MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 19th FEBRUARY 2025

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY PUBLIC MEETING OF THE

NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION

HELD VIRTUALLY OVER THE INTERNET

ON WEDNESDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2025 at 18H30

PRESENT:   Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Ian Morison (Killarney Park); Trish Terry (Gleneagles).

1. WELCOME

• Wayne chaired the meeting. He opened the meeting and welcomed the attendees.

2.  APOLOGIES RECEIVED

• Floh Thiele (La Camargue); Kim Robinson (Killarney Hills).

3. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES, AND MATTERS ARISING

• The minutes of the previous meeting have been circulated to all attendees, and have been approved by them. The details thereof were incorporated into the monthly newsletter.

4.  STATUS OF OUR SUBURB, AND LIST OF ISSUES REQUIRING ACTION

• Repainting street names on kerbs-: Inspections have been conducted on the work done, and errors were noted on some signs in 7^th Street near the traffic circle. We have been told that all the intended mosaic street-name signs have been completed. A final detailed inspection must now be undertaken, and thereafter the contractor will be called back to resolve the various outstanding issues. Residents have been asked to check all the signs near their homes, and to report any errors or other issues. This request has been publicised on the WhatsApp group, and it will be publicised again in the newsletter as well.
• Pavement and street repair project-: This proposed project is very necessary, but it will need to wait until the municipality is finished with their current program of water pipe repairs. We do not want to do expensive pavement repairs, only to have JW dig it all up again to finish their own work. Meanwhile we are maintaining a database of problem areas, and we are nagging CoJ to fix things. Part of the delay is caused by the standard methodology of waiting for the replaced soil to be compacted, but the rain is undoing this process. The rain also washes soil out of the holes, which leads to dangerously deep excavations.
• Community upliftment initiative and the “Themba Cleanup Projects”-: We are hoping to expand the funds available to these projects through community fund-raising, including the promotion of debit-orders where possible. Themba uses the Wednesday afternoon visit to clear away rubbish from the pavement bins, and he uses the Saturday visits to do “upliftment projects”. We will use the newsletters to ask residents to suggest ideas for future “upliftment projects”.
• New art gate in the 4^th Street Park, and new gate on the 7^th Street embankment-: The new art gate is ready to install. This has been paid for through community fund-raising. There will be a formal unveiling on 28 February, with a function involving some JPCZ officials. Regarding moving the old gate to the 7^th Street car-park, we are still awaiting authorisation from the JCPZ. Nadia is pursuing this with the relevant JCPZ officials.
• Improving lighting on the pavements-: We have chosen to undertake pilot projects on the 4^th Avenue bridge, for the car-park in 7^th Street, and on the pavement of Riviera Road outside Daventry Court. Lighting the bridge requires a building to host the lights. Bolton Hall will be one option, but there are big trees between Bolton Hall and the bridge, so careful research is required. For the car-park we will need to ask the body corporate of Castlerosse to allow us to put up lights and solar panels on their building. Charles has inspected the Riviera Road pavement, and it is heavily shadowed by trees, which block the street-lights and which will also block solar charging. Daventry Court has existing lights on their boundary wall, powered by internal mains power, so it was agreed to research getting a few powerful LED globes for these existing fittings. It was also suggested to consult experts. Alternately, we can instead focus on fixing up that pavement and making it smooth and safe for pedestrians to walk on at night. The easiest and cheapest method will be to rearrange all the remaining paving slabs into a narrow strip for pedestrians, and to let the rest of the pavement become grass or flower-beds, or gravel.
• Illegal hawkers, and illegal drinking on pavements-: Floh is constantly lobbying the JMPD at the CPF meetings. The SAPS are also helpful on occasion, so everyone needs to please keep reporting these issues. The Mall safety ambassadors say that the hawkers are arrested from time to time, but that they then return to resume their activities. The new Mall manager will be approached for input.
• On-going risks of cell-phone snatching on pavements, and pick-pockets-: We have asked the SAPS to increase their patrols of Killarney, but this is not under our control. We need to continue to remind our residents and visitors of the risk, and of the need to remain personally vigilant whenever they are outdoors.
• Trolley recyclers-: Nadia & Floh are arranging a meeting with an organisation that works with the trolley recycling people. They will provide feedback in due course.
• Community Street patrols-: These patrols continue to add value, but they are affected by the weather. They do help a lot by maintaining a presence on the street, which does deter illegal behaviour to an extent. We will continue to publicise these patrols in the newsletters.
• NKRA Community Gardens project-: A good harvest was produced, and has been eaten. We congratulate the gardening committee on a great job. They are now planning a winter garden. This will involve extending the existing beds, and it will require more compost. This proposed expenditure will be included in the next newsletter. They also need additional volunteer labour, to help with weeding and watering. A “gardening party” will be held shortly in the park, along with a picnic. We will also continue to encourage buildings to plant food gardens on the pavements.
• Killarney Mall refurbishment progress-: Unfortunately Natasha, our helpful and supportive Centre Manager, has resigned. The new Centre Manager is named Johan Weiss. He will be invited to participate in NKRA projects and meetings. Sasha-Lee, the marketing manager, has also resigned. We note that the Mall has done some repairs to their roof and ceilings, and some painting has been done. However we have no feedback yet about the refurbishment project, or about the moving of the taxi rank.

5.  NEW ISSUES

• The older City Power mini-sub-stations use oil-filled transformers, and these need to be properly maintained. We have not noticed any such maintenance over the years. Many of these mini-sub-stations are located inside the garages of residential buildings, where they constitute a fire hazard. These mini-sub-stations need to be protected from thieves, and they also need to be properly maintained. The ward councillor will be approached for feedback on these questions.
• It was noted that some solar systems use lithium batteries, and that these need special fire extinguishers. Some inverter batteries are lithium as well. This will be publicised in the newsletters.
• The Joburg municipal fire-brigade is under serious pressure. It was noted that there are private fire-fighting services in Joburg. Charles will research this, and we will aim to produce a list of telephone numbers to be published. We will also ask in the newsletters and on WhatsApp, if any local residents know of such services. We will also ask the Mall about their fire-protection service.
• Aging trees – older pavement trees have started falling, and these do pose a threat. It was noted that residents are not allowed to prune or remove municipal pavement trees. All we can do is report these issues to JCPZ, together with photographs.
• It has been suggested to ask the City Council to merge the two halves of Killarney into one ward, to allow us to act with alignment and coherence. We will research an application to the constituency board, and we will ask the ward councillor for guidance.
• The rat problem in Killarney is becoming increasingly severe. It has been noted that the Martindale Mews building in 1^st Street has occasionally accumulated garbage in large quantities in their parking area for extended periods. The municipality’s environmental department has been approached, and they reported back that a compliance warning has been issued. They undertook to monitor the situation, but we need to keep an eye on progress as well.

The meeting was closed at 19h51.

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Our next meeting will be held virtually on

WEDNESDAY 19 MARCH 2025 AT 18H30

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS

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City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

SAPS patrol van – 071 675 6001

If you get no response from the patrol van, please call 10111

Councillor Huggett – by SMS or WhatsApp – 071 785 8068

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342

JMPD Control Room – 011 758 9620

JMPD number to report Homeless People camping in the vicinity – 011 490 1538

JMPD number to report Illegal Dumping – 011 490 1684

JMPD number to report Noise Pollution – 011 718 9684

JMPD number to report Illegal Advertising – 011 490 1547

JMPD number to report Illegal Trading – 011 490 1744

JMPD number to report other By-Law issues – 011 490 1684