NEW community initiative, the Pigeon Valley Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) invites Glenwood residents to attend a community meeting on Wednesday, March 16 at 18:00.
The meeting will be held at Glenwood Boys High School hall where the proposed UIP will outline plans to improve their area of coverage which includes Alan Paton, Rick Turner, Mazisi Kunene and Esther Roberts roads.
Long-time Glenwood residents, Nick Alcock and Athol Wesselink, who are on the UIP committee recently met Berea Mail to outline their two-pronged approach to tackle security and maintenance issues.
“A survey was done using the existing communication groups in the area to identify the biggest challenges faced by residents. Key issues are crime and grime, with security being the biggest concern, followed by maintenance issues and the way public spaces look,” said Alcock.
Wesselink, who is the chairperson of the Glenwood Community Watch, said the most prevalent crimes in the area are trespassing and petty theft.
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“This strikes at the very heart of people’s need to feel safe – when suddenly there is an intruder on your property, rummaging around,” he said.
He noted that students at the nearby university are also at risk of mugging while vehicle theft and theft out of vehicles add to the list of crimes frequently seen in the area.
Using technology to fight crime
The UIP will identify key nodes to set up cameras aimed at fighting crime.
“The idea is to use technology such as smart cameras and number plate recognition which is linked to a central data base. If a vehicle is flagged as suspicious, we can notify security personal registered with bonafide companies who are trained to deal with crime. The last thing you want is an ordinary civilian to be confronted by a criminal,” said Wesselink.
Using this technology, the UIP hopes to set up a central control room to monitor the area and inform patrol vehicles on the ground.
“There was huge momentum after the July riots when a lot of people started patrolling the area, but people have lives and your average resident can’t continue to do patrols at 02:00. Several people are continuing to do this and they are doing amazing work, but we see the UIP as a way to support this work in a more structured way,” said Alcock.
“The voluntary effort needed to address crime is unsustainable,” added Wesselink.
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Cleaning and greening
Another key objective of the UIP is to enhance and maintain property value in the area.
“If there is a decay in the area, property value decreases. We want to turn that around. This is an objective of UIP’s to make the area desirable,” said Alcock.
“When we host events in our parks, we want those parks to be looking good. We want to improve maintenance
For more information, log onto the website: www.pigeonvalleyuip.durban or email infor@infor@pigeonvalley.durban.
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