Sometimes it helps to see Cape Town through the eyes of someone else.

This image by Sharon Bishop is one in a series of images that have been uploaded to the RedBubble web site by various photographers and artists.

Enjoy.

The Fairest Cape

The glorious Cape region of South Africa.

More from RedBubble.

A printed version of the Cape Town Green Map has been launched to complement the existing online ‘green’ resource, www.capetowngreenmap.co.za.

The Cape Town Green Map is an online resource that is used by residents and visitors to make ‘green’ lifestyle choices. It features information about environmentally friendly ways to live, work and play, and encourages users to be aware of the city’s fragile ecosystems, the many threats to them, and how to sustain them.

Cape Town Green Map was initiated as a project by the Host City Cape Town’s Green Goal 2010 Action Plan, the environmental programme for the 2010 Soccer World Cup™. It is a legacy project that will continue post 2010 as an invaluable source of information for visitors, residents and the commercial sector.

The printed version will be available free of charge at all Cape Town Tourism Visitor Information Centres. Cape Town Tourism is a contributing sponsor to the Cape Town Green Map.

Arne Purves, project manager from the City of Cape Town’s Environmental Resource Management Department, says: “Our main focus has been to provide places to visit as an integral overview of green Cape Town. The print map highlights the great green outdoors, parks and gardens, blue-flag beaches, green shops, responsible tourism accommodation and the like.” It is divided into easy-to-use sections that feature ‘good food’ – where to eat organically, ‘local and organic markets’, ‘responsible tours’, ‘visit’, which highlights places, projects and villages that are environmentally responsible, ‘shopping’, which is a list of stores that focus on eco/organic products, and a number of information boxes that highlight great green reads, online resources, recycling drop off points and the like.”

As Glen Adams from Urban Sprout, one of the team behind the Cape Town Green Map, says: “The map is chock-a-block with ‘green’ listings. We won’t have included everything, as the market is now so big, and growing at a continuously rapid rate – which is fantastic!”

The online version features more than 250 listings, and continues to grow dynamically as users submit suggestions. It is powered by www.opengreenmap.org, which features similar maps from countries around the world.

The map is printed on SAPPI sponsored Triple Green paper, an environmentally-friendly paper stock made from chlorine-free sugar cane fibre, to support sustainable afforestation in South Africa. The printers use only vegetable based inks and presses rated amongst the most energy efficient in the world.

In true ‘green’ style, the printed Green Map launch was held as an open air event at the Tygerberg Nature Reserve. Contributors and sponsors were transported to the venue in ‘Green Cab’ vehicles that use green fuel technologies to reduce their impact on the ozone layer.

PDF versions are available on www.capetowngreenmap.co.za and www.capetown.gov.za/environment.

Martin Pollack

The Cape Town Stadium’s ‘ring of fire’ – the 360 inner spotlights that will light up the pitch for the 2010 Fifa World Cup –have been switched on for the first time.

Motorists and residents in the surrounding area will have seen the big switch-on on Wednesday night. Some commented that the lights were extremely bright, but the correct brightness will only be seen once all the lights have been individually synchronised through the use of a light meter on the pitch.

The brightness was also enhanced by the fact that the outer façade, which will help to soften the light, has not yet been completed.

Meanwhile, plans for the grass pitch have been changed. Following a request from FIFA, the stadium grass will now be grown through a seeding process in the stadium itself. The two grass pitches being grown in Stellenbosch will be kept as back-ups.

Seeding will start in the last week of October. The sand underlay has been fumigated, and testing has started on the sprinkler system. Holes for the goal posts have been dug.

Grassing experts believe the seeds will start to sprout after 14 days and the pitch should be green by the official stadium handover on 14 December. It should be playable towards the end of January 2010.

With less than two months to the deadline for the completion of the stadium, all systems are on track. Commissioning tests on the inner workings of the stadium – from CCTV surveillance cameras to IT cabling to ceilings and detail finishes – are in progress.

The all-glass roof has been completed and installation of the seats is far advanced.

Source: Martin Pollack

The City of Cape Town plans to install devices designed to assist blind or deaf pedestrians at all new traffic signals, and at as many current intersections as possible.

The Audio Tactile Pedestrian Detector has a vibrating button which emits both audio and tactile signals indicating that the green man signal is lit and that it is therefore safe to cross the road.

The first device to be installed in the city was demonstrated at a function officiated at by Councillor Elizabeth Thompson, Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Roads and Stormwater, outside the Cape Town Society for the Blind offices in Salt River.

“We are going to make this feature a standard fixture on all new signals and hope to install the device at as many current intersections as is possible,” she said.

Vincent Daniels, public events officer at the Cape Town Society for the Blind (which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary), says the device is built into the pole, and is used throughout the world at road crossings that blind and deaf people use. It originated in Australia.

Blind people are taught to locate traffic signals by means of the low beep tone that they emit from far off. They can then locate the pole with their cane, he said.

“You push a button and there is a beep tone while you wait for it to change to a different frequency. The second beep tone is the signal to cross. It vibrates at this time too, like a cellphone vibrates, so that people whose hands are on the mechanism can feel it.”

The device is also able to measure ambient noise and increase its buzzer level above the surrounding noise.

While there has been an audio traffic signal in Salt River for over 10 years, the new device is both audio and tactile, and conforms to international standards on how the beep tone should sound. The slow beep noise also does not interfere with people standing nearby.

Daniels says he would like to see more of these devices across the city, especially in major crossing areas.

“While there are not necessarily a lot of blind or deaf people around, there are people who are hard of hearing or have poor sight, as well as the elderly, who are not classified as blind or deaf. They will take solace from knowing that this sort of device is giving them added safety and peace of mind.”

“I am blind myself, and have used the Australian versions of this device in Sydney and Melbourne. Their volumes are higher, while ours are a bit lower,” said Daniels.

“It makes me feel safer. But then again, a traffic light is as good as the traffic itself – people run straight through traffic lights even when it is not in their favour.”

Thompson said the City is serious about stopping the carnage on the roads, and the device is “certainly a wonderful way of contributing to bring our people ‘safely home’.

“I want to encourage people to use the devices, and call on the driving public to remain vigilant and be courteous to pedestrians.”

Source: Martin Pollack

A list of Cape Town Locksmiths especially for Seth if he ever loses the keys to the Ferrari!