Hi Colleen,
I saw your mail and appreciate your frustration. I can only give you
advice from the principles I am following. I hope they are useful.
I believe with determination and CONSISTENCY, we can solve the
problem, even if we as a community have to resort to legal means of
doing so.
*Principle one: Go after the person making the money out of your misery*
Forget about the students. Target the owner!! Go after the person who
is the ROOT cause of your misery.
The students are in a risky health and safety environment because
the landlord wants to maximise his profit.
The problem with the noise in the clubs is that, there is no
soundproofing and
*Principle Two: Find out which Council regulations are being
contravened and keep documentation, dates, times and names of all
complaints.*
In your case, there are health and safety violations. Collect
affidavits from your neighbours. Do everything in writing or by email.
Council is slippery, they will almost always blame someone else. send
the same letter to all possible departments.
Coordinate your actions with all the available civic bodies (OCA,
OBSCID) and use the OBS websites and discussion groups
*Principle Three: Go after management: they earn the higher salaries
and performance bonuses:*
Force the city council to do their work.
Do not tolerate incompetence. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE DOCUMENTATION TO
PROVE INCOMPETENCE.
There is always a superior to escalate to as most management are
concerned about their performance bonuses.
It will be a lot of work at the beginning.
*Principle Four: Work with the Police in our community and Support them:*
The police have adopted a zero tolerance policy with the support of
the community. Under the current conditions, we need to give them at
least three months to show some results. They need to understand and
PROACTIVELY USE the powers they have.
If the police do not perform, we go to their superiors and then to
their superiors and then to their superiors and so on.
*Principle Five: Use the facts!!! Don't allow any of your or the
prejudices of others to get the better of you!*
Don't let any underlying racism, sexism or agism cloud your judgement.
It can also be used as a way to dismiss your valid complaint.
Observatory is a multi cultural and multi ethnic community. we want to
keep it that way. My view is that the underlying racism in this
country has affected the management of our city and they are letting
our community decline. Maybe they don't believe that diverse
communities can live together and are subconsciously acting on this.
I am using this as a way to standardise the principles of our fight to
clean up our community.
I hope they are helpful.
Best Regards
Mervyn Maistry
On 31 March 2010 07:49, Colleen Bester (CI) <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I really appreciate all the replies thus far.However , matters in
Donne street are taking forever to be resolved.
It's been over a year that I approached authorities & people who
have been placed in positions to "help" us...to no avail.
Here is an excerpt from one of the mails that was sent in March
last year:
_As per telecon this morning:_
I need someone to urgently take action regarding the following
issues all of which are occurring in Donne street,Observatory :
There are presently about* 5* lodges in this street : 4 of which
are directly opposite my home with 4 bedrooms housing 4 people
each with only one bathroom i.e./ 16 people/students per house
with one bathroom……../
The resultant noise levels are totally inconsiderate & unacceptable :
Resident students have friends visiting at all hours , resulting
in constant traffic , doors banging & music blaring ;
Cars picking up/dropping off people at all hours playing their
music LOUD ;
Students have no concept of speaking at normal levels as
conversations are shouted from one end of the road or house to
another ;
There are parties which happen/ //throughout/ the week & go on
till the/ //next/ morning -some evn start st 1am & continue till
someone quietens them down ;
Crime has increased - due to the increased traffic one does not
know who belongs there & who is merely "casing" properties ;
Most evenings , weather permitting , students sit outside (with
chairs & tables!) & drink & play music loud while their friends
park in the road obscuring traffic & also playing loud music from
their cars ;
Soccer games in the road result in dents in cars which no-one owns
up to ;
I have called the Woodstock police , Metro Police & Law
Enforcement on numerous occasions to deal with the problem but
once they have left , the noise resumes.
The lodge owner , being the owner of Rainbow Lodge as well , Mr
Willie Crouse is uncooperative & does not like to hear complaints
& has been known to hand out ear-plugs to residents who complain
(funny under any other circumstance.
He does sometimes try to quieten the students but is not always
successful.Basically , he seems more interested in collecting his
rent than anything else.
I start work at 7am , an engineer at Telkom , currently working on
the 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament &/ //really/ need my sleep ,
as I'm sure do other residents who have been here for years.(I
have actually had to take days off from work to catch up on sleep!!)
I have tried all other avenues & spoken with other residents but
no solution is forthcoming.I really hope you can rescue all of us
out of a/ //very/ desperate situation.
These endless mails have been flitting back & forth & the only
person who has really been of any help is M.Price (a government
worker) & recently David Raphael (Vetus Schola).
A few weeks ago , one of my neighbours went outside to get the
students to quiet down & was subsequently beaten up.......I really
do not know what to do anymore!What do I do in the interim as
things have steadily got worse?
I've also considered selling up & moving but that also has it's
drawbacks as it's impossible to try to sell your house when your
road looks like a street out of Mitchells Plain with people
sitting outside on the pavements drinking & partying (even on a
Sunday!!)........
Anyhow , I'd appreciate any response & will definitely be checking
out the NAG group....
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>]
*On Behalf Of *Sascha Polkey
*Sent:* 30 March 2010 10:15 AM
*To:* James Cowley
*Cc:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>; Dr
Mervyn G Maistry; Henk Munnik; Kris Marais; Cedric Reginald
Thomas; Senior Superintendent P van der Riel; Brian Amery; Chris
Clarkson; Helen Swart; Brian Gray; Knarf Boatmaker
*Subject:* Re: [obsnw] ENOUGH NOISE!!
Dear James
I am heartened to report that I have had some wonderful contact
from the community.
I am willing to assist in taking action.
In a letter from Frank - he suggested that I mobilise some of my
neighbours - I have these people ready to go!
Henk - please let me know how I can assist NAG - I am also happy
to write letters and lobby local government.
Thanks so much for making me feel like I am more than a collection
of cross thoughts in the night!
All the best
Sascha
On 2010/03/30 01:32 AM, James Cowley wrote:
Hi Sasha
I live further off from that scene you are affected by, but I
became active, as it is just not right to see my birthplace and
other's interest nackered.
We have to do something. Possitive action from concerned people
will make the difference.
We need to set that tone.
We need to take back Obs and prepare it for the next generation.
Let's make the difference and support the inititiaves currently
at hand dealing with this scourge you so well noted and reported on.
Its all in the wolf we feed, Wolf Apathy will bring about more
mahem. Wolf Active will bear possitive fruit.
Sympathetic to your dilemma.
Kind regards
James
On Mon, Mar 29, 2010 at 8:00 PM, Frank Schuitemaker
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
/*Hi Sasha,
What you tell us still shocks me and I have been living in
Obs for close to 25 years. Then there were no bars, clubs,
drunks or many of the other problems you referred to. Its not
true that we always had them.
Its nearly a month ago when my neighbour wrote many e-mails
to head of departments demanding answers who and how liquor
licences were granted to a mainly residential area which has
no infrastructure for the cars, parking, sewage and
otherwise. This was off the Google sites and thus not public.
As result we have since seen cluster exercises on the 6th of
March and the last weekend. I went out into the streets on
the 6th from 19:00 till 05:00 the next morning and was
appalled which what confronted me. Music was unbearable
excessive loud, fights of groups of people with knives,
urinating without shame, laughing at the cops out there who
were there to uphold the law it was too much for me.
Sasha I don't really hear the music from where I stay, but I
do hear the revellers, cars, breaking bottles and find body
traps the next day. This all propelled me into action as I'm
disgusted with all this unsocial behaviour and devaluation of
property prices and I joined NAG the Noise Action Group and
other initiatives to turn the tide.
Also I started a small Google site which is not quite ready -
or approved - to be launched but it seems (like another
neighbour said) "Now is the time". Please go to Noise Action
Group - NAG
<http://groups.google.co.za/group/NoiseActionGroup> and
bookmark this site. It is not a chat site but aims to provide
the tools to make sure that the clubs, pubs and bars keep
their licences with our support or loose their licences as
simple as that.
There have been meetings in the past weeks with the SAPS
Woodstock Station Commander, DPO Officer, CPF and many other
roll players and we need to support these initiatives and
authorities. This I intend doing by keeping a register and
records and filing warning, pressing for fines and at last
resort insist on closure of these pubs, clubs or bars who
cannot or will not co-exist in what is primarily a
residential area. You will find also links with reference to
sites to help us to fight for OUR RIGHTS.
Will you help us to help yourself? And what about all the
others who have kept quiet and been outshouted by most likely
outsiders.
PLEASE JOIN THE **"NOISE ACTION GROUP"
<http://groups.google.co.za/group/NoiseActionGroup> NAG** Now
and play your part. Keep tuning in we intend showing reality
movies taken at 05:00 with warning for the faint at heart.
Kind Regards,
Frank Schuitemaker
*/
On 29 March 2010 17:32, sascha <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I am strongly considering moving on from Obs. I have
simply had enough
of the nocturnal scene - the world outside (specifically
on the Reload/
Groove Lounge etc... stretch this Friday and Saturday
night sounded
positively apocolyptic.
There was a woman screaming like a banshee in the parking
lot behind
our house (behind Trump Towers), there were people
schreeching tyres
and yelling, smashing bottles, dumping trash in noisy
metal cannisters
and revving motorbikes and car engines.A constant din of
voices,
shouting and laughing in the street carried on all night
- as it does
EVERY weekend.
The mixture of at least five different strains of music
(so loud I had
to turn up my TV to hear it properly) became even louder
as the night
wore on. Of course, around four in the morning the
shouting and
swearing and pissing and bottle throwing starts in the
road (Trill) as
people weave their drunken ways back into their cars so
as to drive at
outrageous speeds the wrong way up roads, over our pets
and out in to
the night to kill themselves and others on the their way
home.
Saturday night my husband was out and got home at about
midnight. A
man and a woman were having a physical fight in the
street outside our
house and he was physically threatened when he tried to
intervene -
luckily a Vetus Schola patroller happened around the
corner at that
moment.
Why is Cozy Bar open again? I thought they were closed
down and denied
a licence to operate further based on the previous
contraventions?
Where are the police when these drunk people fall out
onto the street
to vandalise property, disturb the peace and drive drunk.
Yes - I do
hear them sometimes - pipping their sirens and talking
over their
loudspeakers but I have given up calling them to
intervene as it has
no effect.
I thought that these bars and clubs were meant to be
silent from the
outside now : doors closed when playing loud music, bar
shut by 4am.
Good things were happening at one point - things
quietened down and it
was looking like the tide had turned. Its back to bad.
Why do we have to have drug-turf wars that result in
stabbings right
here in the midst of where we live. You might choose it
but I do not.
Would you accept this if it happened in the day?
I know that there are plenty of people who have spent
time and energy
on trying to get these bars and clubs to tow the line. I cant
understand why the few steps forward we take are always
followed by
those same steps back.
What can be done to fix this problem? How can I try and
ensure that
walking outside my front door will not result in a broken
bottle over
the head, how can I stop these places that are not
invested in the
sustainability of Obs, from robbing me of my sleep every
weekend (incl
but not as bad on Thursday and Sunday nights). If I beat
the OBSID
clean-up team onto the pavements on a Saturday morning,
how can I know
that I will not have to ask my two year old son to pick
his way
through the glass, cigarette butts and litter as we walk
towards a
place where I can get a much-needed strong coffee. Do
they people who
left this mess behind even live here? Why do we have to
drive through
a seedy alleyway of dark,dingy clubs filled with drinkers
at 2pm on a
Sunday afternoon?
These are the thoughts that I lie awake with on weekend
nights as I
contemplate where I can move to and how soon.
We are doing much to clean up Obs by day. I am seeing the
improvements
and I am believing in the results. I dont even know if
OBSID has the
financial resources or the power to sort out our
night-time hell. What
can be done? A study of how SeaPoint and town got rid of
their drug
and alcohol offenders? A task team? Partnership between
business,
police and OBSID?
Or do I just have to move? I have lain awake at night
asking these
questions for too long.Maybe I am just too tired to see
this thing
from any other perspective right now?
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to
the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch"
group.
To post to this group, send email to
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
obsnw+unsubscribegooglegroups.com
<http://unsubscribegooglegroups.com/> or reply to this
email with the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
--
*Sascha Polkey
Director
Rabbit in a Hat Communications *
logo
*021 447 3197 or 8
083 414 0552 *
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
obsnw+unsubscribegooglegroups.com
<http://unsubscribegooglegroups.com> or reply to this email with
the words "REMOVE ME" as the subject.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This e-mail is subject to the Telkom SA electronic communication
legal notice, available at :
http://www.telkom.co.za/TelkomEMailLegalNotice.PDF
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
