MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 21st SEPTEMBER 2011

DRAFT

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION

HELD AT THE MALL MANAGEMENT OFFICES (1^ST FLOOR OFFICE TOWER)

ON WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2011 AT 18H00

PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Chairman); Charles Whyte; Captain Moonsamy (SAPS); Jo Marais; Kayte Denham; Henry Rudzinske; Mary Cagamoff; Debbie de Beer; Audrey Kobrin; Frank Kobrin; Trish Terry; Stella Hewick; Indrin Moonsamy.

1.    WELCOME

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2.    APOLOGIES

Ian West; Steve Mendelsohn; David Kramer; Clr Ravid; Yogan Naidoo; George Kymdell, AK Jadwat; Dave Spencer;

3.    APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The Minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read, and were approved.

4.    SECURITY FEEDBACK / SECTOR CRIME FORUM

• Captain Moonsamy presented the crime report. There were no detailed statistics  available, but car theft and theft out of vehicles are still our serious crime issues.
• An apparent hi-jacking at the intersection of Newton Road and Houghton Drive is being investigated.
• Two men were arrested in Killarney in possession of a car-jammer. This device blocks the signal when car owners lock their car doors remotely, so all residents are reminded to check that their cars are properly locked before walking away.
• With the festive season approaching, the number of crime cases generally increases. We therefore need to be even more vigilant, especially regarding parking cars in the street. A large and visible police vehicle will be present outside the Mall on and off until after the festive season, to enhance visible policing.
• The Mall is improving lighting in the parking areas, to make their cameras even more effective.
• Public property – especially fences and railings – are being stolen and sold as scrap. In some cases this is a serious safety issue, such as when railings on a bridge are removed. All residents must please call the police van immediately if you see anybody loitering around a fence in a “suspicious” manner – 071 675 6001.
• The vagrants are living under the motorway overpass again. The SAPS will keep pressure on them, as the smash-&-grab criminals seem to hide among them.
• The Hillbrow Police Station CPF AGM will take place on 22 November, at 6pm, at the Hall at the police station. All are urged to attend.

5.    TRAFFIC ISSUES

• Re the project to improve traffic safety in 4^th Street and Main Road, the meeting agreed to pay the engineer R7,000 to manage the process, and a budget of R50,000 was agreed to install two new speed-humps, and to improve 3 existing speed-humps. Precise details of the positioning of these speed-humps will be circulated once the drawings have been finalised.
• The traffic light on the motorway off-ramp at Riviera Road has apparently been run over. Clr Ravid will be asked to follow this up.

6    ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

• Trees have apparently been planted in 10^th Street in an attempt to stabilise the soil on the slope. Please let us know if you are able to recommend creepers which are good at stabilising soil on steep banks.
• There are apparently more trees in the area which are falling toward Interlaken. Helene to please discuss with Stella.
• The pothole project has repaired 11 potholes. Some rubble still has to be removed – Charles will chase up the contractors.
• New Trees project – City Parks have had a succession of challenges here, but they continue to assure us that a number of new trees will be planted in the near future.
• It was agreed that the street-sweeping service is making a huge difference in Killarney Road and around the taxi area. The meeting agreed to enter into a long-term contract to pay R2,000 per month to the Enigma cleaning company to continue this service going forward, on a 60-day notice basis. The cleaner will work 3 days per week, and Dukes Court will work with the recycling contractor to create extra capacity in the Dukes Court wheelie-bins, which can then be used to dispose of the “pavement rubbish”.
• The meeting agreed to roll this project out to other high-litter areas, starting with 4^th Ave, as soon as we have identified buildings in those areas willing to allow the rubbish to be dumped into their bins, and able to provide a trustee/caretaker to supervise the work of the cleaner.
  Any building which is recycling should have plenty of spare capacity, so buildings in 4^th Ave are asked to please volunteer to host this extension of the project.
• The scavengers are still a problem, when they empty the wheelie-bins onto the road in an effort to find valuable garbage. This can be combatted by having every resident sorting out recyclable waste at source, and the building joining the NKRA recycling project. Next year sorting will become a legal requirement, so you might as well start now.
• The PikiTup sweepers collect litter regularly, place it in khaki or white plastic bags, and leave them along the pavements and at the dustbins for a separate PikiTup department to collect. This can however take weeks. If you see these bags on your pavement, please put them into your wheelie-bins to be removed more promptly.
• Lights project – Cranwell Hall has removed a lot of foliage from around the street-lights in 1^st Street. This has made a huge improvement to 1^st Street – many thanks to Cranwell Hall for this assist. Daventry Court and Beverley Heights will shortly be installing additional flood-lights in this road as well. Gleneagles was also thanked for pruning their trees. The entire road is now much better illuminated, and hopefully this will help to reduce crime. If anybody else has a dark area around your building, which poses a risk of car theft, please do let us know.
• The Martindale Mews swimming pool is filling up very slowly, and is likely to pose a health hazard again once the rains commence in earnest. Clr Ravid will be asked to step up official pressure on the owner, and Stella will also investigate ways to improve the enforcement of the by-laws in the area.
• Street soccer – this is illegal. Please call the police van whenever it’s a problem, so that they can intervene while the culprits are in action.
• Bus route – a petition will be circulated to get a bus service operating between Killarney Mall and Rosebank Zone. This will link us to the BRT, and the Gautrain. It might also be extended along West Street in Houghton, and along 7^th Street. Wayne and Kayte will organise a standard petition document, to be circulated. Wayne will also request for the Gautrain bus to stop at the Mall, or someplace else in Killarney.
• The meeting agreed to spend R5,000 to repaint all the sign-poles in the area. Municipal-grey enamel paint will be used, rust-inhibitor will be applied and all wires and strings will be removed first. Henry and Charles will manage the project.

7.    FINANCE AND MEMBERSHIP

With Steve not available this was held over.

8.    GENERAL

• The rats are enjoying the spring as much as anybody. The only way to manage this problem is to get a professional pest-control service to set poison-straps around every building.
• You can have your staff trained as fire-fighters by the fire department, for about R800 each. Please call Tirwa (at the fire department) on 011 837 3099 if you are interested.

The meeting was closed at 19H20, with thanks to all who attended, and with thanks to the Killarney Mall for the use of their boardroom.

Our next meeting will be held on WEDNESDAY 19 OCTOBER 2011 AT 18H00

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS