Obslife, Sep 2010

CONCERNED at what he saw as the slow decay of Observatory, Kris Marais found himself at the very first meeting of concerned residents which led to the creation of the Observatory Improvement District (OBSID).

The former corporate manager took on the task of drafting the first business plan for the idea which was then known as the Residential-Commercial Improvement District.

Although the name changed, the OBSID was indeed the first improvement district in the City to include residential and commercial areas. Most improvement districts are commercial areas only.

Today Marais, who is the chair of the OBSID's social issues committee, is determined to help make the OBSID the foremost improvement district in the metropole.

"I want the OBSID to fulfil its vision to make Observatory safer, cleaner, smarter as its first priority, especially in its first 18 month bedding-down period. Thereafter, it can include a focus on Observatory's heritage, culture, history and very important, its aesthetic." Marais moved to Observatory in 2003 and soon became convinced that ratepayers needed to do more than simply rely on the municipality and police to provide services.

"I soon experienced the crime first hand and the grime. In 2005 our road wasn't cleaned for 157 consecutive days!" Apart from helping to start the OBSID, Marais also played a key role in mobilising the residents of Oxford Street where he lives to contract an ADT bicycle patrol service. This was recently disbanded partly due to the success of the OBSID security initiative.

Marais is an ardent conservationist and animal rights activist. After a high-flying management career of "adrenalin and boredom" in the corporate world, which included stints at Beecham SA and Yardley of London, he stepped out of the rat race to study creative writing and practice sustainable living.

His enthusiasm for the outdoors borders on the extreme with an annual midwinter camp - "hoping the weather will be challenging" - and ten-day hikes in the wild.
For him, Observatory is more of a neighbourhood than a suburb. "I'm all suburbed out," he says. He wants Obs to become a place "where the watch word truly is 'of the community, by the community, for the community'".