MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 16th APRIL 2014

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION
HELD AT THE MALL MANAGEMENT OFFICES (1ST FLOOR OFFICE TOWER)
ON WEDNESDAY 16 APRIL 2014 AT 17H00

PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Chair); Deon Pelser; Laurence Sachs; Raphael Ndlovu; Jill Bronner; Kayte Denham; Ruth Kuper; Deleen Levy; Rose Magabane; Captain Moonsamy; Harry Rutenberg; Paul Denham; Mike Kalk; Frank Kobrin; Audrey Kobrin; Jo Marais; Abe Sher; Margaret Urban.

1. WELCOME
• The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2. APOLOGIES
Keith Edmeades; Trish Terry; Clr M Ravid (Ward 73); Dean Dada; Charles Whyte; Lorna Cooper; Bryce Reilly.

3. DISCUSSION OF TIME CONSTRAINT
• It was noted that the Mall has requested us to finish by 6pm. As we are guests here, we will strive to keep the discussions short and relevant, so as to finish on time.

4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
• The Minutes of the previous meeting were taken as read, and were approved.

5. SECURITY FEEDBACK / SECTOR CRIME FORUM
• Captain Moonsamy presented the crimes statistics for the period: 3 thefts of motor vehicles; 1 common robbery; 5 shopliftings; 5 general thefts; and 2 burglaries, where 2 people were arrested. The police are confident that more members of the gang will be found shortly. This incident might also have involved the cat burglar that has been looting us for years.
• Toyota SUV’s are being targeted at present – apparently their central locking systems have been hacked.
• Complaints about the deterioration of the 10111 service are being investigated by the commander of the Hillbrow Police Station.
• The Upper Killarney neighbourhood watch (south of the motorway) has requested a satellite police station in Killarney. This would be a caravan painted in SAPS colours, and would be manned by volunteers from the community, to facilitate the reporting of problems. Its success is dependent on the availability of sufficient numbers of quality volunteers.
• If there are any police reservists in Killarney-Riviera-Houghton, please contact us, as the Hillbrow police would be happy to deploy you in this area.

6. FEEDBACK FROM COUNCILLORS
• There were no councillors present.
• We note that the ablution facility in the park is not yet operational.

7. TRAFFIC ISSUES
• The water pipe repair in Riviera Road cnr Oxford Road, and the huge pothole in River Road, have now been fixed.
• Clr Ravid has logged references for various open manholes, potholes, faded road markings etc in Killarney. Some were fixed in the last few weeks, but not all of them.
• Some of the stop-streets were repainted recently, and parking bays have been painted in 9th Street, which will hopefully ease the parking congestion.
• People are increasingly ignoring the one-way rules, in 1st St and 2nd Street. This is potentially life-threatening, so the SAPS will be apprehending these drivers and charging them for reckless endangerment.
• Children continue to play soccer in 1st Street, until late at night.

8. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
• We are requesting permission from City Parks to hold a Spring Day event in the 4th Street Park on Sunday 28 September.
• RCS Security has undertaken to hire a Jumping Castle for the children, and to bring a boerewors caravan.
• The Organic Market has not responded to our invitations yet.
• Local restaurants will be approached to participate as well.
• A fashion show is being investigated by Rose, as well as the possibility of some publicity on KayaFM radio station.
• Flyers will be distributed by Kayte in other nearby markets, to attract traders.
• There will also be flyers promoting our new recycling initiatives.
• We will approach City Parks to make permanent improvements to the park itself. Suggestions such as playground equipment might take time, because of the City Parks budgeting process, but other items such as flowers/shrubs and a netball hoop will hopefully be obtainable in the short term.
• The initiative to beautify the corner of 2nd Street and 2nd Ave is well underway. Brenthurst Court are removing the unsightly old concrete, and will be planting flowers and shrubs there shortly. Mrs Levy objected strenuously, and it was explained yet again that the land is the private property of Brenthurst Court, as well as that the community was overwhelmingly in favour of replacing the unsightly concrete with flowers. Mrs Levy continued to argue and was reprimanded for disruptive behaviour. The meeting thanked Brenthurst Court for this expensive but very welcome initiative.
• We are doing our best to lure all the pigeons up to the park, where they can enjoy the more-natural environment and be less of a nuisance to buildings. The pigeons continue to hang around their present environment because they have learned to expect food at those sites, even though this results in pigeons being run over by cars and so forth. All residents who are inclined to feed pigeons, are requested to assist us by scattering the food progressively closer to the park each day, until we have resettled the flocks.
• The jacaranda tree in 2nd Ave where a large branch snapped off recently, has been trimmed by City Parks. They only trimmed the damaged branch, but neglected the other obviously-dead branches which still pose a threat. However we are grateful that the tree is at least a bit safer, and we thank Councillor Ravid for her efforts.
• It has been noted that several jacaranda pavement trees are being attacked by termite-type bugs. If you have a jacaranda tree near you please check to see if it’s OK? Deon will research a treatment, and we will communicate the details once we have them.
• Kayte Denham and Pam Golding Properties will once again be sponsoring a Verge Competition, in the tradition of past Proud Pavement competitions. The competition is limited to buildings in Killarney and Riviera. The winner will be announced at the Spring Day on 28 September, so keen buildings have until then to put your plans into action.

9. FINANCE AND MEMBERSHIP
• Laurence reported that the previous treasurer seemingly has not yet sent out the invoices for the 2014 donations. Steve is overseas at present, but Wayne and Laurence will sort this out ASAP.
• The invoices will include a brief outline of what the NKRA is all about.
• Laurence will copy his details to Captain Moonsamy for the updating of the Sector Crime Forum records.
• Kayte will research the possibility of holding a raffle, to raise money for the NKRA.

10 GENERAL
• There was a scare-story in a recent newspaper about potential future water rationing in Johannesburg. It was suggested that buildings investigate installing extra water tanks on the roof to carry them through a 48-hour water cut. Individual units can also do this internally – a normal geyser can be used for this purpose if piped up correctly.
• Buildings are also encouraged to harvest rain-water and drain-water to water gardens instead of clean tap water, and to install drip-irrigation with timers rather than using hosepipes.
• Communication is an important part of what the NKRA does, and we get a lot of value from being able to communicate quickly and cheaply with trustees of various buildings by email. However trustees change from time to time, and they don’t always let us know when these changes happen. Please could you all let us have the names and email addresses of the current trustees of your buildings?
• Pam Golding Properties is reviving their newsletter – please communicate with Kayte if you have interesting news or information about the suburb.

The meeting was closed, with thanks to the Killarney Mall for the use of their boardroom.

Our next meeting will be held on
WEDNESDAY 21 MAY 2014 AT 5PM

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS