Parkhurst Village Fair

It was over 10 years ago when Parkhurst last had an annual fair. Well this year the fair was revived and it was a fun day. Lead by Parkhurst Village Residents Association (PVRA) chair, Greg Margolis, a team of hard working Parkhurst volunteers did a great job of organising the events of the day.

It started at 7.30am with short hot air balloon rides. Unfortunately the wind started early and it only made 5 trips. But it was an exciting spectacle seeing a huge hot air balloon being inflated on the field.

With the 40 stands arranged around the edge of the field, the middle seemed empty after the balloon was packed away. But soon the Fire Brigade arrived with a fire engine and filled the empty space. They soon had a small crowd gathered around them as the firemen demonstrated how the engine worked and went through their paces with their equipment. From then on there was a steady stream of entertainers from the Soweto African Youth Choir to Tai Chi demonstrations.

Meanwhile, after an initial quiet start, the residents from Parkhurst and surrounding suburbs started streaming in. It was all going very well until around 1 pm when the threatening rain suddenly broke. Although it only lasted a few minutes it was enough to chase many residents home and the stand holders running for cover. The fair was effectively over 3 hours early.

But, for those few hours of good weather, the response of the residents and the stand holders showed that it had been a good idea. Lessons have been learnt, contacts have been made and next year the fair will be back a little earlier in the year. It was a good start and the organising team, the volunteers and the sponsors should be congratulated.

The PVRA would like to thank the following sponsors:
Sappi & Papercor, Sothebys-Lou Geffin, Hot Air Ballooning SA, CPS on the Beat, Nan Roberts Estates, Janks Property Group, City Power, Johannesburg Fire Dept, Spanish Dancing School, School of Tae Chi run by Leo Ming, Parklands Pharmacy, Parkhurst Paint & Hardware, Café Espresso, Cilantro, Clr. Kim Lugli, Cheese Gourmet in Linden, Impala Fruit & Flowers in Craighall Park and Dogwalk Publications.

New Secretary

Unfortunately our first part-time secretary had to leave for KZN 3 weeks into her 1st month. Luckily we have an able replacement in Ros Usdin. She spends 3 half days a week on various admin duties and membership.
Give her a call on 880-1307.

4th Ave Xmas Shopping

Christmas is coming and it is time to start looking for presents. Instead of schlepping around a mall, what about having a look at the shops in Parkhurst. We have a good selection of shops selling cards, books, wine, meat, health products as well as many of the gift and décor shops. My wife and I had an interesting wander down 4th Avenue and picked up quite a few gifts.

Resident's Guide to Parkhurst

Back in April 05 I produced a Resident's Guide to Parkhurst which is basically a users manual for the suburb. There is info on useful shops, churches, schools, dog walks, taxis, restaurants, etc. I have a few copies left and if you want one, then send me an e-mail on info@parkhurst.org.za.

Talking Trash (see also the Pikitup Brochure)

Pikitup are more than just the City waste collectors. They have loads of different services and new schemes. One is that they will starting a special service to collect rubble from the streets. A truck has been put aside and they will be using convict labour or hiring some of the men on the side of the road. More details on this service in the next newsletter. For more info on Pikitup, continue reading…

Trash Collection

For those who don't know, Pikitup will only collect rubbish that is in one of the large plastic wheely bins. If you dump your extra trash next to the bin or on your sidewalk, then it won't be taken during the weekly Tuesday collection. Leaving trash on your sidewalk may result in a R500 fine. If you have extra rubbish, there are 3 ways to get rid of it.
1) Place the extra bags in your neighbour’s bins that have some room in them. We do this in our street and it works very well as long as Pikitup are not on strike or don't come that week.
2) You can drop it of to the Pikitup dump site in Victory Park Rd (next to Pirates Sports Club). It is a free service to residents of Joburg.
3) If you regularly have extra trash, then you can order a 2nd bin (or you haven’t got your first one yet). Call 375-5555 and select option 4 for Pikitup, have your rates bill handy so you can supply any account info they need. It costs around R40/month for the extra bin.

Building Rubble

You know what it is like - you do a little work in the garden and you have a small amount of old stone, bricks, tiles, etc left over. You can't put it in the trash bin because it messes up the garbage truck crusher. You can't just dump it on the street. And it is too much to slyly slip into the neighbour's skip. Well now you can take it to the Pikitup dump site in Victory Park Rd (next to Pirates Sports Club). They will accept a wheelbarrow sized amount of builders rubble.

Need a Skip

OK, you have too much garden refuse, or your builder has run away with all your money leaving a pile of rubble, or you need to cart away the remains on the lodger's manky belongings when she did a moonlight bunk without paying you. Call 375-5555 and press 4 and Pikitup will be able to supply you with a skip for R697.

Compost

Pikitup are expanding their waste collection service to now supplying compost at R10/bag from their local dumpsites. Ours is in Victory park Rd (next to Pirates Sports Club).

Municipal Services Update

Clr. Kim Lugli reported the following info:

City Parks: The bundling of the overhead electricity wires to save butchering the street trees will start soon in dense suburbs like Parkhurst, Melville, etc.

City Power 1: They are spending R38 million in refurbishing the power station and other electricity infrastructure in Parkhurst. They have asked for residents to bear with them as there may be occasional electricity cuts.

City Power 2: They have guaranteed to fix power outages in under 48 hours and have allocated a technician for each suburb. That doesn't sound too speedy to me - maybe Santa had better bring me a generator for Xmas.

Bylaw Infringements: 10 more Metro Police have been hired to carry out investigations into Bylaw infringements. There is also a new Careline for Bylaw infringements: 375-5918.

Joburg Water 1: There was a serious sewerage leak in 5th St in Parkhurst. It is being attended to, but for future reference, you cal call Andries Wouter at the Langlaagte depot to report any problems with raw sewerage. Tel: 747-6863.

Joburg Water 2: They are currently spending R1.75 million on upgrading the sewerage system in Region 4 (that's us folks).

Letter Boxes

Anybody doing a knock and drop in the suburb knows that about 20% of the houses don't have letter boxes. Most of these are the newly refurbished houses and I suppose most people don't have their mail delivered to their homes. However, some post still makes it way to your residential address - mail from the previous owners, the rates bill, and of course, junk mail. So what happens is that the mail, flyers, Rosebank Killarney Gazette get shoved under doors, thrown over the wall or left cluttering up the entrance gate.

What I did (for I too have a PO Box) is buy a cheap post box from Parkhurst Hardware. Into this goes all the wanted and unwanted items and I clear it every few days. Most of it goes into my paper recycle bag and some I read. Simple and it makes my life easier as I don't have to clean up my verge so often.

For the record, there is no requirement to have a letterbox, but an SA Post Office spokesperson wrote the following:
“There isn't any legal requirement for home owners to erect letter boxes. The Post Office however encourages people to erect them at convenient places preferably the front gate of their property to ensure the safety of mail.”

12th Street Foot Bridge

Tentative plans for the footbridge at the bottom of 12th St have been drawn up. Because of the width of the river at this point, the bridge has to be quite substantial and it is estimated that it will cost R1.2 million. Local sponsors are being approached to cover this amount.

More Parkhurst Bridges

There are several bridges that provide access over the Braamfontein Spruit in Parkhurst: 3 road bridges, 1 pedestrian bridge, 1 Telkom utility bridge, 1 small concrete footbridge and a private bridge.

Braeside Bridge (Braeside Rd). The present bridge was built in 1934 to link Parkhurst with Greenside. It had to be widened 4 years later.

Parkhurst Bridge (6th St). A bridge was first built here in 1929. But it was too small and had to be rebuilt in 1935. Along with the Braeside bridge, they are dressed with beautiful granite stones - it is a pity that you can't really get down to river to admire how pretty they are.

2nd Street Light Motor Vehicle Bridge. First built in 1940 to replace a rickety foot bridge that was used by pedestrians to get to Greenside. The bridge was also constructed to provide access to the stands on the other side of the Spruit. But it was washed away by floods every 20 or so years. The last time it was rebuilt was in 1980 and it is due to be washed away any time now.

Bridge House B&B Bridge. Parkhurst's only B&B is located down in the area called Secret Parkhurst - access is via Greenside. The house is located on the southern side of the Spruit and a bridge has been built to give access to their garden and self-catering cottages on the other side. Info & bookings: 880-1111.

10th St Footbridge. This footbridge links 10th St to Holt St and was constructed in 1958.

Telkom Bridge (bottom of 12th St easiest access is via the west bank of the Braamfontein Spruit in Victory Park). About 4 years ago, the sidewalk in 17th St was dug up by Telkom to carry data lines from the Northcliff area to the underutilised Rosebank exchange. Where these lines cross the Braamfontein Spruit a small bridge was built.

The bridge had a large security fence to stop unauthorised access across it. During the rains last summer, the fence was smashed down by the log in the picture AND the eastern end of the bridge was partly eroded. I expect the bridge will take further damage during this rainy season.

Telkom were contacted by the PVRA and the site was inspected by one of their technicians. However it looks as though nothing will be done to either repair the security fence or the bridge's foundations until it gets washed away. Or I suppose until a resident is attacked or robbed by somebody who uses the bridge as an access or escape route.

If anybody knows somebody in Telkom who has the clout to get this problem sorted, please let us know 880-1307 or info@parkhurst.org.za

Small Footbridge (found at the north end of 5th Ave). This is little more than a concrete lintel placed across the river to give access to Delta Park and greenbelt along the river. It washes away every now and again and a considerate resident seems to replace it.

Up The Pole - Ivy Pests

I have noticed that many of the sidewalks have beds of ivy growing on them. Apart from the fact that they hide rubbish and make a great place for rats to live, they are low maintenance and look quite nice. Unfortunately ivy is a creeper that loves light and it often spreads onto the street trees and poles.

It may look nice to have ivy climbing up a tree or a pole, but the general consensus is that it is bad for trees and should certainly be removed from street poles carrying electricity or telephone wires.

Ivy doesn't actually harm the tree - they can grow symbiotically together. Ivy does, however, hide any disease that may infect the tree. If you catch the disease early enough you can treat the tree and prolong its life. If the tree starts to die, it will rot, become weak and may come crashing down on your car or property.

The other main problem with ivy is that it increases the weight and bulk of the tree. When the wind blows, the extra weight and bulk increase the wind sheer factor and the tree stands a better chance of being blown over or having tree limbs blown down.

What you can do? While City Parks should be removing ivy from the trees, they have enough on their plate. The best way to remove ivy from the top of a tree or pole is to cut around the trunk or pole at about shoulder height. The ivy above will then turn brown and be easy to pull down.

For more info contact Tim Truluck, Chair of the Environment Sub-Committee of the PVRA: 442-5201 or info@parkhurst.org.za

Street Monitors

There used to be a network of street monitors in Parkhurst. They would keep an eye out for problems like illegal dumping, illegal signs on poles and trees, building sites that were getting out of hand and all the other things that break, fall down or happen in our streets.

For various reasons, most notably that many of them have moved out of the suburb, the street committee list has been decimated. What is needed is a resident who will take on two streets - typically their own and an adjacent street. They then keep an eye out for any problems.

For some problems like leaving rubbish on the sidewalk, they will drop off a pre-printed letter and for others they will contact the relevant person on the PVRA or make a phone call to the relevant authority to come and sort it out.

If you are interested, contact Tim on 442-5201 or info@parkhurst.org.za

Membership Drive

The numbers of members are steadily rising, but we still need the support of more residents. On the back page of this edition is a membership/renewal form. Please fill it out and join up.
The PVRA is the link between the residents and the authorities who are involved in running Johannesburg. Basically the PVRA is the organisation which keeps Parkhurst a nice place to live and ensures that your property value doesn’t decrease.
Membership forms and more info on the PVRA is on the www.parkhurst.org.za website.

I Love Parkhurst T-Shirts

We have printed some I Love Parkhurst T-shirts that are on sale at R80 each. They come in all sizes from small to XXXL. Contact the Secretary Ros on 880-1307 or info@parkhurst.org.za if you want one.