Greetings to everyone and best wishes for 2012. This year promises to be an exciting one not only for our precinct but for the entire country as a whole. I am looking forward to seeing our CPF go from strength to strength. Already we have seen a lot of movement at Station level to activate support at street level. As such we as the CPF must assist to create structures that will allow these forums to fulfil their mandates and forge a society that we can all be proud of.

In this letter I have highlighted some issues to be aware of with regards criminal intent. I have also included some topics that we should all actively shout about and fight against otherwise we will just see our area degrade further.

Louis Botha and Grant Avenue

Grant Avenue (Norwood) Louis Botha – Corner 2^nd Ave (O.G.)

Above are two properties that are owned by someone (be it Natural persons or companies) who are clearly not interested in the general aesthetics of our area. My main concern is the scrap dealer that has started operating in Orange Grove. Clearly this landlord is intent on making money at our, the residents, expense. This “store” is merely a room that is operating as a dealer. It is dirty and without any legitimate business purpose. Whoever owns this building is letting this happen! It is a complete disgrace and we as residents should complain and not let the owners get away with it.

As an aside, there is a dog parlour operating near this spot. If I had a pet that I loved I would ask the right questions and do some on-site inspections before I let it anywhere near this business. Today on our walkabout a dog, when being offloaded from their vans, got out and ran down Louis Botha. It was only a miracle that it was not run over. Their operations appear unsafe and from what I could see their staff is clearly not trained in how to deal with animals.

Crime Update & lookouts for January

Criminal activity over December was muted. However some instances were recorded and the SAPS appear to have been able to deal with most of these. I have received some correspondence regarding vagrants and abandoned properties. We are looking to deal with these effectively this year. So if you do have any of these that you would like to bring to our attention, please send this information to us.

Meter readers:

There is apparently some industrial action that is affecting African Meter Readers – the company that is tasked with reading our electricity and water meters. There is some confusion around this whole story and I am advising all members within our community to not let anyone on their properties until we can sort this out. We have had instances where people have been robbed by imposters posing as meter readers. So please be aware and pass this information on.

Next CPF Meeting: 25 January 2012 at 18:00 – Norwood SAPS Barracks Boardroom

Yours,

Duncan Barker
Norwood CPF
078 014 2387
Twitter – @NorwoodCPF
Fax – 086 638 4230
www.ncpf.co.za