THE Somerset West CBD is in fighting mode, and will this year be kicking back against the grime and crime that s been driving shoppers elsewhere. Business is matching the seriousness of the situation with a determination of its own, with plans to implement a privately-funded improvement programme well past the drawing stage.
Urgent work is needed, though.
Vacated stores are increasingly becoming the norm in the various arcades of Somerset West s Main Street, with once crisp and hopeful To Let signs now gritty and gathering dust. I ve never seen so many empty shops in the 12 years I ve been here. But, just as was the case with the Community Policing initiative, the CID idea could meet with overwhelming support initially, until it comes to the stage of taking out money to actually get it going. Marian explains that the CID programme has been implemented in Hermanus and, lately, in Cape Town. According to the model, all businesses within the geographic area of the improvement district agree to provide funding for urban services to supplement those provided by the local authority.