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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NKRA Communique – February 2023

Hi everyone

We held our February public meeting over the internet at 18h30 on Wednesday 15 February, despite the load shedding, and some developments were discussed. The various points arising from the meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next virtual public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 15 March 2023. All owners and residents of Killarney-Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a meeting link will be circulated closer to the meeting date.

The huge ugly recycling bins on the Mentone Court pavement have finally been removed, after months of begging and pleading. These bins had prominent PikiTup branding, and were placed here without consulting the residents. The bins were unsightly, they were attracting litter, and they were being used as urinals, so we are very glad they are gone. This is not the end of Killarney’s problems, but it is at least a small but visible step forward.

Mentone Court are considering fencing off the parts of their pavement which actually belong to their building, in order to reduce the problematic space. The Killarney Mall has offered to assist with sweeping and cleaning in that area, and we will liaise with the Mall on this.

Please be aware that, except for glass, the “trolley people” will be happy to collect any recyclable material, especially cardboard and plastics. If you separate out your material, and put it out on Tuesday alongside your garbage, the “trolley people” will ensure that it is recycled. Please note also that we have a well-serviced glass recycling bin in 5th Street, right at the end adjacent to the Mall property, which has been working very well for many years.

A lady was the victim of an attempted street robbery recently, where a robber attempted to snatch her handbag on the pavement. The RCS tuk-tuk patrol was able to deter the robber, and the lady got home safely. We again remind everyone to be cautious when carrying valuables on the streets.

The municipal parking area in 7th Street opposite Castlerosse has been used for years by illegal hawkers, and it has been suggested that we should consider creating a legal hawking area in this parking lot, heavily regulated and managed by the JMPD. We publicised this idea, and the response from the community thus far has been very negative, due largely it seems to the perception that the hawkers will not bother to comply with any regulations, and that the JMPD will not bother to enforce compliance with the regulations. We have therefore not yet formally approached the adjacent buildings. We are therefore publicising this suggestion again, but unless we get a lot of positive response, it seems that the community is opposed to this suggestion, and would prefer to continue with the current by-laws.

The municipal inspector visited our area as planned to inspect the pavement and pothole repairs, supported by the extensive list of issues which we gathered from our residents. He will formally log all of our issues, and will then follow up with the operational managers to ensure that action is taken as soon as their resources and priorities permit. There is no timeline or deadline on this at all. We therefore need to keep up the pressure on JRA and City Parks.

This list of issues currently includes street potholes, damaged pavements, poorly completed repairs on the streets and pavements, heavily-overgrown plants and trees on pavements, stolen manhole covers, water leaks and general litter. Once we get feedback and action plans from the municipality, we will probably need to consider repairing some of these items ourselves. Please let me know if we need to add anything else to the schedule.

It was noted that the JRA will focus their repair efforts on the busy roads, and that the minor sideroads might wait indefinitely for attention. It was therefore agreed that we should start to research fixing the various pavements and minor roads ourselves. Fixing a major road is dangerous due to heavy traffic, and we need a wayleave to block off a road, so we will wait a while longer in hope of getting municipal action on these particular issues.

Fixing and replacing missing manhole covers will be very expensive, as each new cover will need to be custom-made. Once again, building up a manhole in a busy road will require closing the road, and thus a wayleave.

In the meanwhile, a resident of Gleneagles apparently purchased some cold-mix asphalt and patched some serious potholes in 2nd Avenue outside Gleneagles. The caretaker at Killarney Court and Gardens similarly made temporary patches on some deep potholes in 1st Street. Many thanks to those people – every little bit helps. The simplest and cheapest way to help address potholes is just to fill the holes with gravel and small stones, although we will need to sweep this material back in every week, especially when it is raining.

Intervention is required for the overgrown pavements on the motorway side of 7th Street, as the pavement is now completely blocked by vegetation and rubbish. We are continuing to pursue the matter with City Parks and JRA, but if this doesn’t work then we will either have to do a community clean-up, or we will need to hire a service provider.

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 also take photographs of the potholes and/or damaged pavements etc where you can, because the municipality seems to respond slightly faster when we include photos to support our complaints. Residents are urged to also report our various pothole problems to the Discovery App, in the hope that this might bring some action too.

While we wait for service delivery from the municipality, we again continue to ask all buildings please to help us by cleaning up litter and weeds on your adjacent pavements and gutters. Litter and weeds create a general impression of neglect, especially among potential new investors.

The owners of the Killarney Mall have confirmed that they will be building a taxi facility on their premises, but that the project will take more than a year to complete. No specific timelines are available yet at this stage.

At the December public NKRA meeting it was resolved to obtain two cubic meters of fresh silica sand to refresh the playground in the park. This has been done, at a cost so far of R2,940. It has definitely helped, but the coverage is thinner than expected, so we might need more sand soon.

A set of swings has been donated to the park by Paulo Joaquim from Seven Oaks. He also paid for it to be professionally installed. The swings are already a big hit with our younger residents. Many thanks to Paulo for this valuable donation!

The municipality has published the new property valuation roll, which it intends to use to increase our property rates and taxes. At first glance, some of the properties are fairly valued but others have been massively over-valued. The valuations can be viewed at this link.

The load-shedding situation is going to last for a long time still. If any residents have a good solar power story to share, please do let us know. There are a lot of sharks taking advantage at present, so we would appreciate all recommendations of quality service providers.

The membership invoices for the 2023 financial year will be sent out shortly, and we hope that most of our buildings will continue to support us. We anticipate that we will probably need to repair a lot of potholes and pavements ourselves, and we will need as much funding as possible.

Please would the NKRA members give us your feedback on the various issues described above? We are happy to receive photos of any interesting things around our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all issues.

Our next virtual meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 15 March 2023.

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford