Encouraging and enabling active citizenship is the aim of Ward 90 councillor Martin Williams.
“I am impressed by the energy and commitment of residents in tackling challenges,” he said. Williams added that residents’ associations were showing leadership in dealing with changes in the planning environment.
On the shot-hole-borer beetle threatening the city’ trees, the ward was fortunate to have resident professional arborists, in addition to Johannesburg Urban Forest Alliance co-chair Andrea Rosen and ward committee member Simone Puterman.
“They keep pressure on the City,” said Williams. Dead, infected trees in Craighall Park had been removed, chipped and solarised and new trees were planted.
Regarding displaced people, Williams welcomed a shift to a more tolerant understanding by residents’ associations. He said the chair of the Johannesburg Homeless Network lived in the ward and was engaged with helping reshape the City’s homelessness policy.
According to Williams, the increase of illegal outdoor advertising was alarming and bylaw enforcement remained a challenge, especially for traffic offences. Williams hoped the deployment of newly graduated Metro police recruits would improve matters.
While he was grateful to Johannesburg Roads Agency for some assistance, the backlog of reinstatements (where roads and pavements have been dug up) was difficult to accept. Eskom load-shedding and City Power outages remained worrying as did Joburg Water interruptions. Williams said improvements to long-neglected infrastructure were necessarily gradual but the tide was turning.
The Conrad Bridge widening project was slightly delayed, while the ‘dualling’ of Jan Smuts Avenue had been pushed to the ‘outer years’, meaning 2020/2021.
He welcomed many freshly painted road markings, with more to come. He encouraged residents to empower themselves by ensuring they knew how to log issues before forwarding the relevant information to their councillor.
“You log; I’ll escalate. Keep safe. Happy holidays,” was Williams’s message.
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