NKRA Communique – August 2024

Hi everyone

We held our August NKRA public meeting via the internet on Wednesday 21 August 2024. The key issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next NKRA public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 18 September 2024. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

Spring has truly arrived. Many buildings are once again beautifying their pavements, which adds huge value to the area and all its residents. We thank Dumbarton Oaks for this beautiful display at their 2^nd Avenue entrance.

For a long time we have been planning another pothole and pavement repair project. The August meeting approved the purchase of one truckload of asphalt, to be used to fix as many pavements and potholes as we could manage to address with that quantity of material. Additional projects can be undertaken in future if needed. This project was finally undertaken on Tuesday 3 September. There were problems at the asphalt factory which caused us delays, and we only began the actual work around mid-day. Then we lost another 90 minutes in mid-afternoon when the compactor overheated. As a result the work ran on until after dark. The problem areas we addressed with this project were the following:

• Two dangerous potholes in Newtown Ave cnr 8^th Street;
• Damaged pavement in 8^th Street, outside Interlaken;
• Hole in road on 9^th Street opposite Knightsbridge;
• Pothole in 3^rd Ave near 7^th Street, between Highbury and Castlerosse;
• Damaged pavement in 4^th Ave outside Bolton Hall;
• Pothole in 4^th Ave near Riviera Road, between Killarney Court and Daventry Court;
• Four potholes in 1^st Street, outside Daventry Court and outside Killarney Gardens;
• Damaged road surface in 2^nd Ave between Earls Court and Mentone Court;
• Damaged pavement in 1^st Street cnr Killarney Ave, outside Mentone Court;
• Damaged pavement in 2^nd Ave outside Dumbarton Oaks;
• Damaged road surface in 2^nd Ave between Dumbarton Oaks and Brenthurst Court.

We had also planned to repair the street at the traffic circle at the top of 4^th Avenue, and the big pothole in 2^nd Street outside Sevenoaks, but the road in both places was very wet on the day, and the asphalt would not adhere. We had also intended to fix the damaged pavement in 2^nd Ave outside Gleneagles, but we simply ran out of both asphalt and daylight. These issues will be at the top of our list for the next project.

The meeting also discussed the various community upliftment initiatives that have been adding a lot of value to the area. These community members have done a succession of projects to repair the fence in Anerley Road which was damaged by the falling tree. In particular, we are also currently benefitting from the “Themba Cleanup Projects”, which involve a service provider named Themba who has his own bakkie and who can therefore dump debris as well. The meeting agreed that these Clean-Up’s are a very valuable initiative which should be supported, and the handful of residents who have developed and driven this initiative were warmly thanked.

Themba and his team are costing R400 per day, and the various cleaning projects are currently being paid for by various residents, on a voluntarily ad hoc basis. The meeting agreed that the NKRA should contribute R2,000 per month toward these cleaning projects, at R24,000 per annum, so as to provide them with at least five days’ worth of funding per month to support on-going cleaning efforts. This proposal is hereby communicated to the members, and if there are no objections received, then a resolution will be considered at the September meeting. You can join their WhatsApp group at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KA4ejvnpF6pGjFg9SJ3KEn.

The Killarney Mall refurbishment project is still in the planning process. The Mall’s architects and consultants are trying to design a taxi solution that will meet the conflicting requirements of all the various stakeholders. They have mediators in contact with the taxi associations, and they are trying to minimise the impact of the illegal taxi rank while we get to the end state. We will keep the community informed of all progress, and there will be interaction with the community at large before any decisions are finalised.

The Killarney Mall had their cleaning service-provider do a pressure-wash clean-up on part of the pavements around the taxi area. The Mall has also positioned extra security guards on the pavements around Killarney Avenue, which are being called “Public Safety Ambassadors”. Their mandates include reporting suspicious activities, suspicious cars, illegal public drinkers, public urinators, suspected drug dealing, illegal hawkers and other illegal activities to the Mall Centre security, for onward communication to the SAPS and the JMPD. They will also assist people in need, and will try to encourage street dwellers and street parties to move away. There are five ambassadors on duty during the week from 9am-6pm, and three ambassadors on weekends from 9am-6pm.

In addition to the taxi and hawker issue, the Killarney Mall are also asking us to make suggestions of how they can help the community, and in particular, how they can improve the Killarney Mall itself to better cater to our needs. Please would you email your suggestions and requests to the Centre Manager of Killarney Mall, at killarneymall@cityprop.co.za. The more, the better.

The Community Street Patrols have developed some good momentum. We thank Ismail and his team for these very valuable efforts. The patrols are usually accompanied by security officers, and the walks are pleasant and companionable. As the weather warms up, this group activity will become more and more attractive. Nature abhors a vacuum, so if the residents abandon the streets after dark, other people will seize the opportunity and will occupy the space. The Community Street Patrollers are welcoming people to join them, and you can contact them at this link:  https://chat.whatsapp.com/DsR92XsjIU49JLvv1pAHCI

The municipality has repeatedly been alerted to the problems of illegal hawkers and illegal drinkers on these pavements, and the municipal officials have undertaken to follow this up.

The NKRA Community Gardens project is aimed initially at growing food in the Park. The food that is grown here will be freely available for any passersby to pick as they need. This project was inspired by Riviera Villas, who have created a veggie-plot on their own pavement. Meetings have been held in the Park, a spot has been chosen along the southern boundary, and our park gardener Nolicent has cleared and prepared this ground. The August meeting resolved to purchase two cubic meters of quality compost to get the soil off to a good start, and this compost has been delivered and mixed into the soil for a part of the length of that bed, at a total cost of R1,485. We will plant veggies here to begin with, starting in mid-September once the soil and compost have settled down a bit, and the rest of that prepared bed will be fertilised in the near future using our internally-generated compost. Hopefully it will start to rain soon, but in the meanwhile we need volunteers to help us with watering on Tuesdays please. If you are interested in gardening, and would like to participate in this project, you can find us at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9

Some community members undertook a community day on Newtown Avenue and 7^th Street on Sunday 1st September, the first day of Spring, to plant some new kalanchoe sexangularis along the concrete motorway fence. These are flowering, hardy, water-wise evergreen succulents with attractive green leaves that turn ruby-red in the winter. The Killarney Mall has generously sponsored the plants. We thank these hard-working neighbours for these tireless efforts to beautify the neglected areas of our neighbourhood.

The community upliftment project to repair the fence along the motorway embankment in 7^th Street, has commenced. The deposit has been paid, and we will see progress shortly. The same people are launching a new project to replace the functional City Parks steel gate at the 4^th Avenue entrance to our Park, with an artwork gate created by our resident artist James Delaney. The old steel gate will be incorporated into the embankment fence in 7^th Street. The Joburg City Parks department has approved of these projects. These steel artworks are very expensive, but James is going to do this one for us at cost. We still need to raise R8,000 for this project, so if you are in support of this artwork gate, please would you contribute as well? The proposed gate will look very similar to the gate which James did for The Wilds in 10^th Street, as below:

The project for repainting the street names on kerbs is still in the planning stage, but it will hopefully start soon. The August meeting approved a maximum expenditure of R11,500 for this project, but we are still hoping to get it done for less.

The problem was again raised of the homeless people who are living in numbers on the motorway embankment. The police cannot relocate any homeless people unless there is alternative accommodation available for them. The Councillor noted that some of the municipal homeless shelters are in the process of being closed due to budget problems, even though more homeless people are moving into Johannesburg every day. There is not much support here from the government.

Unfortunately there was recently a hi-jacking in Killarney, of a visitor who was sitting in her car outside a building. It is strongly recommended that people do not sit in their cars outside in the street, especially at night. We still experience occasional incidents of cell-phone snatching on pavements. We will continue to encourage all buildings to put up warning signs, particularly aimed at residents and visitors who use Uber, as these people seem to be the primary targets. We have also received isolated reports of pickpockets, including inside the Killarney Mall itself. Vision Tactical Security have patrol cars in Killarney, and they are willing to react to all reports of criminal activity. If you notice any suspicious behaviour, you can contact the Vision Tactical control room on 084 222 2222, or on 010 972 2600, or on 061 071 2001. Their two response vehicles are on 072 830 5305 from 8am to 10pm, and on 071 570 5173 from 10am to 10pm.

We have had contact with the office manager of the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library project. They still intend to start construction work this year, but the project will not be finished until late 2025, maybe even 2026. We have discovered that a large underground parking area is now planned as well, which will take some pressure off the surrounding streets.

At the time of publishing this newsletter, 39 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have already paid their NKRA membership subscriptions for the year – this is about 71% of the total. The list of the members for 2024 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
• Highbury
• Hyde Court
• Interlaken
• Killarney Court & Gardens
• Killarney Hills
• Killarney Park
• Killarney Village
• Knightsbridge
• La Camargue
• Mentone Court
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Santa Margherita
• Sevenoaks
• Sloan Square
• Splice
• St John’s Wood
• The Rivieras

Many thanks indeed to all these buildings for your on-going support, and also to the various people who make personal donations as well. We are grateful for this support, which enables us to undertake projects for the benefit of us all.

The motto of the NKRA is “Safer, Cleaner, Better, Greener”. Our on-going strategy for achieving these objectives is the following – put private security on our pavements; put security cameras with recording systems on our buildings to record any illegal activities on our pavements; put extra lighting on the pavements; fix holes in the pavements and streets ourselves; clean and green our own pavements, and contribute as best we can toward the various on-going community cleaning, greening and safety projects. If you have any specific ideas and suggestions, please do share them urgently. Otherwise, these are currently our primary focuses:

• Managing the squatter and hawker and taxi problems in Killarney;
• Acquiring appropriate security cameras in 1^st Street and elsewhere;
• Continually warning residents and visitors about crime risks, including the risk of pick-pockets and cell-phone snatching on the pavements;
• Building up a sustainable community foot patrol;
• Building up a sustainable Community Gardens Project to grow food;
• Clearing the motorway embankment of litter, and fixing the security fence;
• Undertaking community projects where possible, including the WALKER initiatives.

.

We are happy to receive photos of interesting things that might be happening in our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all inputs, on all issues. All interested persons can contact us at wdford@global.co.za to be added to the mailing list. Our website is at www.nkra.org.za.

.

Our next public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 18 September 2024. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

Please would you share this newsletter with all your neighbours in Killarney-Riviera?

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe.

.

City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

If you get no response from the patrol van, please call 10111

Councillor Huggett – by SMS or WhatsApp – 071 785 8068

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342

JMPD Control Room – 011 758 9620

JMPD number to report Homeless People camping in the vicinity – 011 490 1538

JMPD number to report Illegal Dumping – 011 490 1684

JMPD number to report Noise Pollution – 011 718 9684

JMPD number to report Illegal Advertising – 011 490 1547

JMPD number to report Illegal Trading – 011 490 1744

JMPD number to report other By-Law issues – 011 490 1684