The NKRA is grateful for the support provided in the 4th Street park by our park sponsors RUSSELL FISHER PROPERTIES and VISION TACTICAL SECURITY and the KILLARNEY MALL, and for the street cleaning services provided by RCS SECURITY SERVICES.

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A Letter to Councillor Marcel Ravid

14 August 2008

Dear Councillor Ravid

I write on behalf of the community of Killarney-Riviera to request your urgent assistance as our Ward Councillor.

A large and growing community of vagrants has taken up residence in our area. The main residential locations are on the Anerley Street bridge over the M1 motorway, underneath the M1 motorway where it passes the Killarney Mall at the Houghton Drive on-ramp, and all along the southern embankment of the motorway in between.

They burn rubbish, including plastic, to keep warm at night. This causes air pollution, and it results in increasing mounds of garbage which attract the largest rats I have ever seen. They have broken fences in various places in 7th St to get access to the 7th St Park and to the motorway embankment, and they also live inside the hollow spaces of the Anerley St bridge itself.

A number of motorists have been accosted by these people in the last few months, and although thankfully we have not heard of injuries, we fear its only a matter of time before somebody is seriously hurt. The SAPS and JMPD have arrested individuals from time to time for drinking in public and lighting fires on public land, but the vagrant community is growing and is taking root. The SAPS also tell us that some of these people have been connected with the smash & grab robberies at the intersection of Houghton Drive and Newton Road, as the perpetrators have been chased toward the footbridge under the motorway at the Houghton Drive on-ramp.

Please could you assist to have the appropriate city departments take the appropriate action.

Kind regards

Wayne Ford
Chairman
Killarney-Riviera Residents’ Association