Green Point City Improvement District celebrates 19 years of service

July 2020 marked our 19^th birthday! The Green Point City Improvement District (GPCID), one of the first City Improvement Districts in the City of Cape Town, marked another year of service and success in the community.

In our 19 years, the Green Point area has evolved from a combination of partially empty warehouses, small cottages and a mixed-use business community into a prime area for retail therapy, an attractive place to have a commercial interest in, and home to a strong core of residential offerings.

The improvements we’ve brought about have helped attract billions of Rands of investment in the area. For almost two decades now, we have worked to tackle crime and grime, build strong collaborations and support social projects to improve the lives of all in our society.

At the most recent AGM, our GPCID Chairman Deon de Wet celebrated the transformation of the GPCID. He spoke of the newly planted trees and beds, refreshed street marking, repaired sidewalks and additional lighting on buildings. He reiterated that everything we do is to help people have that feeling of ‘Yes, I do want to Live, Work, Play here!’”

Each month, our teams collect and remove approximately 7 tons of street refuse. Every street in the area is swept and maintained by our cleansing teams, ensuring everyone has a clean and attractive local area.

We also employ Law Enforcement Officers who halt and inform members of the public who break the law. The aim of these encounters is to educate people so as to avoid repeat offences. Where citizens do not comply, however, our GPCID Law Enforcement Officers issue fines. They have written a total of over R11 million in fines the past financial year alone!

Safety in the local area is also protected by our GPCID security staff. They are employed by the organisation and provide both a lock-up vehicle and patrol service. This acts as a deterrent, ensures people can access a visible authority figure if they feel unsafe, and also allows us to respond faster to reported incidences.

We are proud to have collaborated with SAPS and other Law Enforcement Agencies over the past 19 years, and continue to do so on a daily basis, both in terms of fighting crime and in more positive endeavours. We are also committed to strengthening the working relationships we have built with many charities and support services for those struggling in society.

Chief Executive Marc Truss has been instrumental to our success and is proud of all that his extended team have achieved in the last 19 years. He continues to be excited by the GPCID’s potential: “The GPCID had to prove the value of such an organisation when it began. I believe we have truly done that. We provide extra security, cleaning, improvements and opportunities to make this a sought-after suburb to live, work and play in. I look forward to see what we can achieve as we begin our twentieth year of service.”