PRABOA Newsletter | 21 June 2019

Jun 21, 2019 | Highlight News, News

Newsletter – 21 June 2019

Key dates

 

  • 25 July: CPF AGM   

  • 28 July: Walk the Talk

  • 5 September (Thursday): Parkhurst Clinic Open Day

  • 12 October: SAPS Open Day, Zoo Lake

Safety

  • Do not leave doors or gates open, even only for a minute, to go outside your property. We also find an alarming number of garage or gate doors open, where the resident is not even visible, but instead went inside to fetch or do something.
  • Please load the Cortac Control telephone number as a  Favourite or Speed dial.
    Please do not talk on your phone while standing on the pavement along 4th ave in Parkhurst.
  • Regularly test your alarm and panic buttons with the Cortac Control Room, as well as upgrade and review your home security and electric fencing.
  • We have a huge amount of false alarms (On average every 5 minutes  in Parkhurst over the last few months). Every alarm alert is responded to and the time taken and resources used means they cannot effectively patrol.
  • With summer coming up, please properly trim your garden plants and tree branches that can lead to false electric fencing and beam alarms during storms.
  • We also find that in addition to parking cars that are prone to being stolen in the streets, people also leave valuable or visible items in cars parked in the streets, leading to unnecessary break-ins that could have been avoided.
  • Install a Digipad or key lock-box at home to enable Cortac to access your property in an emergency or security event (do not allow a security company to use a master key solution to gain access to your property, this can and does lead to security breaches).
  • When you are driving or walking in our suburb, please be on the lookout for  any suspicious activity that seems unusual or out of place. Always remember: If you looked twice then call it in!

Please join SafeParks!

SafeParks/ Parksec  and our service provider Cortac have rolled out a number of proactive initiatives, including undercover operations,  to combat the spike in crime we unfortunately find over the year-end.

We can only deploy more security resources with community support. If you wish to sign up, please email Lynn Rushton (lynn@safeparks.joburg). Please visit our Facebook and website pages

Facebook: Parksec / Safeparks: https://www.facebook.com/ParksecSafeParks/
Website: https://parksecsafeparks.co.za and https://www.parkhurstvillage.com/join

Cameras

Residents would have noticed new camera poles being installed throughout Parkhurst. These poles are being installed by Vumacam (a Vumatel subsidiary). SafeParks are in discussion with Vumacam and once these are finalised will update the community further on this safety initiative.

Tennis Club

There is a new tennis club at the Parkhurst Recreation Centre. The tennis club was successfully launched with 30 adults attending on 9 March. There will be a social every Saturday.

Juniors: 9:30-1030

Seniors: 14:00-1700

Visitors fee R50

Annual junior membership R1190

Annual senior membership R1690

 

Contact 082 859 8565 or info@tennisforlife.co.za for more information.

 

Verity Park

 

As always, a plea to park users: By not cleaning up after your dog, you are making the park an unpleasant place for others. Please be considerate and stay with your dog, cleaning up any deposit along the way..

If you would like to contribute to the fund that pays for the cleaning of the park, and the bags, please use the following information:

Verity Park User Group
Nedbank Greenside
Account number 1003267173
Branch code  198765

Car guard initiative

Parkhurst now has 39 car guards vetted by the SAPS, with photo IDs and Ukheshe accounts. The results thus far have been really positive, with numbers of crimes having declined significantly. Please support these registered car guards, rather than giving money to other unvetted car guards hanging around. We need some help in respect of addiction and other social problems. Are there any volunteers out there that could help? We also need help with scheduling / coordinating the car guards. Further details, including the scheme rules and application form are available here:

https://parkhurstvillage.com/projects/car-guard-initiative/. For more information, please contact Ryan Hawthorne: technical@parkhurstvillage.com.

Parkhurst Recreation Centre timetable

Parkhurst Clinic – 0117881526/7
Parkhurst Library – 0117884510
Joburg Connect – 0860562874
Verity Park Swimming Pool – 0110251992
PRABOAchair@parkhurstvillage.com

A Re Sebetseng – Bring It Back Home

Useful contacts for repairs (please sign up for Cllr Tim Truluck’s newsletter for more information):

 

  • Small Potholes & Reinstatements (where another entity has dug it up and left it) – log with hotline@jra.org.za
  • Blocked Kerb Inlet (stormwater drain) – log with hotline@jra.org.za
  • Sidewalk a mess – you can try logging it with JRA as above, but they probably won’t fix it as they have limited budget and are really focussing on roads. If you can sort out this yourself, it would be a great help. Please try and keep it walkable with tar or brick paving.
  • Weeds growing in kerbs? The city allocates very little money for what they call skoffeling – so please could you clean out the weeds yourself?
  • Missing covers – this is a continual problem as they are always being stolen by metal thieves. Log them with hotline@jra.org.za and see what happens.
  • Water leaks/leaking hydrants – log with customer@jwater.co.za
  • Sewer blockages – log with customer@jwater.co.za
  • Water meter damaged or blocked – please carefully dig around or remove earth clogging it up. If it is leaking or damaged – log with customer@jwater.co.za
  • Street sign missing? Log with hotline@jra.org.za When they have stock they should replace it.
  • Street markings faded? Log with hotline@jra.org.za. When they have stock of paint they should be able to repaint it.
  • If there is trash dumped by yourself, please pick it up and put it into your trash bin, or take it to a Pikitup Garden Site like the one at Pirates. If someone has dumped the trash – have a look through it to see who dumped it and contact them to tell them to remove it. If that doesn’t work, then call 011-375-5555 option 4, to request Pikitup to collect it.
  • Does the street tree need trimming? Are there dead branches? Log with 011-375-5555 option 0. Then send your councillor an email every 2 weeks with name. cell, address, ref #, date logged, problem – it usually takes a few months to sort out due to budget issues.
  • Has your tree got shothole borer? Look for little holes, discoloured stains, sawdust collecting on the trunk, gum coming out from the trunk and branches, dead branches, discoloured leaves. Report it to trees@jhbcityparks.com. You can try and water it and feed it fertiliser to keep it strong. But certain trees like oaks, planes, box alders, Chinese maples, liquid ambers will probably die. Follow instructions in the point above to request for dead trees to be removed.
  • Street Light out – log online with citypower.mobi. Include the exact address and pole number.
  • No street number, or the number is on the wrong street (for corner houses) – please put up a number. This is especially important for emergency vehicles and for when cut-off teams from COJ go out.

Electricity meters

Tabuka SUSA have been re-appointed to do meter reading in REGION B. They encourage customers to load their reading on their portal site: https://app.munispace.co.za/citypower/Login

Readings should be submitted between the 20th and 27th of each month. Include your contact details, name of acct, acct # & a pic of your meter showing the reading. This is only for old dial meters, not smart meters (although if you are having problems with your smart meter readings, you can contact them to see if they can help).

Tabuka SUSA

P:  +27 (0) 11-493-0293

E: quality@susafrica.co.za

Environment

 

Owl Box Initiative

After the installation of an Owl Box in 21st Street/Hamilton Park, there are 23 Owl Boxes in Parkhurst, unfortunately none of these boxes are currently occupied, however in Parktown North one of the boxes is occupied. For more information please contact EcoSolutions on 011 791 7326, alternatively please contact Lize Hough at  environment@parkhurstvillage.com.

 

21st St / Hamilton Ave Park

Thank you to everyone who joined the cleanup of 21st Street/Hamilton Park, it was a great success. The group of volunteers collected more than 30 bags of rubbish. Thank you to the sponsors who contributed to the success of the day. This is a lovely public space and should be enjoyed by everyone.

For more information on the park, send a WhatsApp message to 066 421 2406 to join our WhatsApp Broadcast, or visit our Facebook page “Hamilton Park-Johannesburg”.

Please keep an eye out for notices on the I Love Parkhurst Facebook page and please contact Lize Hough at environment@parkhurstvillage.com to get involved!

Built environment, heritage and town planning
FAQ’s

The plan review sub-committee will meet on 24 April, 10 May, 22 May, 5 June. Please submit your plans at least two days in advance of the meeting. Plans can be marked for the attention of Catherine Grainger and Gabriela Seco and delivered to: Perch, 2nd Floor, 27 bath Avenue, Rosebank.

The plans review sub-committee introduced a processing fee for building plan submissions of R1000, discounted for members but higher for business premises, effective from April 1st 2019. Submission documents must be accompanied by a printed proof of payment in order to be accepted for review by PRABOA. Please use your ERF number as the payment reference. Payments are to be made to PRABOA:

Account name: Parkhurst Residents and Business Owner’s Association

  • Bank: Standard Bank
  • Branch: Jan Smuts Avenue
  • Branch code: 004205
  • Account number: 422263346
  • Account type: Cheque

PRABOA have recently engaged Eduard van der Linde as a Town Planning advisor to the Committee to assist with town planning and zoning issues in Parkhurst. Further information regarding the PRABOA submission process can be found here:

https://parkhurstvillage.com/parkhurst/town-planning/

Catherine Grainger and Gabriela Seco head up the PRABOA Architecture portfolio. They will be handling all building plan submissions and heritage issues. They can be contacted at architecture@parkhurstvillage.com

Parkhurst Primary

PRABOA has a close working relationship with Parkhurst Primary. To get involved, please contact Kundayi Munzara (kundayi@parkhurstvillage.com).

Call for volunteers

PRABOA could use your help! Please get in touch and let us know what you are interested in. We could really use help in the town planning area. We need assistance with a car guard solution for homeless people. We could use help on our website and with communications. We can help put you in touch with Incredible Edible Parkhurst if you are interested. We could really use help with our website, communication and marketing particularly with the SafeParks/Parksec safety project. Do you want to help set up the next Village Fair? Please let us know! Please get in touch with Cheryl Labuschagne (chair@parkhurstvillage.com) to volunteer.

Internet

If you don’t manage to get sufficient support from your ISP please send an email to aerial@vumatel.co.za. You can also contact Ryan Hawthorne (technical@parkhurstvillage.com). We are currently looking for solutions for member management and community interaction for PRABOA / SafeParks / Parksec. Please get in touch with Ryan if you have any ideas on this.  

AGM 2018

You can find the YouTube video of the 2018 AGM and all of the PRABOA committee member reports here: https://parkhurstvillage.com/agm-2018

Leaving Parkhurst?

If you intend leaving Parkhurst, and want to cancel your SafeParks debit order, send an email to admin@parkhurstvillage.com with your name(s) and address and if possible, the contact details of the new owner, tenant, agent or landlord. You must cancel your home alarm contract with Cortac separately. No other email addresses for SafeParks should be used for cancellations.