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NewslettersNovember 2003 Newsletter / Nuusbrief April 2003 Newsletter / Nuusbrief May 2002 Newsletter / Nuusbrief January 2002 Newsletter / Nuusbrief ELDOSEC
SECURITY VILLAGE MAY
2004 A new board of directors was elected for the 2004/2005 term. Click here to view the list. NOVEMBER 2003 NEWSLETTER / NUUSBRIEF ELDOSEC
SECURITY VILLAGE NOVEMBER
2003 Dear
Eldosec resident, Before
we give you a news update, it is good to be able to inform you that the guard
system that we have in place is still yielding good results, and that crime
continues to be well under control in the Eldosec area. Regrettably,
our Chairman, Wim Prinsloo, has resigned, as his family have relocated.
Leon Pieterse has also resigned due to pressures of work.
We owe a great debt of gratitude to both of these gentleman.
Wim was the initiator of Eldosec, handled committee affairs for nearly
three years, and built the wall that resolved so many of our problems at a cost
some R12 000 better than any of the other quotes we received.
Leon was very instrumental in the drive to gain members. We wish both of them much success in the future, and thank
them most sincerely for the many hours of meetings, planning and solid hard work
they did for the benefit of the community.
They will both be missed. The
committee appointed me as their Chairman with immediate effect.
My contact details are Geoff Ackermann, 335 Melchome Street, telephone
012 426 6010 (w), geoff@nra.co.za. It
is a pleasure for me to welcome new volunteers, Ettienne Naude and new resident
Francois Louw onto the Board. Thank
you both for being willing to join us. The
Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality has recently, and finally adopted a policy in
respect of gated areas. This is
very encouraging, although they have prescribed some very onerous conditions,
which will be further dealt with below. Streetsafe
have now been formally contracted to provide us with various services.
Their first task is to complete our application to Tshwane, and submit it
before the end of November. This is
the crucial step forward that we have waited for, for nearly three years while
Tshwane debated their policy. Streetsafe will, on our behalf, hire and manage
guards, procure tenders for infrastructure, do incident analyses and contract
with Wierda Property Services to collect our contributions and ensure that our
books are kept in accordance with the laws governing us.
The Board meets at least every month.
At these meetings we review our finances, discuss membership and future
plans and review incident reports. We
have been provided with an updated budget for the infrastructure and operating
costs, mainly to take into account the requirements of Tshwane, and also to
inform ourselves of our ability to undertake future projects. The worst surprise
is that the application fee has risen to R37 000 – up from R5 750!
This amount will, furthermore, be payable every two years.
At the same time, we have to deposit 20% of the infrastructure costs with
Tshwane – a figure which may, or may not be substantial depending on the
option for entrance control that we finally select.
The consultants are preparing our application, which involves matters
such as Deeds Office work, Town Planning, our legal work, Traffic Studies,
financial planning, crime surveys and consultations with the Metro.
Thus far, all of this has been paid from the R424 deposits you have paid.
As of now, commissions will also be payable on operating and capital
expenditure, as an additional cost. All
of this may seem daunting, but we believe that we will be able to accommodate
this within the budget, which will be provided to you in detail at a meeting we
plan to hold early next year. The
most concerning matter at the moment, however, is our operating costs. Last
month, despite having had 118 contributors, only 100 payments were received.
It appears that several people have moved out of the area and have
neither informed us, nor have they encouraged
the new home owners to join us. A
few others have omitted to process their internet payments, or to pay Wierda
Property Services at their counter. Now being a Section 21 Company, we have to
pay for the maintenance of proper books, purchase insurance, and pay our
consultants, who until now have done much of our work on risk.
The sudden decrease in income wiped out our small surplus, and we had to
take action. We
dropped off letters to the 54 people whom we thought might still be willing to
join us. Of these, 8 have joined,
– a disappointing response, but we both thank and welcome the new members. The
situation is as follows; In
order to keep 1 guard during the day and two at night, and to cover
administrative costs, we need a monthly income of
R22 500. At the current
contribution of R140, it means that we need 161 contributing members. We are therefore short of 35 members in order to maintain
this level of security assuming, also, that all 118 existing and 8 new members
contribute. As a result of the
current monthly deficit, the Board has had no option but to act immediately to
protect the interest of all members, and to cut the presence of the 2nd
night guard to two nights per week. We
apologise that this had to be done without prior notice to you, but trust that
you will appreciate that the Board has a duty to protect your financial
interests, and that we have had no choice in the matter.
If we get another 35 members, we will be able to maintain two guards at
night without increases. If we do
not get any further members, but wish to keep 2 guards at night, we will have to
raise the fees to R170. This we
would rather not do at this time, without your concurrence.
If some members skip a month again, we will need to cut the second night
guard out completely. We
hope that you have a better understanding of the situation, but if you have any
further questions, please e-mail them to me, or, if you do not have e-mail, you
may phone me. In
my opinion, the Municipality has failed their citizens by having taken so long
to adopt their policy. It is
onerous to be charged so much for applications, and displeasing to have to pay
such a large deposit. However,
these are the realities that we have to deal with, and we have to plan around
them. Please, be sure to keep
saving for the 2nd deposit – the funds required to implement gate
control and to finally ensure our security, improve our property values
dramatically, and start saving on insurance costs.
Streetsafe
has developed into an innovative force in the security industry with the aim of
serving security villages, such as our own. They have established a control
centre, and now provide an armed response service in addition to their
consulting services. Their rates
are highly competitive at R160 inclusive, with a free radio on a 2 year
contract, free alarm inspection and the issuance of a Compliance Certificate.
This special price is for members ONLY. Contact them at 012 348
2607. They also market household
insurance at lower rates based on your membership of the security village.
Do yourself a favour and contact them at 012 998 8295. Thank
you to all our community minded members for your valued support. Standing
together has dropped crime to less than 2,2 % of what we experienced before, and
there can be no doubt that we are WINNING. We all stand to gain far more into the future, as our
investments in our homes appreciate, and we sleep more easily, knowing that our
guards are looking after us. Please,
if you are not a member, consider joining up without delay. The more members we have, the more affordable the scheme
becomes. We
would like to renew the system of street representatives and appeal to all to
please offer us your services. You
won’t have that much to do, and it will help us greatly if you would be
prepared to do some of our legwork, when we need it.
Kindly phone Ettienne Naude, at 082 553 0542, or better still, e-mail him
at naudee@aforbes.co.za and give him
your contact details. The
Eldosec Board wishes you a contented and restful festive season.
We hope that next year will bring you prosperity, peace and success.
Above all other plans you may have, take time out from your busy life and
renew friendships and relationships with family.
With
our kindest regards Geoff
Ackermann CHAIRMAN
OF THE BOARD: ELDOSEC APRIL 2003 NEWSLETTER / APRIL 2003 NUUSBRIEF ELDOSEC
SECURITY VILLAGE APRIL
2003 Dear
Eldosec Resident, We
have been rather slack in informing you of what has been going on in our area,
this is true, but at the same time we have been in the doldrums waiting for the
Tshwane Council to reach a conclusion in its policy development process with
regards to gated communities. Everything
costs money, and for an extended period, we purposely did not finalise our
application to the Council, as there has been a moratorium placed on
applications while they have been deciding whether or not they would accept
further applications. There was no
point spending your money on our application, if the Council was simply going to
reject it. As it costs money to
print newsletters, and there was little to report on, we have not produced
newsletters for a while. An
e-mail recently went out complaining about the lack of progress and news.
Several respondents came out in support of it, while others felt
differently. Fair enough, the complaint about a lack of news is well founded.
We believe that we have answered to the accusation well enough above, but
if anyone feels the need to complain or to make any suggestion, please feel free
to e-mail geoff@nra.co.za, or to call Geoff
at 012 653 8023. We’ll do our
best to help. Benti will keep the
e-mail list up to date for us, and will also publish news on the website, and
distribute e-mails for us. Make
sure he has your e-mail address – he is at czanik@telkomsa.net.
He has undertaken to keep your e-mail confidential, and giving it to him
will not result in your receiving any unsolicited junk mail. A
committee of several residential area applicants was established a few months
back to make a group input into the Tshwane policy process.
Jan Malan, who heads up Streetsafe (our project managers), was elected to
make the group input, and several very fruitful meetings have been held.
Jan has made sound proposals, which, if the Council accepts them, will
lead to applications again being considered.
Our area meets ALL requirements and conditions, so we are still confident
that our application will succeed. Kindly
note that the Johannesburg process has nothing at all to do with us.
We hope that Tshwane will soon release its new policy. In
the interim, the Section 21 Company has been established, with the current
committee being the directors. A
fortnight ago we had a street-meeting with the residents at the western end of
Brink Street, to finalise the position of the gates and booms.
The meeting went off very well, thanks to the community spirit of the
home-owners concerned, and the draftsmen are busy finalising the drawings for
us. As soon as the residents have had a last look at them, our
application will be able to be submitted, provided that Tshwane’s policy is
complete, and then we must all hope for the best. Our sincere thanks to the West Brink street residents for
their cooperative approach. Security
in our area has been exceptionally good, compared to a year and a half ago.
Whereas we had been having around 10 incidents of robbery and theft
per month on average before we employed Bambinani to look after us and we
built the wall, we have had very few incidents since then. Recently, however,
there have been two vehicle thefts, one in Melchome Street and the other from
the corner of Grant and Jacob (both this year).
In both cases, the vehicles belonged to visitors and had been parked on
the pavement in broad daylight. In
the latest cases, the modus operandi seems to have been the offloading of people
in the area to attract the attention of the guard, while the miscreants have
gone about their work, knowing the guard was busy elsewhere.
Had the gates been up, we are sure the vehicles would not have been
stolen. The guards provide a very
valuable service, but please note that vehicle theft seems to be taking place in
daylight, so don’t park on the pavement – get your vehicle and those of your
visitors behind your gates at all times, and remain vigilant. There
is an upswing of people walking around our area at night, who slip in while the
guard is riding around the area. As
they do so in the small hours of the morning, we feel that they are up to
no-good, and we strongly believe that we need two guards at night.
This will cost us an additional R4000 per month, and is what we intend to
do when the gates are up, anyway. If
there are any objections to us raising your monthly fees to R140 to do this
right away, please contact Geoff Ackermann 653 8023 and leave a message, or
phone Wim Prinsloo in the evenings at 653 2361, or better still, e-mail geoff@nra.co.za.
We need your opinions, both positive and negative, please, to help us
arrive at a decision. An
appeal to the several rather fast drivers out there.
Please keep to the speed limit, and preferably even slower.
Our kids play and ride their bikes in the streets, and they are very
vulnerable to your bad driving when doing so.
Bad roads for speeding are de Beer and Brink Streets. If
you have dogs that incessantly howl or bark, please keep them inside at night.
We have had complaints from people who have elderly sick people living
with them. A
WORD OF ADVICE TO ALL, PLEASE. If our application is approved, we will need to enter phase
II, namely the building of the infrastructure.
If you remember correctly, the amount involved was about R1800, although
we may need a hundred or two more if some residents do not pay.
Please start saving now, so that you are able to pay this amount
over to Eldosec in about 3 to 4 month’s time.
The erection of the gates will raise your property values by an average
of 30%, and maybe higher, as has been the case in Eldoraigne III, so this will
be the best investment of your life. Please
make sure that you display the yellow Eldosec board if you are a member. Indien
ons Afrikaanse inwoners iets in hierdie nuusbrief met ons wil bespreek, bel
gerus vir ons. Die nuusbriefskrywer is Engelssprekend, - verskoon asseblief
dat sy nuusbriewe altyd in Engels is. To
join, please call one of the following;
With
our kind regards, Wim
Prinsloo Chairman
Eldosec MAY 2002 NEWSLETTER / MEI 2002 NUUSBRIEF Dear Resident, It has been some time since you have received a newsletter from the Committee. No news, as always, is good news! However, you will pleased to hear that the Committee has received no reports of any successfully carried out crime in our area since the guards came on duty on 6 December 2001. That is nearly 6 months without a problem! All of us are feeling far more relaxed, and Grant, Jacob and Milner Streets, which had been the hardest hit in the past, along with the rest of us, have reported no incidents at all. Remember, anything that you report, will help us to make plans to avoid a recurrence. Whilst looking after us, the guards have nabbed a person carrying instruments for breaking in, a video machine has been recovered, and a bag full of CD’s and games was recovered from a person who had broken-in in another area and was trying his luck in our area. The guards do not hesitate to take on more than one opponent at a time, and although one or two criminals looking for opportunities have escaped, others were arrested and are behind bars, where they belong. Other than that – a clean record! Compared with the year 2000, for which we have records showing that there were more than 10 incidences of crime in our area per month, we are doing extremely well, and hope that it remains this way. Incidentally, Eldoraigne 3 has not had a single problem for some 16 months, now. And some people insist that guards don’t help…….. All residents who are paying for the guards have been given little yellow “Eldosec” boards, but there are a few of these, unfortunately, who promised to make internet payments, and not many of them have done so. Please, if you have committed to helping pay for the guards, kindly make your payments. There are also people who adopted a “wait and see” approach to paying for the guards. In view of the success of the guards, we hope that you will now join the rest of us. Other news is that a traffic study has revealed that there will be no problem with erecting automatic gates. Other work in preparation of our application to the Municipality is proceeding well. Everything is ready for the registration of the Section 21 Co and we hope to have a positive answer soon. We note that at least one family is selling their home, advertising it to be in a security area. I am sure that they will get a better price for it because it is in a secured area. We have been informed by our Administrators, Wierda Eiendomme, that property prices improve by 30% if an area is closed. Eldosec is therefore the best investment we can make. I hope that everyone has posted the cell phone number of the guards on the wall close to your phone. If you haven’t, and you are a member of Eldosec, please call us for the number if you no longer have it. We will not be giving the number to non-members. Remember too, that if you come home and want the guard to check out your residence before you enter, you can also phone him from your car to do this for you. This service of course, is only available to those displaying the “Eldosec” board. Our guards are probably the best in Pretoria; their record shows it. They are committed to our safety and we have had very few issues to resolve with them. They are always friendly and willing to look after us. Give them a wave as you go by, and don’t be shy to offer the odd cup of tea or coffee to them – Winter is on its way. A broker attached to Streetsafe, who are assisting us with establishing Eldosec, invites you to give them a call to give you a no-obligation quote based on the fact that our area now experiences a dramatic drop in crime and is looked after by guards. We are confident that the R100 per month that you spend on the guards will be recovered, at least, by a better premium. That’s what I call putting your money where your mouth is. Please call Gillian Lombard at Streetsure and tell her that you are part of Eldosec - phone 012 998 8295 Should you wish to contact us, please e-mail Geoff Ackermann, or call him at work at 426 6010. Your Eldosec Committee JANUARY 2002 NEWSLETTER / JANUARIE 2002 NUUSBRIEF
We receive written reports from Bambinani on a frequent basis.
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Copyright © 2001-2003 BT Czanik, unless where otherwise stated, or unless where otherwise accorded by law. |