MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 16th AUGUST 2023

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION

HELD VIRTUALLY OVER THE INTERNET

ON WEDNESDAY 16 AUGUST 2023 at 18H30

PRESENT:          Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Michael Lord (Mentone Court); Kim Robinson (Killarney Hills); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights).

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1. WELCOME

• Wayne opened the meeting, and welcomed all attendees.

2.  APOLOGIES RECEIVED

• None.

3. DISCUSSION OF TIME CONSTRAINT

• We will try to keep the meeting to one hour if possible.

4. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES, AND MATTERS ARISING

• The minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated to all attendees, and were approved by them. The details thereof were incorporated into the monthly newsletter.

5.  STATUS OF OUR SUBURB, AND LIST OF ISSUES REQUIRING ACTION

• Squatters on motorway embankment. This is a by-law enforcement issue, and only JMPD can address it. We are researching an idea to rent the area of that car park from the municipality, and to put it to some alternative use, but this will be a slow, complicated and expensive undertaking. It will not necessarily solve the problem either, as the illegal activity may simply move to a different place nearby.
• In the meanwhile, we can hire a sweeper, or perhaps the neighbouring buildings could loan their own staff for a few hours per week, to sweep up the most visible litter and weeds – just to keep head above water. We are mindful of the “broken window syndrome”, where litter attracts more litter etc.
• Since illegal urinating is happening in that area already, due mainly to the stream of pedestrians who use 4^th Ave to commute between Rosebank and Hillbrow, the idea of a screened-off urinating area was discussed at length. The idea is simply to create a cheap and non-recyclable screen to provide some privacy and decency, using a gravel floor to absorb the urine and prevent it running along the pavement. These urinators would go behind a bush if they had a bush to go behind, so we are effectively proposing to provide a concrete “bush” for this basic purpose.
• Illegal taxi rank in 1^st Street. The Mall planners are still talking to the taxi associations, and there is no date for finalisation. There is no point in building a taxi facility if the taxis simply refuse to use it, so this consultation is being done slowly and carefully.
• Our on-going project to boom off the west end of 1^st Street is not making progress, despite this being a zero-controversy area, so we are not confident of success in booming off the east end where the taxis are. We certainly cannot boom off 4^th Ave.
• Mentone Court are still considering fencing off their “external pavements” and are not keen on building privacy screens to manage illegal public urination. The public urination here is caused mainly by taxi drivers, who are unwilling to leave their vehicles for the ten minutes or so required to use the toilets inside the Mall.
• Proposed dog area in the park. We have emailed both the Melrose residents’ association and the Joburg City Parks and Zoo for guidance on this, but we have so far received zero response. We have however since received more feedback from our own residents. One idea has been to fence off a quarter of the park for dogs to run free but separated from other people, another idea was to fence off the playground instead so that children could play safe from any dogs, and another idea was to split the timing – allow free dogs between certain hours, and all dogs to be on a leash the rest of the time. Concerns have been raised about the aesthetics of a fence, the substantial cost of installation, the cost of future maintenance and upkeep, and problems with mowing the grass if we put up internal fences. There is also real concern that some dog owners may simply ignore the fenced-off area and continue to break the by-laws. We will not be able to do anything without approval from City Parks, but it seems we cannot agree among ourselves about the best way forward. The meeting agreed that the park is very small, unlike Delta Park or Zoo Lake etc, and we therefore need to be more careful about sharing it safely. In the meanwhile, we need to comply with the by-laws, which require all dogs to be on a leash. If any dog harms another person, the owner thereof will be fully liable.
• By-laws and service delivery lawsuit. We still have not had any attorney volunteer to help us with this case. Based on past experience, the case will probably be of a very long duration, so hiring an attorney will be massively expensive. It was agreed that we need to find out if other residents’ associations have had any success with lawsuits. It was agreed to contact Advocate Khan to ask for his advice on a class action case, and where to find an attorney to help us.
• Safety and security. Things have been quite quiet, but phone snatching is still an on-going risk. We have not been getting crime statistics from the SAPS – we will ask for this information again going forward.

6.  NEW ISSUES

There were no additional issues.

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The meeting was closed at 19h59, with thanks to all who participated.

Our next public meeting will be held virtually on

WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2023 AT 18H30

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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