NKRA Communique – April 2025

Hi everyone

We held our April NKRA public meeting via the internet on Wednesday 16 April 2025. The key issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next NKRA public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 21 May 2025. All residents and owners of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

On Saturday 12^th April, the Killarney Mall once again held their Easter in the Park community event. This event was again a big success, the weather was supportive, and the turn-out was very substantial. The activities for children included an Easter Egg Hunt, as well as several different jumping castles and a few new activities as well. The face-painting is always popular, and the egg-hunt (with its free chocolates etc) was very well received. Food and drinks were also available, mostly courtesy of Pick ‘n Pay. We thank Killarney Mall for this effort, which adds value to our community. We also thank Killarney Mall for cleaning up and repairing the public ablution block for the event.

The NKRA supports the Killarney Branch of the Johannesburg Public Library. In addition to lending books and providing research resources, the library also offers a quiet workspace with free wifi. To become a member of the library is free, and all you need is to produce an ID book and a proof of residence. This valuable resource is inside the Killarney Mall, on the banking level, with an entrance leading off directly from the car park to the left of the main entrance into the Mall. Please see the photo below. We have also approached the Killarney Mall management with an offer to paint the area around the library entrance, so as to improve the visibility of the entrance.

Not many people know about our little library, so the newly-formed Friends of the Killarney Library are undertaking projects to promote the library. The idea is to hold a series of events in the coming weeks and months. They are running a book-drive to acquire additional books for the library, as well as to accumulate stock for a second-hand book-sale to raise money for the library. If you have any books that you no longer wish to retain, please would you donate them to the library. You can hand them in to the librarian during office hours, or you can deposit them through the book-return slot in the front door if the library is closed.

You can join the efforts via the Community WhatsApp group of the Friends of the Killarney Library, at https://chat.whatsapp.com/KrYlArsPHSRAiyoGHerC0s

Several streets are deteriorating very badly, including 2^nd Avenue in particular, but also 2^nd Street and 5^th Street and 10^th Street. We have therefore been planning to do a large street-repair project. However, we have been notified that the municipality has sued residents for repairing roads themselves. Although the NKRA always uses a service provider who does sub-contracting for the JRA, and who works to the JRA quality requirements, we don’t want to fall foul of the municipality. We have requested clarity on this from the ward councillor, but we are still waiting for a response. In cases where excavations were dug for municipal repairs, we need to first ensure the repair is complete, and that the soil has compacted sufficiently. In several cases where a water valve is involved, the municipality first needs to build a manhole. Meanwhile, pavement repairs can continue, and it is safe to continue putting loose rubble and sand in the deeper holes to improve safety, while we wait.

Happily, the huge excavation in 3^rd Street at the corner of 2^nd Avenue, was recently resurfaced by the Killarney Mall. They also repaired a few potholes in Riviera Road at the same time. We thank the Killarney Mall for this valuable contribution.

A cluster of serious new potholes appeared in Newtown Ave at the corner of 8^th Street. This needs proper repair by JRA, but in the meanwhile residents have filled them with rubble to improve safety. We will cap that rubble with cold-mix asphalt to stop the potholes from getting bigger, because this is how the JRA and the Discovery Pothole Project patch potholes. We will also attend to the serious hole in 10^th Street, which is becoming dangerous. The April meeting approved R1500 to purchase the material to do these repairs.

The NKRA Community Gardens volunteers are expanding the veggie-beds in the park. An irrigation system has been planned, and donations have been collected to pay for this. They are also establishing a “seed library” at the Killarney Public Library, where new gardeners can obtain veggie-seeds for free. Several fruit trees were donated by residents, and these have been planted in the park. Thank you to all those who contributed to this enhamcement. The NKRA Community Gardens project always needs volunteers, to help with weeding, planting, watering etc. Please contact them at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9

We note that Hanover Gate has caught the veggie-farming bug as well, and they have planted a veggie-garden on their pavement in 5^th Street. Many thanks to the people at Hanover Gate for this wonderful addition.

The Community street walks project has been rebranded as “Community Night WALKR’s” rather than Street Patrollers, and is now focused on being a social event rather than a security patrol. Participation was declining, and some people prefer to avoid confrontation. They will however still add huge value simply by maintaining a visible presence on the street. There are now also daytime walks on Sundays, including around The Wilds, which are well worth attending. A communication task-team is being created to find new ways to spread the word. Residents are encouraged to join in, at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DsR92XsjIU49JLvv1pAHCI

The Community Upliftment Initiative continues to add value. Themba Mhlope visits Killarney every Wednesday to clear the accumulated pavement rubbish, and every Saturday to do other upliftment projects, such as clearing weeds and filling potholes with rubble, etc. Residents are invited to submit their suggestions for future upliftment projects as well. If you are interested in helping with these upliftment projects, or if you have specific suggestions for new projects, you can join in at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KA4ejvnpF6pGjFg9SJ3KEn.

The Killarney Mall refurbishment project is still in the research and planning stage. We wait in hope for detailed feedback of what is intended to be done, and when. Meanwhile, various repair and maintenance issues have already been resolved, and more work is planned. The Mall has recently made some internal changes to improve the shopping experience, including cleaning up the interior and exterior, providing background music in the passages, and adding fragrances to the aircon system in selected spots.

We still have an on-going risk of cell-phone snatching on pavements, and pickpockets. We continue to encourage all buildings to place private security guards outside on the pavement whenever a resident or visitor is standing out there – particularly if they are waiting for an Uber and have cell-phones in their hands. Private security guards can make a citizen’s arrest if they witness a crime being committed, and we hope this will happen more often.

Reporting illegal drinking and liquor trading helps a lot to maintain safety and security.  Reports can be made to the JMPD on 0860 562 874.

Vision Tactical Security have patrol cars in Killarney, and they are willing to react to all reports of criminal activity. If you notice any suspicious behaviour, you can contact the Vision Tactical control room on 084 222 2222, or on 010 972 2600, or on 061 071 2001. The two Vision Tactical response vehicles are on 072 830 5305, and on 071 570 5173. We thank Vision Tactical for this community-minded service.

“Membership” of the NKRA is voluntary, but for residential buildings it requires an annual membership “subscription” of R50 per each unit in the building (with a maximum of R4,000 per building). In the case of businesses, we request a flat amount of R4,000 per annum. Only the official representatives of member buildings can vote on resolutions, but all property owners, residents and employees of businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend and participate in our public meetings.  If your trustees have changed since last year, please would you let us have the contact details of the current trustees.

So far 30 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have paid their 2025 subscriptions – this is about 54% of the total. The list of the members for this year so far are as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Biarritz
• Bolton Hall
• Bretton Woods
• Canterbury Close
• Castlerosse
• Chelston Hall
• Christina Court
• Cranwell Hall
• Daventry Court
• Devon Place
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Gleneagles
• Glenhof Gardens
• Greenhills
• Hampshire Mews
• Highbury
• Hyde Court
• Killarney Village
• Knightsbridge
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Portofino
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Sloane Square
• Splice
• The Rivieras

Many thanks indeed to all these buildings for your on-going support, and also to the various people who make personal donations as well. This support enables us to undertake small projects, for the benefit of us all.

The motto of the NKRA is “Safer, Cleaner, Better, Greener”. If you have any specific ideas and suggestions to help us implement this vision, please do share them urgently. Otherwise, our primary focuses for 2025 will continue to be as follows:

• Managing the squatter and hawker and taxi and street-drinking problems in Killarney;
• Reducing the various crime risks, including specifically the risk of pickpockets and phone-snatching on the pavements, and improving the street-lighting;
• Building up and sustaining the “Night WALKR’s” social walking group;
• Expanding the Community Gardens Project to grow food for persons in need;
• Undertaking projects where possible, including cleaning and beautifying the pavements and other visible public spaces, expanding the existing Themba Upliftment Projects by means of additional fundraising, and improving relationships with the trolley-recyclers.

We are happy to receive photos of interesting things that might be happening in our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all inputs, on all issues. All interested persons can contact us at wdford@global.co.za to be added to the mailing list. Our website is at www.nkra.org.za.

Our next public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 21 May 2025. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

Please would you share this newsletter with all your neighbours in Killarney-Riviera?

Keep well, and keep safe.

.

.

City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

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

To report a water leak: 24-hour hotline – 0860 562 874 or 011 688 1699