- The City of Cape Town announced that it will relocate the Safe Space at Paint City in Bellville by 2026.
- Boston and Oakdale residents are in an uproar regarding the City’s announcement of their decision to move the Paint City Safe Space.
- Yet the current facility needs to be moved, the City said, as there are at least two major road developments on the cards on the current spot.
The process to relocate the Safe Space at Paint City in Bellville has been a rigorous one, the City of Cape Town says. If all goes according to plan the whole facility will have moved by 2026.
Boston and Oakdale residents are in an uproar regarding the City’s announcement of their decision to move the Paint City Safe Space.
The two shortlisted sites currently presented for public comment are located in Boston (on the corner of Smal and Rhos Streets, across the street from the Bellville Post Office) and Oakdale (on the corner of De Lange and Kort Street, across the street from the South African Revenue Service).
Yet the current facility needs to be moved, the City said, as there are at least two major road developments on the cards on the current spot, including extensions of Church and Reed Street.
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“The Bellville Future City, as this project is named, requires a new road link connecting Church and Reed Street, and this extension will cut through the existing site of the Paint City Safe Space – in this way prompting the relocation of the facility,” the City said in a statement.
The plans for the relocation were announced in an official City advertisement in last week’s TygerBurger. Outrage was almost immediate, with many saying they thought the announcement was an April Fool’s joke.
The Voortrekker Road Corridor Improvement District (VRCID) has already voiced its intention to oppose the suggestion to both areas.
“This proposal flies directly in the face of the urban renewal process, which the City itself is trying to initiate in the Bellville CBD area,” said Hardus Zevenster, chair of the VRCID Board of Directors. “This makes no business sense at all and is seen as a knee-jerk reaction by officials, who now have to find a quick solution to the homeless problem.
“The VRCID will now fiercely lobby all businesses and property owners adjoining both these sites to comment on the proposal and oppose it with the contempt it deserves.”
The Boston City Improvement District’s manager, Jean Beukman, agreed. The area in Boston is filled to capacity already, he said. “How are they going to fit another 300 people into this space?”
Yollanda Fritz, vice-chair of the Oakdale Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) said the proposal wasn’t well thought out. “We’re already sitting with a problem of sex workers that operate in our area and close to schools, and now they want to move this to our area as well. The crime statitistics are going to shoot through the roof.”
The City will host an open day this coming Saturday (18 November) from 10:00 to 13:00 at the Bellville Library where interested parties can find out more and submit comments.
Others can submit comments via capetown.gov.za/City-Connect/Have-your-say/Issues-open-for-public-comment/relocation-of-the-paint-city-safe-space, or by hand at the subcouncil 6 office in Voortrekker Road, Bellville.
