Getting down to work: General meeting 14 July

There was lively discussion at the Princess Vlei Forum General meeting held on July 14.  The meeting was called to update members on developments in the project to realise the community vision for Princess Vlei, and to provide guidance on the way forward.
   After a welcome by Philip Bam, Gary Stewart gave a recap on the progress we have made with the City since the mall was scrapped in 2014. This includes:

• Signing an MOA endorsing the Forum as community partner in the management of Princess Vlei in December 2015
• Finalising the Conceptual Development Framework for the area in May 2016.

    Gary also outlined some of the challenges going forward.
    Malcolm Campbell presented the City's finalised Conceptual Development Framework, which was based on the community vision presented to the City in March 2014, and provides a platform for the realisation of this vision. You can read more about this here.
    A number of questions were raised, highlighting the complexity of working with the City, and the need to maintain a vigorous presence to ensure that concerns about Princess Vlei receive attention from City officials and local Councillors.
    The meeting then divided into groups to discuss interest areas in taking the work forward at Princess Vlei. The Focus groups were: Environmental health and conservation, the market, heritage and recreational. A number of exciting suggestions were raised in these discussions. Download the minutes of the meeting for more
    In response to the discussion at the meeting, the management committee has proposed creating additional subcommittees/ focus groups to develop the work going forward, in addition to  our existing Schools and Technical and Planning committee. These are as follows:

• Fundraising
• Technical  & Planning: overseeing transformation of infrastructure etc at Princess Vlei; liaise with City on the planning process; liaise with City on management issues
• Security: Liaise with City and local Neighbourhood Watches and Community Policing Forums; strategise ways to improve security
• Market & Business interests: Create a business strategy for appropriate income generating activities at the vlei; Identify and liaise with relevant role players to generate ideas and capacity; filter and assess proposals; liaise with City to manage the collection of fees
• Schools: Liaise with local schools, teachers and relevant support organisations to ensure ongoing environmental and cultural activities to benefit school children;
• Environmental: Identify relevant role players; engage with City officials and partner organisations to ensure the environmental health of the vlei; organise community clean ups & planting
• Recreational: Identify relevant role players; draw up proposals/ schedule regular recreational activities at the vlei such as canoeing, walking/ running/ orienteering.   Liaise with relevant organisations to organise event
• Cultural /Khoisan memorialisation: Identify relevant role players; Convene a committee and/or discuss appropriate events and structures for Khoisan memorialistion; liaise with relevant City and National departments; work with Fundraising com to secure funds. Collect and archive oral history and other records.

We would like to invite all interested to participate in these groups, to ensure that the Forum can be an effective and representative community partner in the transformation and management of Princess Vlei. If you would like to join any of these please contact us or fill in this form. The minutes for the General Meeting can be downloaded below.

General Meeting Minutes

Download the CDF for Princess Vlei