NKRA Communique – November-December 2022

Hi everyone

We held our December public meeting over the internet at 18h30 on Wednesday 7 December. The main decisions and suggestions of that meeting are reported in this newsletter.

At the meeting it was suggested that we should hold our virtual meetings on the third Wednesday of every month from now on, as some people struggle to participate on the first Wednesday due to work responsibilities. Our next virtual meeting will therefore be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 18 January 2023. All owners and residents of Killarney-Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a meeting link will be circulated closer to the meeting date.

There has still been no progress with the repairing of our pavements, and it seems that we will probably have to repair the pavements again ourselves. There is a concern that this very expensive project might be followed shortly thereafter by the pavements being dug up again by the relevant municipal departments in order to carry out further work. However the rain is washing out the trenches day by day, increasing the risk for our residents, and “something has got to be done”. Once we get the all-clear from the municipality, we will certainly consider such a repair project. Meanwhile, please would all residents help us to compile a list of the various pavements which will require attention?

At the December public meeting it was agreed that where the damaged pavements are adjacent to non-member buildings, those buildings will be invited to contribute toward those repairs.

It was also noted that the narrow walkways on certain pavements are being blocked by heavy plant overgrowth, forcing pedestrians to walk in the street. It was agreed to approach the Councillor for remedial action, failing which we can easily address this ourselves, at minimal cost.

Some of the potholes in the roads are also getting seriously bad, and are posing a danger to traffic. These potholes will get rapidly worse as it continues to rain. We need to create a register of these problem areas as well please. The most problematic road is 2^nd Avenue, but there are various other problem areas too.

The illegal pavement hawkers continue to be an issue. It was again confirmed that no pavement in Killarney is wide enough to allow legal hawking. However where there is a demand from customers, suppliers will invariably arrive to profit from this demand, even if they do so illegally. The municipal parking area in 7^th Street opposite Castlerosse has been used for years by illegal hawkers, because of the space and the substantial passing trade. At the December meeting it was suggested to perhaps consider creating a legal hawking area in this parking lot, heavily regulated and managed by the JMPD, as happens elsewhere in Johannesburg. However we obviously cannot be certain that the JMPD will manage this properly, or that the hawkers themselves will stick to the regulations. This idea will require substantial consultation with all the affected residents.

For all municipal service delivery issues, including potholes, pavements, Pikitup, electricity and water issues, you can contact the municipal Call Centre on 0860 562 874 to have your concerns forwarded to the relevant operational departments. Please would everybody keep on reporting these issues, and always ask them for a reference number. Please also take photographs of the potholes and/or damaged pavements etc where you can, because the municipality seems to respond slightly faster when we include photos to support our complaints.

While we wait for service delivery from the municipality, we again continue to ask all buildings please to help us by cleaning up litter and weeds on your pavements and in your gutters. With all the rain, weeds grow fast, and this rapidly creates a general impression of neglect. Among other things, we need to consider once again hiring a service provider to cut back the huge overgrowth on the pavement in 7^th Street, all along the motorway.

The security situation continues to be a problem. The snatching of phones and handbags on pavements is particularly serious. All residents need to be aware of the various people around you on the pavement at all times. Please also watch out for “prowling” cars – the thieves often have a car loitering close by to help them get away quickly, and they seem to favour Uber-type vehicles. We recommend that buildings try to have a guard accompany any resident who is waiting on the pavement outside. Most important of all, try not to have a phone or device in your hands when you are outside on the pavements.

The park is looking very green and verdant. However the frequent rain has again disrupted the municipal grass-cutting schedule, and the grass in the park is now very lush and quite tall. Fortunately, the many flowers are benefitting from the rain as well.

At the December meeting it was resolved to obtain two cubic meters of fresh sand to top up and refresh the playground in the park, as well as some bags of the antimicrobial salt to make the sand safer for small children. This will cost around R7000, and it will be actioned in January.

The December meeting also considered the suggestion to add a small additional slide for little children to the playground in the park. It was noted that community support for this idea has thus far been minimal, and concerns have also been raised about the costs of this project, especially considering that our funds are limited and the repairing of the pavements needs to be given priority. There are also questions about how many small children would actually want to use such a “toddler slide”, as most small children apparently prefer to use the “big slide” – albeit with much assistance from their parents. It was agreed instead to do additional research on improving the playground, and to ask for more ideas and suggestions from the community.

The owners of the Killarney Mall have confirmed that they will be building a taxi facility on their premises, but that the project will take more than a year to complete. No specific timelines are available yet at this stage.

During 2022, 39 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have been contributing members of the NKRA – this is about 71% of the total. We are very grateful for this support. The invoices for the 2023 financial year will be sent out at the end of February 2023, and we hope that all these buildings will continue to support us. Repairing pavements is expensive, and we will need as much help as possible.

Please would the NKRA members give us feedback on the various issues described above? We are happy to receive photos of any interesting things around our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all issues.

Our next virtual meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 18 January 2023.

Season’s Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford