NKRA Communique – August 2023

Hi everyone

We held our August NKRA public meeting via the internet at 18h30 on Wednesday 16 August. The issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next virtual public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 20 September 2023. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to join in. An agenda with a meeting link will be circulated closer to that date.

For a long time there have been people living on the motorway embankment along 7^th Street, in makeshift shelters. They have again broken the concrete palisade fence in several places to gain access to the motorway embankment. The NKRA has repaired that concrete fence several times over the years, but the squatters quickly break open a new access.

As planned, we collected photographic and video evidence of this escalating problem, and we communicated it to the JMPD, the SAPS and the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum, of which we are a member. This eventually resulted in a major raid by the SAPS, aided by Vision Tactical Security. During this raid several dangerous weapons were seized, along with some bank cards, keys and remote controls, which have presumably been stolen. The police then burned all the plastic and rubbish on the scene, and they also used the fire to clear the undergrowth a bit as well at the same time.

We thank Vision Tactical Security and the SAPS for this response, as well as the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum. Once again, we ask all residents to monitor that area as best you can, and without endangering yourselves, to continue to collect photos and video footage of illegal activities. We are also looking at installing a security camera to be directed specifically onto that area. It will cost about R3,300 to add it to the existing Castlerosse system. Would any member building object to us paying for this extra camera, to help us to manage both this problem, and the illegal drinking in the car park?

The illegal drinking and illegal hawking in the public parking lot in 7^th Street are still continuing. Among other problems, this results in the rapid accumulation of litter. We have reported this issue to the municipal authorities many times. While we wait for JMPD to act, we can hire a sweeper to keep that area clean, or perhaps the neighbouring buildings would loan their own staff for a few hours per week, to regularly sweep up the most visible litter and weeds. We are mindful of the “broken window syndrome”, where any litter left unattended will attract more litter.

Since illegal urinating is already common in that area, due mainly to the many pedestrians who use 7^th Street, the meeting discussed the idea of building a screened-off ”urinating facility” in the corner of the parking area to provide some privacy, as is quite common in cities overseas. The idea is simply to provide a cheap privacy screen made of non-recyclable material, with a deep gravel floor to absorb the urine and stop it running along the pavement. Powdered lime can be added to prevent odours. The people concerned would go behind a bush if they could, so we are effectively proposing to provide a “substitute bush” for this basic purpose. Please would all buildings share their ideas and suggestions?

We notice that some building employees are sweeping leaves and rubbish into the stormwater drains. This could cause blockages, which means that in heavy rain the water will form ponds on the streets rather than being carried away by the drains. Standing water on roads leads very quickly to the formation of new potholes, and we have more than enough problems with that already. In addition, deep standing water can conceal dangerous excavations etc, which could cause an unsuspecting car to drive into a deep hole and suffer serious damage. We greatly appreciate that many buildings do clean the gutters at their own expense, but please would you remind the sweepers that putting rubbish into the stormwater drains can accumulate over time to cause serious harm?

At the NKRA April public meeting it was proposed to launch a lawsuit against the municipality to compel them to enforce the municipal by-laws. An advocate who lives in Killarney has offered to lead this process on behalf of the community, free of charge, but we also need an attorney to volunteer to undertake the attorney-level activities. In the previous newsletters we asked for attorneys who live in Killarney to volunteer, but so far we have had no response. If we cannot find a volunteer, then we will need to pay for these services, and that will probably be very expensive. If you know any attorneys, please would you assist us to recruit a suitable volunteer?

It would be wonderful if we could get court orders in place to “force” useless politicians to do their jobs, but based on our experience with trying to reverse the sewerage overcharge, a lawsuit approach will take forever. Among other things, the municipality will probably argue in court that the action being ordered is impossible to implement, which in law is a good excuse for non-action. If we are to pursue the legal option, then the first step is to find a reliable attorney. After that we will need to gather evidence of the municipality’s unacceptably slow responses, and make sure that we can prove that they were “unacceptably slow” as opposed to “understandably slow”.

Meanwhile, we need to all insulate ourselves from the municipality’s incompetence and lack of conscientiousness. Ideally, every resident needs to have their own inverter, and every building should try to install solar panels where possible. Ideally, we need for every apartment in every building to implement for themselves a back-up supply of clean water – using everything from formal water storage tanks to plastic coke bottles under the bed. Ideally, we need for every building to install large JoJo tanks somewhere on the common property with tons of clean back-up water, so that the residents can survive for a few days in the event of a prolonged cut-off. Borehole water is not always safe to drink, but there are adverts now for filter systems which claim that they can make all water safe. Has any building got a borehole already, and is your borehole water safe to drink? Please would you let us know?

Regarding the 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 non-controversial area, so we are not confident of any success in booming off the east end of 1^st Street where the taxis are. We certainly cannot boom off 4^th Ave.

Yet another of our grand old jacaranda trees has fallen. This one was on the pavement in 2^nd Avenue, right outside the park. It was noticed that there were signs of the tree becoming unstable, and we alerted City Parks to the danger, but the tree fell over before City Parks could react. The tree fell near a passing vehicle, and it fell onto the guard house on the pavement directly opposite the park. It also fell over a fence into the car park of the neighbouring building, and seriously damaged a parked car. We were very lucky that nobody got hurt. We found afterwards that the roots were badly rotten below the ground, so the tree no longer had any anchor. The other pavement jacaranda trees are all probably more or less of the same age, so this could easily happen again. Please would you all keep an eye on our pavement trees, and report any that seem to pose a danger?

Some dog owners allow their dogs to run freely in the park, despite this being prohibited by the municipal Public Open Spaces By-Laws. Sometimes uncontrolled dogs approach and frighten people – especially children. We have asked City Parks repeatedly for guidance about the possibility of building a fenced-off area inside the park for dogs to run free, as is envisaged in the by-laws, but no response has yet been received. We have however since received more feedback from our own residents. One suggestion has been to fence off a quarter of the park for dogs to run free while being separated from other people. Another idea was to fence off the playground area instead, so that children could play safe from any dogs. Yet another idea is to split the timing – allow free-roaming dogs between certain hours, and all dogs to be on a leash the rest of the time.

Apart from legalities, we would need the fence to be high enough to prevent big dogs jumping over, and dense enough to stop small dogs from simply walking through the fence. It also needs to be robust enough to survive children, etc. This is not going to be cheap, or easy. In addition, concerns have been raised about the aesthetics of a fence, the substantial initial 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 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 even agree among ourselves about the best way forward. Our little park is very small, unlike Delta Park or Zoo Lake etc, and we therefore need to be 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, and the dog in question will be in serious jeopardy as well.

For all municipal service delivery issues, including potholes, pavements, Pikitup, electricity and water issues, you can contact the municipal Call Centre on 0860 562 874 to have your concerns forwarded to the relevant operational departments. Please would everybody keep on reporting these issues, and always ask them for a reference number. Please try to include photographs of the problem where you can, because the municipality seems to respond slightly faster when we include photos to support our complaints. You can also log municipal problems on MySmartCity, at https://mysmart.city, or you can download their App from the website.

Regarding public safety and security, the snatching of cell-phones is still our biggest safety problem, so please advise all of your residents and their visitors to be careful with their phones (and other possessions) while they are outside on the pavements.

So far 37 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have paid their NKRA membership subscriptions for the year ahead – this is about 67% of the total. The current list of the members for 2023 so far is as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Biarritz
• Brenthurst Court
• Bretton Woods
• Canterbury Close
• Castlerosse
• Chartwell
• Chelston Hall
• Christina Court
• Cranwell Hall
• Daventry Court
• Devon Place
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Earls Court
• Glenhof Gardens
• Greenhills
• Hampshire Mews
• Hyde Court
• Interlaken
• Killarney Court & Gardens
• Killarney Hills
• Killarney Village
• Killarney Wilds
• Kingsborough
• Knightsbridge
• Mentone Court
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Portofino
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Sevenoaks
• Splice
• The Rivieras
• Whitehall Court

Many thanks indeed to all these buildings for your on-going support. Thank you also to the various people who make personal donations as well.

We are happy to receive photos of any interesting things that might be happening around our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all issues. In particular, we seek feedback on the various issues described above. The primary action points at present are as follows:

• Managing the squatter problem on the motorway embankment;
• Building a sanitary urinating facility for the 7^th Street car park area;
• Installing a security camera watching over that car park area;
• Finding a sponsor for a street cleaner for the 7^th Street car park area and pavement;
• The suggestion for a fenced-off area inside the park for dogs to run free;
• Continually warning people about the risk of cell-phone snatching;
• Finding an attorney to volunteer to help us sue the municipality;
• Getting reliable feedback on the borehole water in Killarney-Riviera.

Our next virtual meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 20 September 2023.

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford