NKRA Communique – September 2022

Hi everyone

We held our first virtual meeting over the internet on Wednesday 5 October, at 18h00. Only a handful of people joined in, but it was a good learning experience. We will hold virtual meetings monthly from now on, on the first Wednesday of every month. Our next virtual meeting will therefore be on Wednesday 2 November, at 18h00. All owners and residents of Killarney-Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a meeting link will be circulated each month.

We do not appear to have received any further repairs to our roads or pavements in recent weeks. Now that it has started raining, the soil will progressively wash away and the various affected pavements will become increasingly dangerous to pedestrians. We continue to call upon the ward councillor and the various municipal agencies to complete these repairs, but it seems that the municipality has a serious resource constraint. In the meanwhile, please walk very carefully.

For all municipal service delivery issues, including potholes, pavements, Pikitup, electricity or water issues etc, you can contact the municipal Call Centre on 0860 562 874 to have your query forwarded to the relevant operational department. Their responses are usually very slow, but please would everybody keep on reporting issues, and always ask them for a reference number.

In addition, we continue to ask all buildings please to help by cleaning up litter and weeds on your pavements and in your gutters. When litter or weeds are allowed to accumulate, it seems to encourage some people to drop additional litter in that vicinity as well. Please would all buildings persevere with this, because it really does add a lot of value.

There seems to be a growing number of young families in our area, and we are seeing increasing numbers of small children in the park playground. It has therefore been suggested that we should consider adding a smaller slide to the main jungle-gym structure in the playground area, to accommodate very young children.

Please see the attached photos. I have drawn in what is envisaged in green, very roughly. It will use the existing structure for support, and should be about a meter or so above the ground. It will consist entirely of robust steel, fully painted against rust, and with absolutely NO sharp edges, and no holes that might catch a finger. We will also need to add a ladder in an appropriate place behind the slide, to allow small children to climb up on their own if they want to, along with appropriate handrails. This project will cost about R20,000. The matter will need to be referred to the next NKRA meeting to allow for broader participation, but please would residents share your views and suggestions on this proposal?

An alternative proposal is to build an entirely separate structure alongside the existing structure, to allow the very small children to play slightly apart from the more robust older children. The cost will be roughly the same. We need to choose which option to follow.

It has also been suggested that we should add additional clean sand to the playground area in the park. This sand is slowly lost over time through playing and sweeping, and it also gets muddy from the soil which is washed into the sand pit by heavy rains. The sand pit is a favourite for small children, and is very well used by young families. New playground sand will cost R3,200 per cubic meter, including delivery. We will probably need to purchase two or three cubic meters of clean sand. The matter will need to be resolved at an NKRA meeting, but please would residents share your views and suggestions on this proposal?

We have noted that a number of buildings are currently repainting, or have repainted recently. This shows that owners in Killarney care about their homes, and this fresh investment makes the suburb a much more desirable place to live in, and in which to invest. Many thanks indeed to all the owners in these many buildings.

We are still operating a community security project, whereby a security guard circulates around the area in a small tuk-tuk vehicle. This guard focuses mainly on deterring pickpockets and cell-phone snatchers, but he also takes note of other crime-risk red flags, and reports these to his control centre. The guard patrols the streets, but he concentrates mainly around the buildings which are contributing financially to this project. The only buildings which are still contributing are Killarney Court, Daventry Court, Brenthurst Court, Chartwell and Bretton Woods. If we had more contributors, we could expand the service.

JMPD is reluctant to act against hawkers generally, because when hawkers are arrested the JMPD are required to impound and store their various goods, in order to return them after the fine has been paid. These goods often “go missing” while in “safe keeping”, and then the JMPD has to compensate the illegal hawker for all of their lost goods. We need to find fresh ideas to deal with the problem of illegal hawkers, as they are really starting to proliferate in our area. The hawkers’ main customers are employees of our buildings, although we have noted owners purchasing from the illegal hawkers as well, and the drive-through drug-sellers seem to sell mostly to outsiders in cars. Once it becomes accepted that laws no longer apply, anarchy follows, and reversing that position is very difficult. Not so long ago, Hillbrow was also a high-status residential area. If anybody has a fresh idea for resolving these problems, please do share your ideas and suggestions urgently.

Criminals in our area are largely opportunistic, grabbing phones and handbags etc which owners leave in easy reach. Cell-phone snatchers and pick-pockets are particularly busy over the festive season. We urge residents to be extremely careful when you walk to the mall, wait outside for an Uber or enter and leave your premises. Please keep all valuables concealed at all times, especially phones, and try to avoid wearing expensive jewellery in public areas. Criminals target victims who are alone, so if you are jogging or walking around, try to do so in groups or in places where there are other people around.

A lot of our problems are caused by the illegal taxi rank in 1^st Street. The Killarney Mall owners have committed to resolving this problem, as part of a major rejuvenation project which is currently in the planning stage. The municipality has also confirmed that the Mall will be required to include a taxi facility in any future planned development. The Mall owners are currently busy consulting the various stakeholders, and they have assured me that our community is a key role player in their project, and will thus be extensively consulted. The time-lines for the project are not yet defined, but this is going to be a big rejuvenation and it will take more than a year to complete. They will meanwhile look at providing extra cleaning and security support. They are also asking us to suggest new stores which we would like to see added to the Mall. Please participate in their survey at this link:  https://bit.ly/KLNY1FB

Killarney Mall is hosting the Houghton Bonsai and Succulent show from 4-6 November 2022, from 09:00-16:00. You can view the displays, participate in workshops and purchase bonsais and succulents directly from the exhibitors.

So far this year, 39 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have paid the 2022 membership subscription to the NKRA – this is about 71% of the total. Many thanks indeed to these buildings for your on-going support. The current list of the members for 2022 is as follows:

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

If your building does make a membership contribution, please ask your managing agent to include your reference number as well, so as to facilitate the allocation of the payment on our side. Thank you also to the various people who make personal donations as well.

Please would NKRA members give us feedback on the various issues described above, and especially on our proposed playground improvement projects? Please also send in photographs of potholes and damaged pavements etc, because the municipality seems to respond slightly faster when we include photos to support our complaints.

We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all other issues as well.

Best wishes to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford