CID Steering Committee
• Publication title: Atlantic Sun

The process of establishing a CID is strictly regulated. It starts with the formation of a steering committee (SC) charged with following the legislated process

The first task is to conduct a survey to determine what the residents need and

thereafter put together a business plan that must be presented at a public meeting. The public is then called upon to comment on the business plan after which a second meeting is held and property owners then vote on the proposal to establish a CID.

The SC was formed by volunteers who have all been engaged in voluntary community initiatives in Camps Bay, some of us for more than 20 years. Our members will be recognised by anyone who has volunteered in the community.

We decided to form a SC because we recognised that the volunteer initiatives that were holding our community together and securing the value of our properties were no longer fit for purpose and collapsing under the strain of their reliance on volunteers and a lack of funding. Some mistakenly think that stating this self-evident truth is “volunteer bashing”, but in reality we are simply pointing out the clear evidence that volunteers will only be effective in the long run if supported by the sustainable, well-funded services that only a CID can provide.

In an ideal world, the rates and taxes collected in Camps Bay would be spent in Camps Bay as Mr Czornij demands (“Analysing CID proposal”, Atlantic Sun, September 21).

That sadly will not happen in South Africa in our lifetimes. In a society as unequal as ours, the bulk of the rates and taxes we pay will necessarily flow to other parts of the city that have greater needs than Camps Bay. While our police station is sometimes manned by only one police officer and often has no access to working vehicles, there are parts of Cape Town where there is no policing of any description whatsoever. Mr Czornij’s proposal to protest the lack of service delivery, while laudable, is tone-deaf. It has also been attempted unsuccessfully in the past.

The fact of the matter is that Camps Bay residents have been supplementing the services provided by the City and taking responsibility for our own future for decades through various voluntary initiatives. There are a number of voluntary guarding and camera schemes for example.

In addition, CBCSI is a voluntary scheme that currently contributes massively to the safety of the area. All of these schemes suffer from the same problems – namely the fact that more people benefit than...