Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo is in the process of revamping the Seventh Street Park in Halfway House
HALFWAY HOUSE – The Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo has made progress with the Seventh Street Play Park.
Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo share the progress on the Seventh Street Play Park in Halfway House.
The park’s progress has been an issue for local residents as reported in the Midrand Reporter article Delight over revamped play park is short-lived [Week ending 13 December 2019]. The park was formalised after a petition was handed in by the Halfway House community who called for the inclusion of signage, fencing, new bins and benches and regular grass cutting.
Everything but the fencing had been installed, which City Parks attributed to unsatisfactory quotes from service providers. The community claimed that the lack of a fence brought a number of problems, mainly people entering the park to vandalise the benches and alcohol-fuelled gatherings that continue into the evening.
Region A manager of City Parks Joseph Ndou said that the entity has put out an advertisement on 21 January calling for service providers with a registered company to submit quotations to install the fencing in the park. The deadline for service providers is 31 March to give the entity time to look over all the submissions.
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Ndou added, “One issue that the residents in the area brought up was drug dealers hiding dagga in the bushes. So we have cut all the bushes in the park to give better visibility and to avoid that problem in this park.”
He said that although the bushes were removed, a large heap of concrete and waste was found at the end of the park, which points at illegal dumping in the area. Ndou added that they will engage with the local community to remove the rubble and waste at the end of the park.
Ward 112 councillor Lerato Mphefo said that she met with the entity in mid-December to discuss the park and the progress is good with the installation of the fence being on track.
Photo: Andrei van Wyk
She added that the work done by City Park had revealed the dumping site at the end of the park. “As residents, we also have to look after these spaces. City Parks will need our help. Dumping is unacceptable because it makes it more difficult for all of us to maintain.”
Mphefo called on anyone who notices any dumping to report it immediately to the Metro police by calling their hotline on 011 375 5911.
Details: www.jhbcityparks.com
