MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 19th MARCH 2025

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION

HELD VIRTUALLY OVER THE INTERNET

ON WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025 at 18H30

PRESENT:   Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Floh Thiele (La Camargue); Kim Robinson (Killarney Hills); Marion Wheater (Riviera Mansions); Mumtaz Ally (Riviera Mansions); Tracy Royal (Mediterranean); Trish Terry (Gleneagles); Eleanor Huggett (Councillor Ward 73).

1. WELCOME

• Wayne chaired the meeting. He opened the meeting and welcomed the attendees.

2.  APOLOGIES RECEIVED

• Ian Morison (Killarney Park); Kerry Barton-Hobbs (The Rivieras); Nadia Nikakhtar (Killarney Park).

3. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES, AND MATTERS ARISING

• The minutes of the previous meeting have been circulated to all attendees, and have been approved by them. The details thereof were incorporated into the monthly newsletter.

4.  STATUS OF OUR SUBURB, AND LIST OF ISSUES REQUIRING ACTION

• Pavement and street repair project – there are currently a number of serious potholes in our streets, as well as a number of large excavations caused by municipal entities in the process of repairing water pipes and power cables etc. Happily, this does at least indicate that some repair work is still being done. These water-pipe excavations are only resurfaced once the soil has been compacted properly, otherwise there will soon be subsidence and more problems. Joburg Water specifically uses all their budget to repair the pipes, and tends to leave the resurfacing of the road until they have spare resources.
• Over time, the potholes in the road surfaces get steadily worse, especially in the raining season. The whole length of 2^nd Avenue in particular, has deteriorated quite badly. In the stretch between 1^st Street and 2^nd Street, the tar surface has almost completely eroded away. This stretch is now dangerous for cars, as well as for bicycles and pedestrians.
• We also have serious potholes in 10^th Street, where the road is splitting lengthways, and in 4^th Ave at the traffic circle. We continue to ask the Ward councillor for help, and we have sent her numerous reference numbers and photographs. We will now send her photos of the 2^nd Ave problem, and the Councillor will ask the JRA people to address it as a safety issue.
• Floh reported that the Discovery Pothole Patrol is still active, and he will approach them for possible assistance. We need to report these issues on the Discovery App. Tracy asked for a list of potholes.
• It was agreed that the NKRA should begin a fresh process of repairing potholes. It is not practical to spend too much time driving around with a truckload of hot asphalt in very cold weather, because the asphalt quickly cools on the truck and is then useless. It was therefore agreed that our next pothole project should address only three areas, so as to limit the time spent in loading, unloading and driving around. For the next project, we therefore propose to address the deep split in 10^th Street, the deep pothole in 4^th Ave at the traffic circle, and then to use whatever material remains to resurface the major potholes in 2^nd Avenue, unless the JRA fixes these issues for us first.
• Our representative for the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum is Floh, who has done this job for quite some time. However Floh’s business now requires him to spend a lot of time travelling overseas, and we need to find a volunteer to replace him in this important role. The value of the CPF comes from building relationships with the SAPS commanders and the JMPD commanders, so we would ideally like to have a stable person who can attend the monthly CPF meetings for an extended period.
• These meetings happen once a month, usually on the first Wednesday night at 18h30, at the police station. There is safe parking under the building, but it is often easier to use an Uber. The meeting thanked Floh for his valuable service.

• Illegal hawkers, and illegal drinking on pavements – we need to keep on reporting these incidences to the JMPD, and asking for reference numbers. JMPD allocates their resources based on the apparent severity of the issue, so the more reports, the better our chances of receiving service. The reported issue can then be copied to the ward councillor, who will escalate these issues via the channels.
• On-going risks of cell-phone snatching on pavements, and pick-pockets – We need to keep reminding buildings of the problem, and encouraging them to place their private security guards outside on the pavement whenever a resident or visitor is standing there. They should also warn residents and visitors to be alert as well. The new laws restricting the use of CCTV cameras is severely impacting on our security strategies, but we are told that there is a lot of pushback on this, and things might yet change.
• Community upliftment initiative – “Themba Cleanup Projects” – Themba visits Killarney every Wednesday to clear the accumulated pavement rubbish, and every Saturday to do upliftment projects, such as filling potholes with rubble, and clearing weeds etc. This is part of our efforts to avoid the Broken Window Syndrome, whereby unresolved dirt and deterioration attracts even more dirt and deterioration. Residents are invited to submit their suggestions for future upliftment projects as well.
• Trolley recyclers – A group of residents had an informal “coffee meeting” with an organisation called ARO, which is able to liaise with the recyclers in various languages. They provide support to individual recyclers at a membership fee of R150 per annum, which includes providing them with equipment and an ID badge. We are now waiting for ARO to finish researching the situation in Killarney, after which they will meet with us again to present solutions. This will be a slow process. Floh says the ARO people were all fired up at the meeting, and they did sound very professional, but then things started to cool off.
• We do need to get our buildings doing pre-sorting of plastic and carboard etc, and to build individual relationships with local recyclers.
• Community Street patrols – These patrols continue to add value, and they do help a lot by maintaining a presence on the street, which does deter illegal behaviour to an extent. We will continue to publicise these patrols in the newsletters.
• The patrol people are talking about rebranding this activity as the Community Night Walkrs, with less emphasis on “patrolling”, and more focus on connecting with neighbours, and walking for exercise and relaxation.
• We need to publicise this activity more, particularly using word-of-mouth communication through each building. We need Project Drivers in every building if possible, hopefully distributing our messages through their internal email and WhatsApp groups.
• NKRA Community Gardens project – The summer garden has been cleaned out, and new winter seedlings will be planted around the end of March. We can obtain free compost from the zoo. Unfortunately this fresh animal manure needs to be matured before it can be used, which requires storage. If we use an area in the park, the odours and flies may upset the neighbours. We have however received generous donations of garden-ready compost, seemingly enough to cover the needs of the initial winter garden.
• It has been suggested to create a “seed library” in the park containing packets of seeds, so that people can deposit seeds for other people to take and grow themselves. We also want to create a range of small weather-proof signs to identify each patch of the various veggies.
• A man named Talent has been helping in the gardening activities. He is a good casual worker, who can be hired by buildings as well.
• Killarney Mall refurbishment progress – Our most recent feedback from the Mall Centre Manager is as follows: “The current proposal is with the architect and other professionals for their review and feedback. Once we receive their input, I will provide you with an update.” They have said that they won’t come to us with any plans until they are confident that those plans are viable and legal, so as to avoid creating expectations and rumours, which might later lead to disappointment, damaged relationships and loss of trust.

5.  NEW ISSUES

• The situation with Estate Agency sign boards has been getting progressively worse over time, and the negative impressions it is creating have now reached a tipping point. A bit of research shows that a number of estate agencies are putting up more boards than the by-laws allow. This was causing concern that Killarney has a serious problem, and that property owners are desperate to sell and leave. The community has resolved to address the problem, using the legal channels, but we also agreed to first approach each of the agencies in question on a friendly basis, to appeal to them to comply voluntarily. Ismail was mandated to undertake the initial round of contact, and so far seven agencies have apparently been contacted. More agencies will be added to the list in the future, if we determine that they are also not compliant.
• We will report this issue in the newsletters again, including that Killarney rules require that boards are removed during weekdays. Cllr Huggett will request that the relevant municipal department conduct regular drive-through inspections in Killarney, to ensure compliance.
• It was noted that the Lhenveolan building is now being managed by Alec Massel, who has put a large billboard up on their boundary fence. Cllr Huggett will talk to the municipal officials to check if this is also legal.
• Charles presented some statistics regarding municipal maintenance. Currently we have three buildings with no water, three water leaks have been reported and are not yet fixed, and there are eleven large holes in the streets and pavements at present. This is slightly better than in the past, but the stats go up and down. We are monitoring progress, and we are continually nagging the municipality to attend to these issues – particularly those that involve water wastage, and those which present safety risks. The speed of the municipal response seems to have improved slightly. Charles was thanked for his massive amounts of work and value-add.
• It was reported that a lamp post in Main Road, outside Riviera Mansions, contains exposed live wiring which is sparking in the rain. This is very dangerous to passersby, and especially children. The details will be sent to Cllr Huggett for escalation.
• It was reported that there are now three flat-bed tow-trucks which park for extended periods every day in 1^st Street. It was agreed that residents should photograph them, in particular their licence plates and perhaps company details painted on the sides, and report to them to JMPD, as well as to Cllr Huggett.

The Meeting closed at 20h25

.

Our next meeting will be held virtually on

WEDNESDAY 16 APRIL 2025 AT 18H30

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS

.

City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

SAPS patrol van – 071 675 6001

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