MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 19th JUNE 2019

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION
HELD AT SHOP 56 OF THE KILLARNEY MALL
ON WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE 2019 AT 17H00

PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Tony Mantle (Gleneagles); Ruth Kuper (Gleneagles); Vivienne Cobbett (Biarritz); Margaret Urban (Hanover Gate); George Kymdell (NAMA); Mike Kalk (Brenthurst Court); Paulo da Silva (Rapallo); Floh Thiele (La Carmague); Melissa Davidson (Park Avenue); Carmen Roets (Dumbarton Oaks); Dean Dada (RCS Security); Sergeant NH Mdlolo (SAPS).

1. WELCOME
Wayne welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. APOLOGIES RECEIVED
Eleanor Huggett (Ward Councillor); Harry Rutenberg (Sevenoaks); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Julie Wilson (Killarney Hills); Elena Joaquim (St Johns Wood); Dalien Rutenberg (Glenhof Gardens); Dimitri Clayton (Brenthurst Court).

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.
• These were the minutes of the April public meeting, as the May meeting had been replaced with a community meeting about the taxi rank.

5. SECURITY FEEDBACK / SECTOR CRIME FORUM
• Sergeant Mdlolo reported the crime statistics for six weeks, as follows: Armed robbery 1; Theft of Vehicles 2; Theft out of Vehicles 5; Attempted theft of vehicles 1; Common robbery 4; Business robbery 3; Burglary 1; Theft general 1; Shoplifting 5; Fraud 5; Assault GBH 1; Assault common 1.
• At a community meeting last month, the community communicated to the Mall owners our concerns about the proposal from “We Love Killarney” to build steel shelters on the pavements of 1st Street and Killarney Avenue for the passengers of the illegal taxi rank. The Mall owners accepted that there had been insufficient consultation with the community, and they undertook to freeze all work until our concerns have been addressed. Subsequent to that meeting we again communicated to them the position of the majority of the residents, and our various suggestions for the location of a legal taxi rank. They have responded in writing as follows: “We are still waiting for feedback on some of the issues that have been raised, and will only revert thereafter. As previously undertaken all work on the 1st Ave taxi facility remains suspended.” We will work with the Mall going forward to ensure that the rights of our residents are protected.
• We have been informed by the Sandton CPF that we can get two JMPD officers dedicated to our area, if we provide a sponsored car for them to use. This is apparently already happening in Sandton with good effect. We will pursue this matter with JMPD to learn the terms and conditions, and we will start trying to obtain a sponsored car.
• In particular we need to know what kind of car is needed, and who will own the car if the project is terminated. If we can use a car costing R200,000 and if all 60 buildings in the area contribute, then the cost of the car will be about R3400 per building. However we know that only about half the buildings will contribute.
• A new car guard has set up in business in 3rd Street, and is apparently quite aggressive. Car guards need to be registered and licenced – car-guarding is not a free-for-all business opportunity. Sgt Mdlolo will meet with this man as soon as possible to clarify the relevant laws.
• We need a new volunteer to represent us at the monthly meetings of the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum, as Romi is no longer able to attend regularly. This forum gives citizens the opportunity to speak directly to the senior police commanders, if we are unhappy with the service we are getting from the SAPS in our community. Melissa and Carmen volunteered to attend the July meeting, and to share the role going forward. Many thanks to them both.
• 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 submitted an apology for the meeting, as she is still on leave.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
• Numerous problems have been reported to the municipality, especially on pavements.
• At previous NKRA meetings we had resolved to hire contractors to clean up unsightly pavements, where the problem is affecting the suburb and it is beyond the means of the adjacent buildings to resolve. The pavement in 7th Street is a particular mess along the motorway embankment. Litter is bad, and getting worse. Weeds in the gutters are large enough to block the flow of water, which will cause future potholes. The hedge is overgrown and obstructing the narrow pavement, as are some trees, which forces people to walk in the street. We have received a quote for R3,362 from RCS Security to address all of these issues, as well as remove all the rubbish and tree debris from site. We circulated this idea a month ago by email, and we received a lot of support but no objections. The meeting therefore voted to approve the quote from RCS, to clean up this main thoroughfare.
• As discussed previously, we need to all help to keep our pavements clean, as accumulated rubbish attracts more rubbish. It was noted that some tyres have been left on the pavement in 2nd Street for quite a while – apparently part of a hawker stall.
• It was reported to the meeting that the ablution block in the park needs attention. The roof is covered in leaves, there are rust problems, and the paint on the fascia boards is peeling. We will ask City Parks to address this soon, failing which Nolicent Ntete (our park gardener) will be hired to do the work for us.
• We have long had a street cleaning project around the taxi rank, which was sponsored by Vered Estates. However the sponsor has not been paying the sponsorship for a while, and does not seem committed to the project anymore. We have needed to pay the service provider out of member funds to cover the shortfalls, but this obviously cannot continue. The meeting resolved to terminate the project. If new sponsors can be found in the future, then a new project can be initiated, perhaps using a cheaper service provider.
• Meanwhile, the project which empties overflowing pavement dustbins, sponsored by RCS Security, will be requested to attend to the pavement bins at the taxi rank as well.
• A number of our pavements are in a poor state, especially following the extensive trenching by multiple fibre optic companies. This poses a safety risk to many pedestrians, especially at night. Repairing these pavements is very expensive, and we do not have anywhere near enough money to fix all the pavements that need fixing. It was however proposed that we should address a few areas where the pavements are particularly bad, and that we can look at doing more repairs in future years as funds become available.
• Because of the costs involved, we will focus initially on pavements along high-traffic routes, and thereafter on pavements outside member buildings. Areas which have been dug up by municipal entities to fix cables and pipes will be left for now, in the hopes that the municipality will address these eventually out of their own budgets. We will start by creating a list of problem pavements, and then getting quotes.
• 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
• Dumbarton Oaks have joined the NKRA since the previous meeting.
• 27 buildings have paid their 2019 membership subscriptions to date, which is about 45% of all the buildings in the entire area.

9. GENERAL
• George Kymdell of the National Association of Managing Agents explained that the new sectional title laws have brought new standard Conduct Rules as well. These will probably be much simpler than the Conduct Rules which many buildings have developed over time.
• According to George, all buildings are required to use the new standard Rules, and if you wish to have variations to those standard Rules then the formal amendment process must be followed. This involves a special resolution at a Special General Meeting, followed by the formal certification by CSOS.

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

Our next meeting will be held on
WEDNESDAY 17 JULY 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