As previously reported, the controversy surrounding public open spaces in Dundee still continues unabated with regular reports and complaints of misuse by visitors. The problematics surrounding open areas like Coronation Park, at the corner of Coronation and Mckenzie Street, and McPhail park, still exists very firmly, as the Remembrance Sunday weekend once again demonstrated.
. Whether the municipality will be able to solve this problem, only time will tell. The intention to turn Coronation Park into an art centre, as announced by the honourable Mayor, Councillor Mahaye, in a public speech last week, will come as great relief to the residents that have to endure the parties every weekend.
This includes Eventide Mews, the hospital, several private residents and a number of registered bed and breakfast establishments close by.
The current urban regeneration project, as announced by the Premier’s Office, which intends to turn Dundee into a destination that will attract tourists again, will first have to educate local municipalities that tourism stakeholders are not golden geese with hundreds of golden eggs that can be taken at will. Excessively high rates and taxes, especially refuse removal and electricity, will not contribute to a tourism-friendly environment. The prodigious littering that occurs in Dundee can be added to this list of woes.
No tourist will even think of stopping at a local establishment, especially where parks and open spaces are littered with the debris of the previous night’s partying, or the sidewalks are littered with rubbish, mostly produced by illegal pavement traders and taxi traffic. The visible non-existence of municipal bye-laws, with farm animals freely roaming the town, also does not contribute the the noble intentions of this regeneration programme.
Offensive, loud and drunken locals, playing loud music from vehicles parked in these open spaces at all hours of the day and night, and night, have already cost tourism stakeholders in Dundee dearly. With at least two B&B’s set to close down towards the end of this year, the paradigm shift ahead of the local municipality, law enforcment and tourism authorities, are very real, and very necessary, if a very historic old town like Dundee is to remain a tourist destination of any note in Northern Natal.
