NKRA Communique – September 2023

Hi everyone

We held our September NKRA public meeting via the internet at 18h30 on Wednesday 20 September. The issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next virtual public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 18 October 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.

Spring is springing, and our pavements are once again staring to look good. In particular is the very visible pavement in 3^rd Street corner 2^nd Avenue, which is looked after by the Chartwell building. Many thanks to the Chartwell trustees and residents for this beautiful contribution. Other buildings are also putting huge effort into their gardens, which contributes to making Killarney-Riviera a desirable place to live.

For a long time there have been people living on the motorway embankment along 7^th Street, in makeshift shelters. This is a by-law enforcement issue, and only JMPD can fix it. However to help us to manage the risks in the meanwhile, the September meeting agreed to spend R3,300 to add a security camera onto the Castlerosse camera system, to watch over the 7^th Street car-park area and the surrounds. This camera will be monitored by the Castlerosse security service provider, and they will link with the police as needed. The camera footage will be recorded, and it can be used as evidence in court if needed. This proposal is hereby presented to the members, for comments and suggestions please. If there are no major objections then the October meeting will vote on whether to proceed.

We have obtained a quote for a street cleaner, to manage the litter in this area. The quote is R7,935 per month for 5 days per week, or R380 per day. This service includes transport, the tools and uniforms and other equipment needed etc. The sweeper will also be connected to the security guards at Castlerosse, and will be able to report security issues to them. The meeting agreed that we should hire a sweeper for two days per week to begin with, at a cost of R3,040 for one month. Thereafter we will have a good idea of what is needed, and if it would be worth the money to continue. Our finances will not permit this to be done indefinitely, so we will need to find sponsorship of some sort to continue if needed. This proposal is hereby presented to the members, for comments and suggestions please.

The attendees from Mentone Court indicated that extra sweeping services are also required at the 1^st Street taxi rank, especially on a Monday morning. They will discuss this with the Mentone Court board of trustees, to see if Mentone Court’s employees could be asked to assist with this. Mentone Court would also benefit from having a camera at the taxi rank. Installing a camera is easy, but a trained person is needed to operate the camera and monitor the screens. This will be discussed with the Mentone Court trustees.

The idea of building a simple and cheap urinating facility on the pavement at the taxi rank was again discussed. There is a concern that this might be seen as accepting the presence of the taxis. However the urinating is already an existing problem, and this step is intended to help us manage and mitigate the consequences while we continue to push for the Mall to meet their responsibilities to build a proper taxi facility on their premises. The idea is to attract all the urinating into a single spot away from any Mentone Court doors and windows, as well as to provide a soft gravel floor in that spot to absorb the urine safely and hygienically.

It is not possible to build the urinating facility on the Dukes Court side of the road, because we are not allowed to build anything on the municipal pavement. Mentone Court is almost unique in having a strip of privately-owned land outside their boundary wall. The proposed facility will be cheap and simple, and it will be dismantled as soon as a proper taxi facility becomes available. Many of the taxi drivers and local drinkers are clearly unwilling to walk into the Mall to use the proper bathrooms.

The hawkers and gamblers in Killarney Avenue are getting worse. We need to improve our liaison with the SAPS on this. We have again reported this to the ward councillor and the CPF, to see what can be done to improve the law enforcement service. Please would all residents help us by reporting these cases to the Council, with photos if possible?

In addition to the people living illegally alongside the motorway, there are also occasional people camping illegally on the pavement alongside the golf course boundary. The golf course management are aware and are reacting, but this is a by-law enforcement issue, and only JMPD can actually fix it. Please would all residents help us by reporting these cases to the Council, with photos if possible?

The project to sue the municipality to enforce the by-laws, is bogging down because the lawyers now need to first have a complainant who has the financial means to pay the legal costs of the municipality if we lose the case. The NKRA does not have the assets or the revenue stream to be able to do this. We are hoping that the opposition political parties may be willing to join such a case, but so far there has been no response.

The suggestion for a fenced-off area inside the park for dogs to run free, is bogged down. The Killarney residents are unable to agree on the way forward, and Joburg City Parks are not responding. The status quo will therefore remain until we can develop some momentum with City Parks. We need ideally to identify the specific person inside Joburg City Parks who is directly responsible for the issue of dogs in parks.

Regarding the illegal taxi rank in 1^st Street, the Mall planners and directors have not yet made any decisions. This is very frustrating for us, but there is still no date for finalisation.

The Killarney Mall has sponsored a major “spring clean” of our park in 4^th Street. They removed a lot of weeds, and planted new plants in various areas. They also removed a lot of the Canna Lilies, because some varieties are apparently toxic. The project is not yet finished, but the park is looking very nice as a result, and we thank Killarney Mall for this contribution.

We are continuing with our project to gather reliable feedback from our various buildings on the quality of the borehole water available in Killarney-Riviera. In particular we want to know how much water is available in each area, how clean and safe is that water, and if possible, which contractor drilled the hole for you and what did it cost? This database will then be shared with all buildings. If you have a borehole, or any experience with boreholes in the area, please would you share your knowledge?

Yet another of our grand old jacaranda trees has been lost. This one had been standing for many decades on the pavement in 5^th Street. Although the branches were still clearly healthy, residents had noted that there was a lot of decomposition visible around the base of the tree. Based on our recent experience of the seemingly-healthy tree which fell with little warning in 2^nd Avenue a few weeks ago, where we were very lucky to avoid injuries, we notified City Parks and urged them to respond rapidly. City Parks removed this tree as a precaution, and as a result no damage or injuries were suffered. We will now consider planting something else in that space.

We need to continually warn people about the risk of cell-phone snatching on pavements. Despite all the issues and efforts thus far, we still see many people standing or walking with cell-phone in hand, concentrating on the phone and not on their surroundings. All buildings are again asked to put up signs etc inside the building – aimed at warning your visitors as well as your residents.

The banks have offered the following safety tips when banking:

• Always be aware of your surroundings.
• Don’t share your banking plans with anyone.
• Make use of electronic banking where possible to avoid going to branches or ATMs.
• Avoid traveling to the branch in company-marked or branded vehicles.
• Avoid making routine trips to the same branch or ATM.
• Try to avoid peak periods and long queues.
• Don’t make cash withdrawals or deposits at night.
• Make your large cash deposits inside the branch rather than at an ATM.
• Make sure no one is following you before or after making a withdrawal.
• Don’t speak to strangers, remember criminals will distract you before striking.

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, as this does seem to speed up the response a bit. You can also log municipal problems on MySmartCity, at https://mysmart.city, or you can download their App from the website.

So far 38 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have paid their NKRA membership subscriptions for the year ahead – this is about 69% 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 Park
• 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 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 in Killarney;
• Installing a security camera watching over the 7^th Street car park area;
• Finding a sponsor for a street cleaner for the 7^th Street car park area and pavement;
• Continually warning people about the risk of cell-phone snatching;
• Getting reliable feedback on the borehole water in Killarney-Riviera.

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

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford