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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MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 17th JANUARY 2018

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE
NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION
HELD AT ROOM 203B OF THE MALL OFFICE TOWER
ON WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY 2018 AT 17H00

PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Julie Wilson (Killarney Hills); Vivienne Cobbett (Biarritz); Faye Sher (Whitehall Court); Trish Terry (Gleneagles); Tony Mantle (Gleneagles); Captain Moonsamy (SAPS); Colonel Mahasha (SAPS); Floh Thiele (La Carmague); Anver Jhetan (Hanover Gate); Rochester Shen (Mentone Court); Mike Kalk (Brenthurst Court).

1. WELCOME
The chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, with New Year Greetings.

2. APOLOGIES
Eleanor Huggett (Ward Councillor); Paulo Joaquim (Sevenoaks); Elena Joaquim (St Johns Wood); Margaret Urban (Hanover Gate); Harry Rutenberg (Sevenoaks); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Dean Dada (RCS Security); Hussein Dudhia (Hampshire Mews).

3. DISCUSSION OF TIME CONSTRAINT
• We will strive to keep the discussions short and relevant, so as to finish by 6pm.

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 introduced Colonel Mahasha, who is the new commander of Visible Policing at the Hillbrow Police Station. The colonel was welcomed, and was thanked for his interest in our community.
• Captain Moonsamy presented the crime statistics for the past six weeks. There were 3 thefts of vehicles; 3 thefts out of vehicles; 5 shopliftings; 1 common theft; 2 burglaries; 1 common robbery; 2 frauds; 1 malicious damage to property and 1 arrest for possession of drugs (at the 1st St taxi area). Evidently the cat burglar is operating again in our area.
• The situation at the illegal taxi rank in 1st Street was still problematic through the festive season, although the SAPS have been doing stop-and-search visits. These efforts will continue.
• The most practical and affordable system thus far is the Safe Zone project. In this project a few adjacent buildings club together to hire an extra security guard, who watches over their shared street and pavements, as well as their visitors’ cars etc. However a private security company cannot legally act against loiterers on a public pavement unless those loiterers are committing criminal acts.
• We have recently determined that the Gauteng Liquor Act forbids the consumption of alcohol on a pavement near a road. The SAPS undertook to enforce this law against all street drinkers from now on.
• Please call the police immediately when you notice illegal or suspicious behaviour. It doesn’t help to call them a few days later. We also need photographic evidence where possible, to help with identifications and prosecutions. A delay might also result in the CCTV footage being wiped off before the police get a copy thereof.
• Breaking water valves to steal water for car washing is illegal. However we need to be able to identify the specific culprit, which again requires high-resolution photographs or video footage if at all possible.
• Captain Moonsamy brought us the contact details for Regional Director Mafune, who oversees the JMPD in our area. Wayne will communicate directly with her re the many by-law enforcement problems in Killarney and Riviera.
• We need a new person to represent us at the Community Policing Forum at Hillbrow Police Station one evening per month. If you have the time, please would you volunteer?

6. FEEDBACK FROM COUNCILLORS
• Councillor Huggett apologised for missing our meeting, due to other councillor commitments.
• There is no further feedback yet on the big excavation made by Joburg Water at the corner of Riviera Road and 4th Ave. The hole has been refilled, but they will need to build a manhole to give access to that valve, before they can re-surface the road. We do not have a deadline on that yet. There are also other water repair reinstatements that have been outstanding for months and even years. Councillor Huggett will be requested to pursue this urgently.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
• Last year it was suggested that we should repair the park benches where some planks have started to crumble, and repaint all of them. There have been no objections to this idea since then, so we are now looking for recommended contractors to provide quotations please.
• A new flower bed has been created at the 4th Ave gate of the park, and community members have planted a number of shrubs and ground covers. We now intend to plant perennials along the 4th Ave fence, to take advantage of the fog-harvesting capacity of the steel palisade fence. All donations of suitable plants are most welcome.
• The project to repaint the street names on all the kerb stones has been authorised, and we wait to see progress. Some of the existing signs are completely obliterated already, and we hope the contractor gets all the names right. Please let us know instantly if you notice that a sign has been painted incorrectly.
• Since the request for a small new traffic circle in the intersection of 7th Street and Anerley Road has been refused by the JRA, suggestions have been made for an illuminated junction sign, and for moving the fence around the public toilet facility to improve visibility. Wayne will take this up with the landowners in question.
• The project to clean up the trees on the pavements has yielded good results, and may trees have been addressed. However some signs remain, and new signs keep appearing. All buildings are asked please to remove all advertising signs on the trees near your buildings.
• Some street lights are again not working, and the wiring on some poles is exposed. This is a safety hazard, especially for children. Please report all cases of damaged poles and wiring to City Power, on 011 375 5555.
• We need to contact City Parks to cut the grass in the small park in 7th Street between the two bridges. Councillor Huggett will be requested to pursue this urgently.
• Many of the Vumatel manhole covers are again upside down, posing a serious safety risk to pedestrians. Wayne will contact Vumatel about this.
• It was suggested to add a top-up of fresh sand to the sandpit in the park play area.
• It was again noted that some estate agents are contravening the by-laws regarding advertising signs. The by-law allows only one sign-board per agent per building. See document attached, at Clause 22.
• Please report problems of potholes and pavements to the JRA at http://www.jra.org.za/find-and-fix-mobile-app, or call 011 375 5555.
• Please use the number 0860 562 874 to report all road and pavement-related problems to the municipality. This includes all cases of rubble being dumped on pavements, potholes in roads or pavements, road signs in need of repair, streetlights not working, blocked storm-drains, or traffic lights out of order. You can also report all of these issues to the call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342. Please keep the reference numbers for follow-up.

8. CITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT PROJECT
• It has again been suggested to create a City Improvement District in Killarney-Riviera. This essentially involves creating a company which would fill in the gaps in municipal service delivery. This would include fixing roads and street-lights, providing cleaning services and security services on the streets, and various other projects. They would also undertake various communication and “lifestyle-improvement” projects from time to time.
• The operation is proposed to be managed by the RMS Property and Facilities Management company, who will charge a management fee of around R300,000 per annum.
• This company would need to be funded by regular monthly donations from all buildings and businesses in the area. The preliminary budget which was discussed with Wayne was for R3 million per annum, which would require a donation of about R50,000 per annum from every single building in the area. Since participation is totally voluntary, if some buildings decline to participate then the fee required from the participating buildings must increase, or the proposed service levels must be reduced.
• This budget includes a security allocation sufficient to hire 6 security guards 24/7, or 12 guards for 12 hours a day, to be positioned at identified hotspots around the area. Tina White of RMS has confirmed to Wayne that these guards will have no more power to intervene against hawkers, drinkers, car-washers and taxis etc on public roads than do the private security guards currently employed by individual buildings.
• Tina White of RMS was invited to attend the meeting, but had been unable to attend due to other commitments. We will extend a standing invitation to her and her colleagues every month from now on. Meanwhile, please send us your questions and suggestions by email.
• It was suggested that the area would benefit from having every building employ the same security company, so as to achieve saturation coverage and economies of scale. This is indeed a good idea, but every building would have to choose voluntarily to adopt the plan, and many buildings have long-term contracts in place with service providers. Vision Tactical and RCS seem to be the security service providers with the largest number of buildings at present.

9. FINANCE AND MEMBERSHIP
• The 2018 invoices for membership subscriptions will be sent out soon. We would greatly appreciate your continued support.

10. GENERAL
• A regular Community Clean-up Project was suggested, where numbers of residents can join up in a group to clean up litter and weeds on pavements and gutters. This has been done before with much success, but it has never become a regular thing.

The meeting was closed, with thanks to the Killarney Mall for hosting us.

Our next meeting will be held on
WEDNESDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2018 at 5pm

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342.
SAPS patrol van – 071 675 6001
If you get no response, please call the Hillbrow Joint Operations Command Centre
on 011 488 6712, or call 10111.