A newly planted palm tree collapsed at the entrance to Pelican Heights, crushing a dilapidated wall there.
The expensive palm, which had been bought out of pocket by the Pelican Heights Civic Association, collapsed because the support struts to keep it upright until it is fully rooted were stolen. Civic chair Ismail Janodien said the struts were being routinely stolen and replaced and the civic was appealing to the public to please leave them in place.
The palms are part of the civic’s plans to beautify Pelican Heights. The beautification is one of several projects the civic has to improve the area. Others include increasing security and landscaping the park. The civic’s main aim, with all the projects, is to create enough civic awareness to form a City Improvement District (CID).
Vice chair Brad Arendse has been living in Pelican Heights for nearly three decades. He initially moved to the neighbouring Strandfontein just after it was built because radio host Dmitri Jegels hosted a promo show on air and he said it was the newest up-and-coming coastal suburb. Arendse later moved up the hill from Strandfontein to Pelican Heights.
“This area used to be holiday homes for parliamentarians,” Arendse said of the tiny suburb of roughly 300 homes. “But after the group areas act was abolished it was sold off cheap.”
Thirty years ago a house in Pelican Heights would have cost about R30 000. Nowadays, one would be hard pressed to find a house in the area for under a few million.
Forgotten suburb
Despite this, the area appears to be largely forgotten by the municipality. Its only play park has been there since the suburb was built but it has only had minimal upgrades since then.
“It’s full of thorns and mole hills,” said civic secretary Yoga Govender. “We have a resident who would like to bring his elderly father here but there is no wheelchair access.”
We’re not greedy, we just want our fair share.”
The civic has reached out to Mayco member for community services and health, Francine Higham and Ward councillor Gerry Gordon and given them their three-year vision for the upgrading of the park. Janodien hopes that the City will support the plan by setting aside a portion of its capital budget annually and rolling out the upgrades piecemeal.
According to the plan, the civic has asked for irrigation, a paved pathway and rubber flooring under play areas.
For the sandy area surrounding the park, they have requested greenery with grass, shrubs, shade trees, benches, tables, and a shipping container clubhouse for the community to use.
“We’re not greedy,” said Janodien. “We just want our fair share.”
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