...Johannesburg Discussion

[musiccity]

Well New Zealand is a pretty sweet place to move to. Hell, even I wanna immigrate there and I live in the US.

[SYDNEY]

Originally Posted by musiccity

Well New Zealand is a pretty sweet place to move to. Hell, even I wanna immigrate there and I live in the US.

Feel free to pm me if you would like to discuss things further but I would prefer to not hang around here and hijack this thread, I hope that you understand. Let's leave the South Africans to continue their debate I just wanted to pop in and say hi

[Jakes1]

Originally Posted by SYDNEY

Yeah, I lived in Rustenburg, Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town. My partner of 12 years and I moved to NZ 7 years ago (I can't believe that it has been that long already). We became NZ citizens in March 2011.

Back then I was known as Enigma and to cut a long story short I left South Africa in a very angry, bitter and disappointed state - I had enough of just about everything and I was close to having a nervous breakdown - on second thought, perhaps I did have one . Now I am as cool as a cucumber, very happy and find myself dealing with itchy feet - a midlife crises perhaps

Hehe, well you made quite the impression on all of us it seems! Cool as a cucumber? I find that hard to believe!

[Jakes1]

Originally Posted by SYDNEY

Feel free to pm me if you would like to discuss things further but I would prefer to not hang around here and hijack this thread, I hope that you understand. Let's leave the South Africans to continue their debate I just wanted to pop in and say hi

Its been far too long since we had a decent hijacking!

[Jakes1]

In other news. I am noticing that construction equipment is being unpacked at the Melrose Arch site (the open plot that falls between Melrose Arch, Corlett drive and the M1. There seems to be cranes on site. Construction of the small office building on the other side of Corlett Drive is continuing (Paragon architects designed it, so bound to be funky). Waverly office park on the other side of the M1 is also under construction. But it is UGLY!

[kulani]

Cell C to build new head office campus
CEO Alan Knott-Craig says there will be "nothing on the campus you can't do". By Duncan McLeod.

Article reference

Third mobile operator Cell C plans to build a new, 50 000sq m campus north of Sandton to integrate its disparate offices, which are located across Johannesburg, from Parktown to Sandton.

The new facility — which will house Cell C’s head office, a national network operations centre (NOC), customer walk-in centres, its call centre and a distribution warehouse — will be built at the confluence of the N1 and the N3 freeways near Woodmead, about 2km south of Midrand.

It will be located on currently vacant land diagonally opposite TopTV’s head office across the Buccleuch interchange.

A number of technology companies, including Nashua and Oracle, already have offices in the area, which is centrally located between Johannesburg and Pretoria, with a freeway to the east leading to OR Tambo International airport.

“We’re currently spread all over the place,” Cell C CEO Alan Knott-Craig tells TechCentral. “Everything will now be in one building. We will build a new NOC, IT and data centres, and a proper customer care centre. There’ll be nothing on the campus you can’t do.”

When Knott-Craig was group CEO of Vodacom, he was instrumental in the construction of a sprawling campus for the mobile operator in Midrand, with a shopping centre called Vodaworld — recently renamed Vodacom World — taking centre stage. The Vodacom facility includes conference facilities and a gym.

The new Cell C campus will form part of the multibillion-rand Waterfall Business Estate development, which straddles the N1 between the Buccleuch interchange and Midrand’s Allandale Road. Property fund Atterbury Investment Holdings is the major investor in the property development. The Islamic Institute has owned the land since 1934. According to a recent report in the Business Report newspaper, Atterbury had secured a 99-year lease over the site because the land could not be sold in terms of Islamic law.

The Waterfall development will consist of a shopping mall, offices and homes.

“This is one of the only places left between Johannesburg and Pretoria where land is relatively cheap,” Knott-Craig says. “It’s also easier to get things like fibre in there.”

He says the company has secured sufficient space to allow it to build more offices if needed in future. In total, about 2 500 people will work at the facility, including Cell C staff, contractors and suppliers.

The company expects to move into the new facility on 1 December 2013. “They turn the soil in a week,” Knott-Craig says. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media

[kulani]

Cell phone operator Cell C hopes to move into its new 46,000m² campus between the busy Buccleuch Interchange and the Allandale off-ramp on the N1 between Johannesburg and Midrand by the end of 2013.

The site, on Waterfall Business Estate, will include a massive warehouse to accommodate its stock being shipped in and out of the precinct as well as conference facilities; its main repair centre; a hi-tech network control centre; a walk-in customer care centre; design and engineering elements and a staff contingent of around 2,500 people.

[mike2005]

Look, my view is this: yes the city is not perfect and it is very badly run and yes the CBD is still mostly grotty and run down and pretty unsafe (this is reality sorry chaps). But there is far more to Joburg than the CBD and every city has bad areas. Besides our new CBD is Sandton/Rosebank/Melrose Arch and those areas are brilliant (thanks to the private sector organisations who run those districts) . Taking a wider the view the city is a great place to live and work and offers a lifestyle that far exceeds any other major financial centre. Doing the same job as I do in say Sydney and London I could never afford the house I live in, the servants the restaurants etc (not even close) despite the fact that I would earn a bit more in those cities. Joburg also has great people, an amazing can do attitude (in the private sector at least) and some of the most innovative and exciting business on earth. It is the gateway to the continent that is the final economic frontier which is a pretty exciting position to be in! Our weather is as close to perfect as you can get and within a few hours I can be out in a game reserve experiencing something that you can simply never find in Australia, Europe etc: the magic of the African bushveld and our incredible animals. As someone who has lived in London and Sydney I would say that, taken as a package, our lifestyles/standard of living in Joburg far exceed those places and as a city I would say Joburg beats them hands down because of that. However that does not mean that I cannot gripe about the city council and find some of the unrealistic posts about how safe and clean the CBD/Hillbrow is on this to be completely ludicrous.

[Inertia]

Originally Posted by mike2005

Look, my view is this: yes the city is not perfect and it is very badly run and yes the CBD is still mostly grotty and run down and pretty unsafe (this is reality sorry chaps). But there is far more to Joburg than the CBD and every city has bad areas. Besides our new CBD is Sandton/Rosebank/Melrose Arch and those areas are brilliant (thanks to the private sector organisations who run those districts) . Taking a wider the view the city is a great place to live and work and offers a lifestyle that far exceeds any other major financial centre. Doing the same job as I do in say Sydney and London I could never afford the house I live in, the servants the restaurants etc (not even close) despite the fact that I would earn a bit more in those cities. Joburg also has great people, an amazing can do attitude (in the private sector at least) and some of the most innovative and exciting business on earth. It is the gateway to the continent that is the final economic frontier which is a pretty exciting position to be in! Our weather is as close to perfect as you can get and within a few hours I can be out in a game reserve experiencing something that you can simply never find in Australia, Europe etc: the magic of the African bushveld and our incredible animals. As someone who has lived in London and Sydney I would say that, taken as a package, our lifestyles/standard of living in Joburg far exceed those places and as a city I would say Joburg beats them hands down because of that. However that does not mean that I cannot gripe about the city council and find some of the unrealistic posts about how safe and clean the CBD/Hillbrow is on this to be completely ludicrous.

Completely agree. My intention has never been to deny that Joburg is a very liveable city. However the current administration needs to be removed ASAP before it becomes unliveable!

Case in point: The council recently hiked rates for most properties in Joburg. This was done on a pretty general basis with nothing really based on fact or verifiable documents. It's quite clear they are trying to get more revenue from a source they know they can milk - the middle to upper class home owners. Unfortunately this is slowly starting to make living even more expensive in Joburg. My folks up in Joburg have taken the council to court regarding the increases, and their attorney informs them they are just one of thousands doing the same.

In what kind of city are the citizens taking the local council to court en masse?

[SUNS 25]

eh Inertia, I think he (Government) should rehabilitate the CBD of johannesburg, it became rotten. with crime, lack of maintenance, and decaying buildings.

Just my opinion.

[Inertia]

Originally Posted by SUNS 25

eh Inertia, I think he (Government) should rehabilitate the CBD of johannesburg, it became rotten. with crime, lack of maintenance, and decaying buildings.

Just my opinion.

Really don't feel like re-hashing this whole saga again. Yes we know what needs to be done, and it's not just the CBD - everything else is still holding together due to private investment. That was the whole point.

End discussion.

[Diggerdog]

Inertia, if your intention 'has never been to deny that Joburg is a very liveable city' - then you have failed miserably...that is pretty much all you do on here.

Mikes post was considered and balanced, and summarised pretty well the situation in Joburg.
Joburg has a lot, and could have more, much more.
We know the current administration is rubbish- but that's just it - 'current' administration!
Administrations change, and even with the mismanagement, there are real areas of growth and success in Joburg.
Whilst you are ranting(often legitimately) about that state of some streets or rubbish collection or blatant mismanagement, just try and balance it a bit so you don't come across as a death of Joburg fan.
Unless, that's what you actually are...in which case we have a problem.

[Inertia]

Originally Posted by Diggerdog

Inertia, if your intention 'has never been to deny that Joburg is a very liveable city' - then you have failed miserably...that is pretty much all you do on here.

Mikes post was considered and balanced, and summarised pretty well the situation in Joburg.
Joburg has a lot, and could have more, much more.
We know the current administration is rubbish- but that's just it - 'current' administration!
Administrations change, and even with the mismanagement, there are real areas of growth and success in Joburg.
Whilst you are ranting(often legitimately) about that state of some streets or rubbish collection or blatant mismanagement, just try and balance it a bit so you don't come across as a death of Joburg fan.
Unless, that's what you actually are...in which case we have a problem.

Ok Diggerdog, whatever you say. I'll throw in some niceties so the non-Joburgers won't get upset

[Diggerdog]

Woohoo! Thanks. And you tend to upset Joburgers more than non-Joburgers...just saying...

[Inertia]

Originally Posted by Diggerdog

Woohoo! Thanks. And you tend to upset Joburgers more than non-Joburgers...just saying...

Only the hopelessly disillusioned

[mike2005]

Yup I dont think Inertia has done or said anything wrong. I also get annoyed with the wallys who come on this forum and talk about how clean and safe CBD/hillbrow is. I LOVE my city but the fact is beyond a pocket here and there those areas are still mostly run down, dirty and unpleasant. And yes our city council is totally crap. But our private sector has luckily picked up the reigns where the city has totally lost the ability to function meaning areas like Sandton CBD, Rosebank, Melrose Arch, Parkhurst etc are FANTASTIC.

Sadly though the chances of the ANC losing power in Joburg are the same as pigs flying over Ponte: virtually zero. Take a look at the last local election results and you will see that the ANC hardly lost any ground at all (and a few township wards do not eman that the DA are going to sweep Joburg in the next).

[mike2005]

And frankly Joburg is NOT about the CBD. Its commercial heart, its social pulse its cultural districts have long since left that area and they wont return (big corporates are still leaving the CBD and not returning to it ie: CIB, Hollard, Mutual and Federal to name a few in the last year). As I have said before our CBD has moved and its time our forummers stopped being obsessed with an area that will NEVER be the hub of the city again and start to realise that you cant really judge whether the Joburg is a cool place based on the OLD inner city. Its as stupid as judging London based on somewhere like Croydon.

Much as I like going to Market in Braamies or Arts on Main, the OLD city centre is basically largely irrelevant to my life as a Joburger and certainly NOT the focul point or most important district in the city.

[rubbercenter]

Joburg, the town-about-town

ANITA POWELL
A panel of cultural experts includes Johannesburg on an elite list of culturally rich international cities. But does the city that locals love to hate deserve its place next to heavyweights like Mumbai, Paris, New York and Sydney? Reporting from London, I’ve found myself coming around to Joburg’s humble charms.

Walking around London, it’s easy to feel that one is in the absolute centre of the universe. The city has buzzed with perpetual energy for 1,000 years – during the Olympics, it’s positively electric. People are even talking to each other on the Tube.

So it comes as some surprise to come here and learn that Johannesburg, the city that residents love to grumble about, was chosen as a subject of the World Culture Report, leaving it rubbing shoulders with the likes of Paris, New York, Tokyo, Mumbai and Sydney.

The authors of the report admit that it was chosen in the spirit of tokenism, an attempt to represent every continent. Research leader Paul Owens pointed to Joburg’s large economic impact, to its size, to its proliferation of immigrants.

“I think there are strong arguments for including it as an economic powerhouse,” he said. “It’s a pretty important place no matter how you look at it.”

But, he added: “It’s certainly true that it’s on a very, very different trajectory from a city like New York.”

Still, come on.

New York is… well, New York. It needs no introduction, no defence.

Paris inspired Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, Claude Monet and Ernest Hemingway. George Orwell was down and out in London and Paris – not in Benoni and Randburg.

We don’t even have a monopoly on Mahatma Gandhi.

London has a floppy-haired mayor known for taking mass transport to another level, for hosting the Olympics, and for – allegedly – rescuing a London woman in the middle of a mugging. This week in London, our biggest cultural ambassador is… Julius Malema.

Shanghai and Sydney have great architecture. So does Joburg, but you have to endure Mission Impossible-like barriers just to get into your house.

At least we share with Berlin a number of cultural monuments dedicated to making us feel sad about our bad, bad ancestors.



Photo: Johannesburg, by Greg Marinovich

When asked why Joburg was included, London’s Munira Mirza, deputy mayor for education and culture, pointed to our proliferation of second-hand shops and bookshops. This cynic in me says: Well, that’s great; we’re a self-sustaining recycling facility. Yes, the shops are great, but their popularity stems from a huge income divide, with rich people’s castoffs covering the backs of the city’s poor.

But listening to these cultural experts go on about what their cities have to offer, this jaded Joburger found herself thinking about the pleasures of Jozi.

Look at what Joburgers do with those second-hand clothes. For every Juicy Couture-clad Sandton girl toting an oversized Vuitton bag, there is a funky chick who took R30 to town... and went to town with her outfit.

For every Renoir hanging in a Paris museum, there is a dude on a Joburg street corner who, given an hour or two, can make a two-headed meter-high dragon out of beads and wire. It isn’t high art, but it is living art.

And for every Michelin-starred establishment and pop-up restaurant serving re-imagined baby food or macrobiotic fusion cuisine eaten while blindfolded, there is steak and the Spur and the ever-humble polony and chips. It’s ours.

But most importantly, Joburg has the fundamental ingredient needed to make it a great cultural hub. It has its people.

The truly great multicultural cities --– New York, where 40% of residents are foreign-born; London, where 300 languages are spoken daily.

Ours come from overland, not overseas, but the effect is the same.

And unlike the established greats, Joburg affords every resident a unique opportunity to write the city’s living culture. And people are – in the past few years, the inner city has begun to flower, new art museums have opened, independent purveyors have popped up offering everything from artisanal gin to bespoke boots.

So what’s bringing Joburg down? We are. DM

http://dailymaverick.co.za/opinionis...own-about-town

[musiccity]

Theres Sandton, Rosebank, Melrose, but it seems theres another up and coming area.. Bedfordview.

[takz]

hey im doin an essay for geography

the topic can be any aspect related to post-apartheid influences and how its strutctured johannesburg today

do u guys have any suggestions on what aspect to focus on?
something that i can perhaps write 2000 words on. u guys always seem to have thought-provoking thoughts
due on wednesday lol, wits sucks