David Sylvester, Fish Hoek
Dear Aimee Kuhl, you are my Ward 64 councillor, and I am appealing to you for assistance. Three of my neighbours have filled in and lodged complaint forms at the Fish Hoek civic centre concerning the continuous parking of skips on the pavement outside an address in First Crescent, Fish Hoek for at least the past two years.
We have complained before and reported it to the police after having, on a number of occasions, asked the resident if they could find somewhere else to park the skips that are used on a business basis.
I have difficulty reversing out of my garage as the skips impair my view, and I have had some harrowing experiences with oncoming traffic down the road that due to the obstruction I sometimes cannot see. Apart from this, at least one of the skips is usually full of unhygienic rubble and waste that is often added to by passers-by.
The south-easter and north-wester that can blow strongly in the valley invariably end up blowing the contents up and down the road as there is seldom a covering net to prevent this.
Pedestrians have on occasion cut themselves on glass and other contents of the skips as they walk past. The skips are unsightly, obscure and obstruct a public pavement, and are unhygienic.
As you probably know, a skip is an open-topped waste container designed for loading onto a special type of lorry. Instead of being emptied into a bin lorry on-site, as a wheelie bin is, a skip is removed or replaced by an empty skip, and then tipped at a landfill site or transfer station. They are often parked outside of a property for the duration of a building project, but I am certain that it is a contravention of the City of Cape Town by-law relating to streets, public places and the prevention of noise nuisances. Please could I prevail upon you, as a ratepayer and good corporate citizen, to assist me in how to deal with this problem, if I am not reporting it to the correct authorities?
Your assistance in this regard would be greatly appreciated.
Ward councillor Aimee Kuhl responds: Dear David,
Thank you for your letter, I understand your frustration with the processes. However, my office has repeatedly requested assistance from both Law Enforcement as well as Traffic with regards to your complaint. As your ward councillor, this does not mean that issues can be resolved in a way that you and I see fit. However, I will continue to exercise my mandate as political oversight over the administration in every way possible to me.