NKRA Communique – March 2022

Hi everyone

The Covid-19 pandemic is stuttering along, and we thought it might be dying out, but now there is talk about getting another Covid wave in the winter. The number of Covid cases is increasing once more, and although the State of Disaster has ended, we are still required to follow common sense precautions such as wearing masks indoors, and avoiding unnecessary gatherings.

There is currently a major water pipe repair underway in Riviera Road, near the corner of Oxford Road. Please drive very carefully in that area.

Although the trenches that were dug across Riviera Road and 8^th Avenue were finally fixed, along with the pavements in Riviera, the trenches that were dug on the pavements in Killarney have still not been repaired. It now seems that City Power are not yet finished digging – they have resumed digging in 1^st Street this week. Hopefully this indicates that they will do all the repairs once all the digging has been completed. However, please would all neighbours continue to log these issues regularly with the Council, so that they don’t forget about us?

In addition, if you have a dangerous pothole near your building, please would you help by filling it up as best you can with soil or suitable rubble? The rain quickly washes out the soil, so we need to keep sweeping it back in again. Stones work better than soil, if you have any available.

City Parks recently started a project to replace our playground sand-pit with a concrete slab. This is to avoid the risk of the children being injured by broken glass etc in the sand. We managed to halt the process before too much damage was done, and we have requested that they find an alternative which allows us to keep the sand-pit. We are now awaiting their response.

This silver Corolla in the photo above was recently involved in an attempted robbery in 5^th Street. Thankfully they drove away without hurting anybody. The number plate was traced, and it was found to be a clone of an actual genuine plate belonging to a different silver Corolla. Please would everyone keep an eye out for this car – number plate FM 75 KV GP. Please pass this on to all your neighbours, and your security companies as well. These people are potentially dangerous, and we need to catch them urgently. Please also be aware that they target pedestrians on the street, so if you are out walking, please watch out for prowling cars and suspicious pedestrians.

We have been told that the police won’t arrest people for street drinking unless they have hard evidence of a crime being committed, otherwise the whole case will fail in court, and be a total waste of time and scarce resources. When the drinkers see a police vehicle approaching they put their alcohol away, and claim they are just chatting, in which case the police can do little other than to issue a warning. The police actually need to run an undercover operation to gather solid evidence, but this is a low priority for the use of those scarce specialist resources. It is therefore up to us to get video footage to be used as evidence. The video evidence of drinkers must be clear enough to identify both the person and the label on the bottle. It would be great if we could also get footage of any vehicles involved, clear enough to show the number plates. If the City security cameras are installed they will be able to do the job – however the drinkers will probably figure out the sight-lines and move around a corner, which we will then need to cover. If you can get video footage of sufficient clarity, it would certainly help a lot.

Meanwhile, please continue to report illegal street-drinking (as well as any other “suspicious” behaviour) to the police on every occasion, on the SAPS emergency number 10111 (or 112 from your cell phone). Please call your security company as well. You can also contact the Killarney SAPS sector manager (Sergeant Mdlolo) on 082 355 5646.

Sweeping up litter on pavements or in the gutters adds a lot of value in terms of improving the “look and feel” of the vicinity. Removing weeds also helps a lot. It is especially important to remove broken alcohol bottles – partly because they create a very bad impression, and partly because they obviously pose a danger to small children.

Suggestions have also been made that we should offer to fix the damaged wall at Martindale Mews in 1^st Street, so as to uplift that general area. 1^st Street already suffers from high levels of litter, and from the impact of the taxis and street drinking, so removing this eyesore would be a big benefit. How do the members feel about this suggestion please?

We have still not received feedback from the Mall regarding our list of suggestions on how to accommodate a taxi facility on their property. Our last feedback from them was to tell us that they are getting legal opinion on their legal liability first. We are trying to follow up with the municipal authorities on their enforcement plans, if any.

We have two WhatsApp groups for the community to be informed about crime issues, and water and power outages, etc. The ward councillor posts regular updates about municipal issues as well. We do not allow marketing of goods and services on either of these groups. All residents are welcome to join. The links are at:

https://chat.whatsapp.com/CwIkOtL2qwP0RX51ADuZkX

https://chat.whatsapp.com/EI45D5H4SQYC87x7EH5oWc.

Thus far, 32 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have already paid their 2022 membership subscription to the NKRA – this is about 58% of the total. Many thanks indeed to these buildings for your on-going support. The current list of the members for 2022 is as follows:

1. Berkeley Square
2. Beverley Heights
3. Biarritz
4. Brenthurst Court
5. Bretton Woods
6. Canterbury Close
7. Chartwell
8. Chelston Hall
9. Christina Court
10. Cranwell Hall
11. Devon Place
12. Earls Court
13. Gleneagles
14. Greenhills
15. Hampshire Mews
16. Hyde Court
17. Interlaken
18. Killarney Court & Gardens
19. Killarney Hills
20. Killarney Village
21. Kingsborough
22. Mentone Court
23. Monviso
24. Park Avenue
25. Portofino
26. Rapallo
27. Riviera Mansions
28. Santa Margherita
29. Sevenoaks
30. Splice Riviera
31. The Rivieras
32. Whitehall Court

If your building does make a membership contribution, please ask your managing agent to include the reference number as well, so as to facilitate the allocation of the payment on our side.

Now that we have funds again, we can start to consider projects to enhance our suburb. We will never have enough money to do everything that needs doing, but we can at least do a few things, and every little bit makes a difference. Fixing pavements and potholes is already on the list, as is greening certain pavement areas. Fixing the 1^st Street pavement wall of Martindale Mews has been suggested, and would add a lot of value. Please would all residents contribute suggestions, so that we can start to draw up plans?

Please would NKRA members give us feedback on the issues described above? We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all issues.

Best wishes to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford