Absolutely amazing, beautiful for this town, but pie in the sky or reality?
The first CBD renewal meeting for business owners in Grey Street was held this week, 20 February, and it was inspiring.
First time in a long while I felt real hope, similar to Zuma being gone!
Mayor Eleanore Bouw-Spies said in opening that "the heart of the economy is in the CBD and as such a renewal project is needed".
Municipal-appointed architects CMAI described the various phases of this project that can only be good for tourism, which keeps this town alive.
Words like "clean", "good" and "safe" were bandied about and CMAI director Geoff Browne hit the nail on the head when he described a decaying lower CBD that needed what he called acupuncture.
Grey Street will initially be the main focus of this project, but architects explained that getting rid of what was described as a dingy and horrible, dark taxi rank had to be taken into consideration – and changed into a "dignified, safe and clean" place which would eventually form the hub of what will become the Knysna Central Station.
Spectacular artist's impressions and plans have been drawn up by CMAI and the whole presentation was bullish.
Undoubtedly the project will be done in stages and Rome was not built in a day, so there is hope.
A timeframe is not possible at this stage, but it was mentioned that after this year's Oyster Festival (in July) some R17-million would be spent, starting on Grey Street and sidewalks sidewalks if the budget is approved by council in May 2018. And apparently there is a provision for town regeneration funds to come from Treasury eventually.
This newspaper will support every good brick that is laid, every pavement that is fixed, every part of this initiative – and so should the community.
It is only when we all get involved because we live here, not moan and do nothing, that real change will happen.
The Knysna-Plett Herald pledges to get behind this project to beautify Knysna.
Dear readers, before we get inundated with messages saying we don't know how to spell, it would appear that despite conflicting business and road names, the spelling of Grey is just that – not Gray!
