NKRA Communique – March 2024

Hi everyone

We held our March NKRA public meeting via the internet on Wednesday 20 March 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 17 April 2024. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to join in. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated closer to that date.

The Killarney Mall held a community family event in the park on 23 March, which included an Easter Egg Hunt, as well as jumping castles, music and games etc. The face-painting was a huge hit, as always, as was the candy-floss machine. The event was a great success, and we thank the Killarney Mall for making this happen. The team at Killarney Mall have also expressed their gratitude for the overwhelming participation and support of the community, and they look forward to undertaking more of these community events in the future. Hopefully this will become an annual tradition.

The Killarney Mall is doing a great job keeping our park looking good. The project to substantially refurbish the Mall is still in the planning stage, but I have been told that the planning process is coming to a decision. I hope to have some detailed information in a week or two. I have been assured that the issue of the illegal taxi rank, and its attendant problems, will be included in the final plan.

We have created a new WhatsApp group for the residents of Ward 67, namely the part of Killarney south of the motorway, as well as Upper Houghton and Park Town. The Ward Councillor of Ward 67, Councillor David Medupi, is part of that group, so if you live in that part of Killarney, you are welcome to join the group and raise your issues with him.

The NKRA is looking for small but value-adding projects to undertake in 2024, and a number of suggestions have been received. Some will require a bit of money (which we do have), some will require a lot of money (which we do not have), and some will need to be undertaken by the relevant municipal entities.

Stolen manhole covers are a problem all over Johannesburg. There are about 20 iron covers missing in Killarney alone. These are very difficult to replace. Each manhole seems to be a unique size, as they were built by different departments over the past hundred years or so. New iron covers will quickly be stolen as well, and so they would need to be attached with hinges. This can be done, but it is expensive and tricky work, which requires a skilled welder, and each lid will have to be custom made. Using fibre-cement lids is better (they have no scrap value), but again, the available lids are expensive, and they come only in standard sizes. We would need a handyman with an angle grinder to customise a lid for each manhole, and then hope they do not go missing again. It can be done, but it is expensive. JRA are struggling with exactly this problem. This is a serious safety issue, so please all keep reporting missing covers, and always get reference numbers.

Uneven or unstable concrete storm drain covers are a major safety issue. They are massively heavy, and fixing them requires a truck with a crane. Blocked storm drains can only be cleared by Joburg Water – unfortunately private plumbers and drain cleaners are not allowed to work on municipal drains. Only JRA can address missing or damaged road-signs. These issues have been reported many times. Please all keep reporting these issues, and get reference numbers.

The Killarney Mall has volunteered to sort out the scruffy corner of 4^th Ave and 7^th Street, at the traffic circle. They have already done some work on cleaning the pavements in 7^th Street, and they will soon be planting suitable shrubs or ground covers to beautify that corner. That is a high-traffic corner, so this project will provide some valuable upliftment to that highly visible vicinity, and thus to the entire area.

The overgrown vegetation in 7^th Street has been cleared by the NKRA many times before. We can do it again, as often as we can afford. It only takes money and effort. The Killarney Mall has assisted in cleaning up a portion of this pavement, and it seems the municipality has finally responded to our many requests and has done a major cleanup as well. There has long been water running across 7^th Street from a broken pipe in this area, but this was also fixed recently by Joburg Water. Reporting these things regularly does make a difference eventually.

The broken fence at the corner of Annerley Road and 7^th Street can be fixed by us. We need to first remove that huge tree stump. That simply requires money and effort. If anybody knows a contractor who can cut it up and cart it off, please help us to get a quote.

Damaged paving can be dealt with by the NKRA. We have done pavement fixes many times before, and it only takes money and effort. The costing this year is R26,000 per truckload of asphalt, including the labour and equipment costs. This much asphalt can cover about 130 square meters, so we can address quite a few potholes and damaged pavements, depending on the depth of the hole and the amount of material required in each case. We are building up a register of all the pavements and potholes which need attention, and we will attempt to address them now in the autumn, funding permitting. You cannot work with hot tar in the rain, and we have learned the hard way that it is also a bad idea to undertake this type of project when it is very cold, as the asphalt cools fast on the truck, and becomes useless.

The dead tree on the motorway embankment at the 4^th Avenue traffic circle, has been steadily sagging down and was blocking the pavement and the road. The NKRA has done two small pruning projects here for safety reasons, but the dead tree itself will need to be addressed by the JRA. It is illegal to go out onto those embankments (never mind that squatters do it all the time). We cannot risk a private gardener rolling down onto the motorway, or having the dead tree roll down onto the motorway. Please all keep reporting it.

The Discovery Pothole Patrol is still operational, and they are working in our vicinity. The best approach is for lots of people to load the “Pothole Patrol” App onto your phone, and then to report pothole issues regularly. Whatsapp “Hi” to 084 -POTHOLE (084 768 4653) and follow the prompts. They apparently give preference to reports received from Discovery insurance clients, so if we have any such clients in Killarney, please would you assist us with this?

We are corresponding with the ward councillor to get her help with the various traffic safety issues in Oxford Road. We have heard that the informal traffic directors at the intersection of Oxford Road and Riviera Road might be switching off the traffic lights on purpose to create a need for their services, and we have reported this to the authorities. There is now also a new problem with the taxi associations setting up some sort of inspection “road-blocks” at this intersection, and they are stopping taxis and even cars. This has also been reported, but so far we have received no feedback from the authorities on this.

The Vision Tactical Security company has response teams in Killarney most of the time. They are willing to respond to all crimes in the area. Their control room can be contacted on 084 222 2222, or on 010 972 2600, or on 061 071 2001. Their two response vehicles can be contacted on 072 830 5305 from 8h00 till 22h00, and on 071 570 5173 from 10h00 till 22h00. Many thanks to Vision Tactical for offering this very valuable service!

Vision Tactical Security recently assisted the Gauteng Traffic Department and the Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens in a drug clean-up operation at the illegal taxi rank, at the corner of 1st Street and Killarney Avenue. A number of drug dealers were arrested, a lot of drugs were confiscated, and this particular outlet of the local drug trade was severely degraded. These types of operations are vital for improving community safety, as well as the general tone of our suburb. Many thanks once again to Vision Tactical Security. Please would all residents monitor this corner going forward, and report any fresh issues to Vision Tactical Security for reporting to the police and potential further follow-up.

The New Killarney-Riviera Association (NKRA) is a voluntary association of most of the residential buildings in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera, which works on behalf of the suburb as a whole in order to preserve our quality of life and our property values. We focus primarily on trying to persuade the government to provide the standard municipal services in our neighbourhood, and we also serve as the Killarney Sector of the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum. We liaise with the ward councillors, the various municipal departments and the SAPS, in the effort to maintain and improve infrastructure and to improve security and the enforcement of the by-laws. We also undertake occasional projects to uplift the area, to the extent that our limited finances permit. Our primary focus for 2024 will be to undertake yet another pothole and pavement repair project. Membership subscriptions for the 2024 year are already streaming in, and hopefully we will be able to start this project soon.

Apart from ad hoc projects, our current ongoing projects include a gardener in the public park in 4^th Street – sponsored by Russel Fisher Properties, and a Park Ambassador who ensures safety and peace of mind in the park – sponsored by Vision Tactical Security. We also have a street-cleaner, sponsored by RCS Security, who addresses litter on the main pedestrian routes in the area five days a week. In addition, the Killarney Mall is currently providing a garden service to help maintain the vegetation in the park.

“Membership” of the NKRA is voluntary, but it requires an annual membership “subscription” of R50 per each unit in the building (with a maximum of R4000 per building). Although only the official representatives of member buildings can vote on expenditures, all property owners, residents and employees of businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate in public meetings.

The invoices for the NKRA membership subscriptions for the new financial year were sent out in March, and we hope that most of our many buildings will continue to support the NKRA in our uphill efforts to protect our suburb, our investment values and our quality of life. Municipal government service delivery is becoming increasingly unreliable, and we are going to need to take care of ourselves to an increasing extent.

At the time of publishing this newsletter, 17 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have already paid their NKRA membership subscriptions for the year – this is about 31% of the total. The list of the members for 2024 so far is as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Bretton Woods
• Chelston Hall
• Christina Court
• Cranwell Hall
• Daventry Court
• Devon Place
• Earls Court
• Hampshire Mews
• Hyde Court
• Killarney Court & Gardens
• Killarney Village
• Knightsbridge
• Rapallo
• Riviera Villas
• 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 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 suggestions, 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.

Please let us know if you have suggestions for future projects to be undertaken by the NKRA on behalf of the suburb.

At the moment, these are our primary focuses:

• Developing a register of pavements and potholes that need attention, and undertaking another pavement and pothole fix;
• Managing the squatter and hawker problem in Killarney;
• Finding a sponsor for a street cleaner for the 7^th Street car-park area and pavement;
• Continually warning residents and visitors about crime risks, including specifically the risk of cell-phone snatching on the pavements;
• Making the neighbourhood safer by eliminating dark areas on pavements.

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Our next public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 17 April 2024.

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

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe. J

Wayne Ford

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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.