Rainy season woes in Buccleuch
Locals in Buccleuch have resorted to taking matters into their own hands in maintaining public parks.
Residents in Buccleuch have resorted to performing park maintenance themselves on the corner of Stirling and John Streets on January 26.
On January 22, the chairperson for the Buccleuch residents and Ratepayers Association (BRRA), Lauren Nightingale, shared concerns raised with her by members of the community with regards to their park.
“I know it seems like a mission, but we have two groups of sports teams who love to play soccer and volleyball in the park; however, their attempts are hampered by the extremely long 14-week intervals between park grass cutting by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo,” said Nightingale said.
“I think 2024 should be the year of celebrating community positively and helping communities achieve these goals by urging the city to improve service delivery turnaround times.”
City Parks was contacted that same afternoon to enquire as to what their schedule for maintaining public spaces in Buccleuch was. Regional manager Jerome Ogle responded in a statement on January 24, furthermore supplying the entity’s quarterly schedule for public space maintenance in Region E. “Proactive tree maintenance along main roads is done monthly; based on areas of priority and developed and undeveloped parks, grass cutting is done on a quarterly basis, which is every three months.”
Ogle approximated a single hectare of grass-cutting to cost the city R3 000, identifying challenges which present themselves both to cutting grasses, as well as dangers which present themselves in extreme cases when grass is not cut for too long.
“[The] main challenge is downtime during the rainy season which increases the growth rate of the greenery.
“ Criminal activities can arise if unattended. Residents are encouraged to use parks in groups and avoid carrying their valuables.”
Buccleuch resident Teesh Soudamma, who practises volleyball at the abovementioned park, took it upon herself on the afternoon of January 26, to arrange privately for garden services to tame a portion of the park for her team to be able to practise at the weekend. “The grass is ridiculous at the moment, and we cannot utilise it as it is.”
City Parks encourages community members to report any defects within public open spaces via the Joburg Connect communication platform or through their ward councillor. Service requests relating to emergency fallen trees/branches must be directed to the City of Johannesburg call centre on 011 375 5555 or 086 056 2874. Alternatively, the city may be contacted by email on joburgconnect@joburg.org.za.
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