Barry Taylor, Germiston, writes:
As I drive around Germiston City and surrounding suburbs I cringe at the decay that is taking place.
The metro has no pride in the city at all; drive down President Street and look for yourself.
In the suburbs there are streets that have not been swept for years, weeds growing out of the rain gullies, plastic bottles and beer cans, all of which are seen, but left in the streets.
Years ago we had mechanical sweepers; today we have none, not even human sweepers.
The sidewalks have uneven and missing flag stones, weeds and broken bottles adorn these.
There are storm drain with broken tops and reinforcing steel sticking out, paving bricks that are taken up for whatever reason and never replaced.
Trees have not been pruned for years (even though, according to Ekurhuleni Talk, we have an annual tree pruning programme).
Missing storm drain covers pose a serious threat to anyone walking on the sidewalks and drain covers in the road could cause a serious accident if hit by a car.
Traffic and street lights are out for days on end and some for several weeks.
Street intersections that have had facelifts and landscaping are not maintained and water leaks go unattended.
I could go on and on.
Having said all this, Germiston Lake has had a facelift and, I must admit, it looks very nice, but you can already see the decay taking place, with people fishing in the lake (I thought that this was not allowed).
Roof tiles are off the lappers and light poles have exposed wire connections — and we all know children are very curious.
Cans, beer bottles, fast food wrappers, bottle tops and lollipop sticks are left on the floors (I’m told no glass bottles are allowed in the lake).
In the train station shed, the brick lintel is already starting to collapse.
I am sure that someone has made a few Rand from the lake’s facelift.
The general standard of workmanship given by the metro workers leaves a lot to be desired.
There are people standing on street corners looking for work, why can’t they be used to clean the city and suburbs? I’m sure that many would be happy to have work.
What has happened to the Inner City Revitalisation Programme?
The metro just has no pride in anything it does.
