November Newsletter: Cape St Francis Civics / Ratepayers Association
Good day members
It has been a busy few months, and the Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association has been hard at work with a number of endeavours. Apologies for the newsletter that is a little longer than usual, there is so much to tell!
Firstly, thank you for all the subscriptions, membership renewals, and all the fees that have been paid. The proposed R350 total has been widely accepted, with many members donating more than that, which is greatly appreciated. Membership numbers and finances will be totaled for the next communication. If you know of anyone who might not have paid up or joined, please forward this email to them. The subs link here – http://www.capestfranciscivicassociation.org.za/membership–lidmaatskap.html
After much hard work and relentless investigation and enquiries, we finally made some progress with the clearing of the R330. The danger to runners and cyclists was becoming quite alarming, and eventually Randall Moore; the district roads engineer for the Sarah Baartman Region organized Tzitzikamma Fencing to do the clear up job. Big thanks to both, the road is looking great and runners and cyclists can continue with their pursuits without danger.
The Kouga Municipality sent out traffic officials to assess our request for traffic calming (speed bumps) at the two hotspots – our village center alongside the retail outlets, as well as alongside the Cape St Francis Resort and Rock Lily stretch. Assessment details to follow.
The CCTV Camera Installation request went through the first round in the standing committee, and all being well should be approved at the next council meeting on 15 Dec 2017. It seems everyone is keen. We are setting up a trust fund for the cameras for donations for this project. At this stage phases 1 and 2 are funded, thank you to all who pledged, and we are currently looking for funds for phase 3.
We would like to welcome the Woodridge Surf Life Saving Club, who is covering our beaches every Sunday out of season during the summer months, from November to April. Great to have you guys around.
Civics will also be employing four additional lifeguards who will be on duty for the busiest times of our season – 24 December to 2 January. Lifeguards from anywhere around the country who are interested in working here in December can contact Civics onCSFCivic@gmail.com
Civics has also employed Beauty to maintain our beaches and ablutions. Her duties include the cleaning of the bottom and top ablutions, and the cleaning and maintenance of the beach from Lookout to Corner, as well as the path and verge from the lower car park up to the Lighthouse. She will be employed for three days a week for the months of December to January. Beauty will be recognizable and hard at work, so please feel free to say hello when you see her.
Big thanks to Alex Odendaal from Allens Woodworks for the donation of wood, and to Stuart Minehan for his time and expertise in the deck build at the lower car park showers. Much appreciated guys!
A recent dead giant fur seal washed up on the beaches estimated at about 300kgs and in a state of decomposition. Thanks to Kouga Municipality and Councilor Williams who dealt with the removal of the animal within an hour of the phone call.
Kouga Municipality has a new call center and app to improve service delivery at Kouga, thus making it easier for residents to report and track service delivery problems in their wards, and it’s working great.
The free LINK app is available for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded at download.linkapp.co.za/#dl, from the Google Play or App Store.
Upon registration the app will request permission to access your location – this is important, be sure to accept.
To Link to your Ward, (Ward 12) click on “+ and Add Channels”. Select the blue Municipal Ward icon, allow the app to geo-locate you and Link to your Ward as displayed. It’s totally intuitive and many people are utilizing it to great affect.
Further information about Link is available at www.linkapp.co.za and Kouga’s new call center can be contacted on 042 200 2200
Nick Schoeman from the Cape St Francis Police Forum has suggested whatsapp micro-groups in a bid to combat crime in your immediate area. Instead of only belonging to bigger safety groups, he advised to set up street safety groups of between 5 to 8 families/homeowners who watch each other’s back a bit closer than the bigger groups. A few streets have already initiated this to good effect, with members now alert to their neighbour’s alarms being triggered and other suspicious behaviour.
Another thank you to Kouga Municipality who responded after hours to a burst water pipe and their prompt water leakage solution at corner of Waratah and Diaz. Thanks guys.
Please remember that we still need to urgently save water, and need visitors to our beautiful village this holiday to be mindful of the water scarcity. If water wastage is spotted, there is nothing wrong with a friendly word with the visitor, to remind them that we too are in a water crisis and we all need to save water.
Kind regards.
Dane Shaw
Chairperson, Cape St Francis Civics/Ratepayers Association
Please lets not forget the bigger CSF. I was not aware of the planning of traffic calming measures etc. Shearwater Dr can also do with at least one speed bump. During rainy patches water accumulates in the street which then becomes the playground of 4 X 4 drivers. This is aggravated by the deteriorating road surface. Further the ablution facility at the beach crossing in the same street seems to be left out of the cleaning program while its toilet water cistern also requires maintenance.
The section of St Francis Drive between the Village and Sea Glades could also do with some form of traffic calming. The prdestrian traffic is considerable with folk moving between the village and canals area during the day. There has already been one fatal accident on this section of road this year. If the necessary warrants are applied the results will show that traffic calming is required to improve safety for both motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and golfers crossing the road.
Thanks Civics for the hard work you are doing. It really is appreciated. The clearing of the R330 was well overdue and now the cyclists and joggers can use the road with a little more confidence. Keep up the good work.