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Improvement District (78)
A City Improvement District is a Special Rating Area established by agreement of businesses and/or residents in a particular area to ‘top up’ services provided by the City Council. The City will charge a SRA levy over and above the normal rates charges, payable by all ratepayers in the area. Among the extra services provided by a CID are security and cleansing. The OBSID includes both a residential and a commercial component.
- Read the centre pages in the monthly free door-to-door newspaper Obslife.
- Check this website for news, minutes of board meetings, membership form, etc.
- Read the minutes of the board meeting at the Obs Library.
- Participate in debates in the Google group.
- Become a member of a committee or attend one of its meetings, which are open to all Obs residents.
- Attend the Annual General Meeting. For information check this website, where you can also find the minutes.
How can I get involved?
- Become a member of OBSID, come to the AGM to hear about budgets, business plans, etc. and vote for board members.
- Contribute ideas, information and suggestions to any of the directors or any of the OBSID staff.
- Join one of the committees as a volunteer
Published in
You and Obsid
Obslife, Nov 2009
THE search is on to find contractors to take on the two major priorities of the Observatory Improvement District (Obsid): security and cleaning.
The biggest chunks of the Obsid's annual budget of R2,5 million are allocated to the two functions.
Brian Amery, newly appointed chief operating officer of the Obsid, said it is possible that both functions will be given to a single contractor.
Such an arrangement, which has worked in other improvement districts, has the advantage that street cleaners act as extra eyes and ears for security guards patrolling the area.
Published in
Safety
Tagged under
Obslife, Feb 2012
The OBSID has received four objections from individual residents against the five-year renewal of its mandate, due in July this year. According to council rules, the OBSID management has met with those of the objectors who wished to engage. Their objections, together with the minutes of the meetings, have been sent to the City’s SRA office for consideration
Published in
Finance & Oversight
Obslife, Feb 2011
THE OBSID received a largely positive response from the Observatory community on the comment cards carried in the December edition of ObsLife.
“Keep up the good work” was a constant refrain, while many residents asked for more of the same - increased safety patrols and cleaning effort, which have been the main thrust of the OBSID’s work up till now.
But in response to the question of what the OBSID should add to its priorities for improving Observatory, many of the respondents mentioned traffic issues, parking as well as moving traffic violations. This coincides with recent moves by the OBSID to focus on traffic problems, which includes heavy trucks snarling up traffic and parking problems caused by the daily influx of visitors to Observatory.
Published in
Obsid Communications
Obslife, Feb 2011
THE dramatic assault on a security guard by participants in a drug deal was a stark reminder of how the OBSID's public-safety officers risk life and limb to keep Observatory safe.
Hudson Sobetwa, 31-year-old publicsafety patroller who had been working for the OBSID since its inception in 2009, sustained extremely serious head injuries when the participants in a drug deal that he interrupted in Lower Main Road struck him twice with their car.
Hudson woke up in Groote Schuur Hospital with a fractured skull and more than fifty stitches to his head. He said early one evening just after Christmas he was patrolling near the corner of Darien Lane and Lower Main Road when he noticed what looked like a drug deal between two occupants of a car and a man at the side of the road.
Published in
Safety
Obslife, Feb 2011
THE Observatory public safety contract manager, Vergil Brits, has called on residents
to be vigilant when drawing money locally.
The latest incident happened at the new Nedbank ATM in Lower Main Road next to the Observatory Bottle Store.
Vergil said a crook posing as a helpful passer-by fleeced the card of an unsuspecting
customer at the Nedbank ATM.
This follows a long history of scams aimed at the Standard Bank ATM in Station
Road.
Virgil said the fraudsters are always well dressed. They usually approach people in an assertive way, pretending to give advice on how to draw money. The best strategy is to simply refuse any help, no matter how assertive or polite the stranger is.
Published in
Safety
Obslife, May 2011
THE owner of 33 South Backpackers and The Loft Backpackers in Trill Road, Kim Whitaker, has taken on the business-development portfolio of the OBSID.
The portfolio, which will increase in importance as the OBSID gets the crime-and-grime situation under control, aims to support the development of Observatory's business community in line with the character of the village.
Kim believes the business-development portfolio has two broad goals.
The first is to increase clientele for local businesses by putting Observatory on the map, and the second is to get Obs businesses to agree to an ethical standard of doing business that will enhance Observatory's status as a high-quality destination.
She has already implemented some of those ideas through the Observatory Accommodation Providers Association which she started for Obs backpackers and guest houses.
The association does joint marketing and its members subscribe to a code of good practice.
Kim, who studied marketing before she started 33 South three years ago, says one of the first things she wants to do in her committee is to define the character of Obs that can be marketed outside and around which businesses can be developed.
That process can lead to practical projects such as developing street maps of Obs that highlight and market businesses. She also sees her committee branching out in subcommittees that can promote different business sectors.
The OBSID has recently set up an online survey where businesses can fill in their details. The online address is www.surveymonkey.com/s/MRWRCX3
Contact Kim on
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Published in
BusinessDevelopment
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.
Published in
Social Issues
Tagged under
Obslife, Aug 2010
LIKE many long-time Observatorians, Justin Ashley's relationship with the village started in his student days some 20 years ago. Since then his life has become increasingly entwined with Observatory.
Ashley runs his company, Bridge People & Technology, from the same "character-filled old Victorian" in Station Road which houses the Observatory Improvement District, the board of which he has chaired since its inception last year.
Bridge People & Technology is an IT company that supplies e-learning software and consulting services to major South African and international organisations. Ashley has also renovated several Obs houses in the last six years for the rental market.
The father of two boys aged five and one says he loves Observatory for its "gorgeous old buildings and narrow streets, where people walk their kids to parks and to the various eating and drinking establishments that are so much a part of the Obs culture. And the people that fill Obs are so interesting and varied - from Norwegian students, to Nigerian shop keepers, to people who were born and lived all their lives here. It's a wonderful mix."
His involvement in the OBSID, which began when he helped to collect signatures for its establishment, is aimed at creating "a space which is clean and safe and which allows the creativity inherent in this suburb to flourish".
Published in
Directors
Obslife, May 2010
JONATHAN Endersby, chair of the OBSID's IT and online strategy committee, calls himself the resident computer nerd of the organisation, but he is clearly just as passionate about community involvement as he is about IT.
He signed up for the OBSID even before he and his fiance moved from Woodstock into their Arnold Street home two years ago.
His community involvement is based on a belief that apathy is a disservice to those who fought to improve society in the past. His approach is to get fully involved wherever he stays, and to guard against becoming one of those who only ever make themselves heard when they have something to complain about.
He feels that his belief in the OBSID as a way of turning Observatory around has been vindicated. "Before Obsid started Obs felt like it was under siege and hiding under the bed. Just a few months later and it feels as if we've got a new found confidence and a sense of security that I didn't feel before."
Straight from school, Endersby launched himself into a computer programming career which evolved into business analysis and entrepreneurship. He co-owns a successful web-based travel business and currently works from home on his next internet venture. His passion for Obs started when he took a break some years ago to work as a barman at the Armchair in Lower Main Road. Since then, he's become an Obs home-owner.
"I have fond memories of (participating in) the Obz Fest, at the same time I have memories of lying in bed thinking that if I hear another bottle break outside my house I'm going to lose my cool. It's trying to find that balance that's so crucial and so difficult.
I think we've got the right people (in the OBSID) trying to do that."
Published in
Directors