MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 20th MARCH 2019

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION
HELD AT ROOM 223A OF THE MALL OFFICE TOWER
ON WEDNESDAY 20 MARCH 2019 AT 17H00

PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Tony Mantle (Gleneagles); Michael Kalk (Brenthurst Court); Ruth Kuper (Gleneagles); Annica Marincowitz (Chartwell); George Kymdell (NAMA); Sgt Mdlolo (SAPS); Eitan Ash (Vumacam).

1. WELCOME
Wayne welcomed everyone to the meeting, and thanked everyone for all the good wishes he received during his illness.

2. APOLOGIES RECEIVED
Eleanor Huggett (Ward Councillor); Dean Dada (RCS Security); Romi Reinecke (Daventry Court); Julie Wilson (Killarney Hills); Vivienne Cobbett (Biarritz); Elena Joaquim (St Johns Wood).

3. DISCUSSION OF TIME CONSTRAINT
• We will strive to keep the discussions short and relevant, so as to finish by 6pm.

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
• The Minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read, and were approved.

5. SECURITY FEEDBACK / SECTOR CRIME FORUM
• Sergeant Mdlolo presented the crime-stats, which were as follows: Theft of Vehicles 5; Theft out of Vehicles 2; Assault 2; Burglary 2; Robbery 1; General theft 11; Drunk driving 10; Shoplifting 1; Malicious damage to property 1.
• These statistics look a bit worse than they have done for the last few months. However there were also 6 arrests made, in addition to the fines for all of the drunk drivers.
• The meeting was attended by Mr Eitan Ash, from Vumacam. This is a subsidiary of the Vumatel Fibre organisation.
? Mr Ash explained that they don’t sell security cameras, but rather they sell camera “feeds” to registered security companies. Their business model is to set up poles with cameras at various points on request, and then to supply the resultant video feeds to the security companies of our choice, on a cost-per-feed-per-month basis.
? To do this they need way-leave approval from the municipality for each new pole, and the cameras will be obstructed in certain streets by trees etc.
? Mr Ash explained that each pole can carry up to four fixed cameras. A pole would cost a monthly fee of R1,500 for a single camera, R2,000 for two cameras, R2,460 for three cameras and R2,920 per month for four cameras.
? Vumacam will not monitor the feeds for us – we would need to hire a registered security company of our choice to monitor the feeds for us, at our own extra expense.
? Vumacam would require us to sign a contract with a minimum duration of 36 months, although they are apparently willing to negotiate a shorter period under certain conditions.
? They also supply licence-plate recognition cameras and software, to help with tracing stolen cars and cars that have been used to commit crimes, but this only works if the licence plate has been loaded onto the relevant database. It takes days for the police to upload the plates of stolen cars or cars used in crimes, and criminals would either change the plates or dispose of the cars long before this becomes useful. Killarney-Riviera will not really benefit from this.
? Our own high-resolution PZT security camera in 1st Street gives the added functionalities of being able to pan and zoom under the direct control of the operator, so as to follow individuals and zoom in to focus on details, whereas fixed cameras cannot match this. Our camera cost about R15,000 to purchase and install, which is equivalent to only ten months of renting a single-camera pole, or about five months of renting a four-camera pole.
? If any buildings would nonetheless like to speak to Vumacam about their service, you can contact Eitan Ash directly on 082 824 9560, or by email at Eitan@vumacam.co.za
• Our CPF representative was not present at this meeting, but Romi has received no further feedback as to when the official JMPD cameras will be rolled out into Killarney.
• Sgt Mdlolo can be contacted on 071 675 6000. Please call her directly if there is any problem requiring the SAPS.
• When you notice a problem developing with a street party or similar, please first call the City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911 and ask the operator to log a call for you. Don’t let them just transfer you to JMPD, make sure they first log a call for you with a reference number. If JMPD don’t thereafter arrive within about 30 minutes, then contact the Councillor with your reference number and ask her to chase JMPD for service.
• Councillor Huggett can be contacted by the community at any time, by SMS or WhatsApp, on 071 785 8068.

6. FEEDBACK FROM COUNCILLORS
• Cllr Huggett did not attend the meeting, due to a conflicting appointment. However she had already met earlier in the day with Wayne Ford and Tony Mantle and Mike Kalk. Also attending was DA provincial Political Head Mervyn Cirota. The elected officials were briefed on our various problems, and our frustrations with poor service delivery. The manhole covers and PikiTup were discussed, as were City Power and the billing crisis, among other things, but most of the focus was on the poor support we have received from JMPD. Both Cllr Huggett and Mr Cirota undertook to pursue these issues at a higher level, and Mr Cirota undertook to give feedback within two and a half weeks.
• The municipality is well aware of all the homeless people currently living on the embankment of the motorway, but by law they cannot uproot these people unless they have some better accommodation to which the people can be safely relocated. It seems that all such alternative accommodation is currently full.
• The mayoral committee member for the security portfolio will be attending a public forum in Norwood on 1 April. Please contact Cllr Huggett for details if you wish to attend this forum and ask him questions.
• Cllr Huggett also reported that PikiTup has finally started to receive replacement wheelie-bins.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
• We can report with satisfaction that the JRA has repaired a number of potholes in our area in the last few weeks, including 1st Street, 2nd Street and 7th Street. Many thanks to JRA for this.
• It was also noted that somebody – presumably City Power – has installed new metal covers on some of the lamp posts to replace the stolen metal covers which prevent people from touching the electrical wiring.
• It is a well-established fact that clean and attractive pavements will receive less litter and grime than untended and “abandoned” pavements. Residents are asked to continue with sweeping pavements please, as well as to remove weeds if there are any. However it would also add value for the NKRA to undertake some specific interventions as well.
? It was agreed to hire Nolicent from the park, on some of his spare days, to do specific work clearing up specific problem pavements, and areas such as traffic islands. Perhaps he might also be asked to do a bit of gardening or planting where appropriate. Wayne will discuss this with Nolicent.
? It was agreed to hire a cleaning company from time to time, to remove dumped bathtubs and mattresses and other heavy rubbish from our pavements if it seems that PikiTup is not going to take care of it. However the municipality should actually be doing this for us, so we need to first communicate with them and try to get them to do their jobs properly.
? It was agreed to attempt to fit some sort of latches onto the pavement bins which have large doors in the side, to stop the doors from hanging open and allowing all the rotting contents to spill out onto the pavement. This would not cost very much, but we will need to find a volunteer who owns a battery-powered drilling machine.
• It was noted that the Martinhall Manor building in Riviera Road is increasingly becoming a problem as well, with accumulating mess and garbage in the gardens. This historic building is owned by Dr Ian Martin.
• Please report problems of potholes and pavements to the JRA at http://www.jra.org.za/find-and-fix-mobile-app, or call 011 375 5555. Please keep the reference numbers for follow-up.
• Please also use the number 0860 562 874 to report all road and pavement-related problems to the municipality. This includes all cases of rubble being dumped on pavements, potholes in roads or pavements, road signs in need of repair, streetlights not working, blocked storm-drains, or traffic lights out of order. You can also report all of these issues to the call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342. Please keep the reference numbers for follow-up.

8. FINANCE AND MEMBERSHIP
• 24 buildings have paid their 2019 membership subscriptions to date, which is 40% of all the buildings in our area.
• As Gleneagles has allowed their membership to lapse over the past two years, Ruth Kuper of Gleneagles has undertaken to personally donate the equivalent amount on behalf of her neighbours. We thank Ruth, a long-time participant of the NKRA, for her generosity and amazing community spirit.

9. GENERAL
• Emails have been circulated by the “We Love Killarney” organisation, asking all residents to volunteer your time and skills to help with community-improvement projects. You can contact the “We Love Killarney” people at welovekillarney@gmail.com to volunteer. The NKRA will support any practical and cost-effective project which will improve Killarney-Riviera.

The meeting was closed, with thanks to the Killarney Mall for hosting us.

Our next meeting will be held on
WEDNESDAY 17 APRIL 2019 at 5pm

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342
JMPD Control Room – 011 758 9620
City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911
SAPS patrol van – 071 675 6001
If you get no response from the patrol van, please call 10111
Councillor Huggett – by SMS or WhatsApp – 071 785 8068