City’s team tackles Currie Road filth and grime
Municipal workers sprung into action to clean up Currie Road.
WHEN municipal architect, Jonathan Edkins received a letter from Berea resident, complaining about the state of Currie Road, he put the team from the muncipality’s Urban Zone Management to work.
Gerry Garland wrote to Mr Edkins saying he felt Edkins seemed to have taken some responsibility for the state of Berea by attending the recent Save Our Berea monster meeting.
Garland said he was fed up every time he walked outside his front door in Currie Road as the electricity department had done extensive work on a substation, and after three months still had not re-surfaced the pavement with tarmac,
“At the junction of Currie Road and Grants Grove the spectacular crop of weeds in the gutters and pavements has allowed filth and litter to accumulate, making it not only an eye sore but also unpleasant to walk through them. All of these problems have been have been going on for several months, and even years in some cases,” said Garland adding that he had contacted the municipality but had little joy..
Following a response from Edkins and a meeting with members of the municipality’s Urban Zone Management (UMZ) unit, the city jumped into action and cleared up the area.
“We have found that small interventions such as this start to have a snowball effect, and can spark renewed civic pride. Hopefully all residents will also assist where they can, in keeping the spaces outside their properties clean and well maintained. This was the case in New York, where the famous ‘broken window’ campaign was highly successful. This is our city – we need to do whatever we can to make it great!” said Edkins.
He said staff from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) were employed as part of the municipality’s commitment to job creation.
“They have done a very thorough job in this area, thanks to their own inherent passion, some motivation, and close supervision. UMZ, as part of the Mayor’s Clean My City Campaign, is working hard to be in the position to replicate this sort of response across the municipality and to ensure that the ongoing maintenance is continued in a sustainable, integrated way by the responsible urban maintenance departments,” he said.
Edkins said UMZ programmes were receiving great cooperation and support in this respect from the city manager and the city’s senior management.
