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Garsfontein Proper Residents Association	GPRA Bulletin Board

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2006-12-13
Dear All

A huge thanks to all of you who have joined the street patrols and paid!
There are a few of you still outstanding. Could we have your money ASAP as we have to pay ASS on Friday!
By now you should have noticed the guard on his quad roaming the streets, he passes my house every 20mins to once an hour. As yet we have had no reported incidents apart from a few drunks in the park and these were quickly chased off so hopefully the visible policing is already paying off.
We are erecting a wendy house for the guards shortly, this will be on the corner of Wena and Levinia Sts. We thank the Raubenheimers for allowing this; they will also provide power to the wendy house.

Feedback and Social News:
The parrot was found and the rightful owner contacted, who was thrilled.
I believe the monkey was also found - the power of the sms system.
We also have two bachelors in the neighbourhood getting married this weekend: Rudi of Levinia St. and Clint of Sher St. Good luck and we welcome your wives into the neighbourhood.

The rest of the signs have arrived. Nikki, Martie and I have already been around the neighbourhood once, so if you did not receive your sign, you were not at home. Please fetch your sign from 641 Levinia St. If you would like a second sign, or if you lose or break your sign, this will cost you R20.

The bad news is that it seems likely that the banking might not be in place before shut down, so please be prepared to pay cash again for January or, if you will be away over the new year period, please could you pay for January before you go.

Once again a huge Thank You to the 85 households that have made this enterprise, to make our neighbourhood a safer place, possible. We have an area of approximately 320 homes and apparently 60% should be our target so we still have a way to go. Please keep talking to your neighbours who have not joined, as every extra household that joins will give us the ability to upgrade and increase services.

Have a wonderful and safe Festive Season

Dicky

2006-11-28
Hello GPRA members,

At the meeting held on 27th November, 2006, with Leon Ludick, Director of Africa Security Solutions (A.S.S.) it was established that there is sufficient funds to obtain 1 x quad bike, 24 hours a day, pending further funds, additional foot/bicycle patrol at night can be added. This is a start, maybe not the ideal, but as more people sign up, more security can be added.

The monthly cost for the above will be R230-00 per month including administration fees. A.S.S. will start operating on Friday 1st December, 2006. Due to administration hiccups with the registration number, the first months installment (due in advance) will have to be paid in cash, no later than the 5th December, 2006, and thereafter on or before the 5th of every month. It is crucial that all payments, for December, reach Dicky Bosma at 641 Levinia Street. Cell 083 285 2900.

On payment, each street patrol member will be issued with a sign to be displayed within direct view from the road. Each sign will cost R20-00 which will be paid out of the annual membership fee. Should membership be discontinued, the signs will be removed. Damaged or broken signs will be replaced at members’ costs.

We were advised by the very proud A.S.S., that they won the service provider of the year award for the South African Council of Shopping Centres.

We hope to see an increase in the households that will join, which will result in additional security.

Thank you for your support, and please remain vigilant especially over this holiday season.

Regards

Nikki 082 593 8877
Dicky 083 285 2900

2006-11-26
Dear All
Just a quick note to let you know what is happening. Our number of sign ups is just tipping the 80 mark, which is great which reduces the price of the street patrols to approximately R220pm. Nikki and I are having a meeting with Leon on Monday to finalise exactly what we can get for our money, the routes etc. Obviously we would still like more to join so if you are hesitating or can bring in your neighbours all the better.
There has been a complaint that we are just a marketing tool for ASS. Yes, there has been a fair bit of marketing on their behalf but they have been the only service provider willing to hold our hands step by step through this whole process. Chubb, ADT, Ubuntu and Community patrols wanted 200 homes delivered on a plate, which would also have required us to market on their behalf.

Our vision for you the community is broader than just security: we would also like to beautify our neighbourhood and create community projects.
One of our first long term projects in the new year is to tackle the park in Yvette, Esther and Vercuil St. We would like to upgrade this and make this into a usable park for us the community with a play area for children, braai facilities for community street braais and landscaping! Anyone interested in this project please contact me.

We are also hoping to approach a nursery for discount prices and plant bougainvilleas on the external walls of the houses bordering Hans Strijdom and Atterbury Rd. That would look great and enhance security.

A further project that has been suggested would be to have marked routes in our streets for distances or difficulty levels, for all the walkers and runners. Any walkers and runners wanting to get involved here, again please contact me.

We would also like to launch our own newsletter 'The Proper News' this would be for items of interest, classifieds for selling items or services eg. hairdressers etc. in our community. Anyone with journalistic leanings please contact me. The printing side of things will be taken care of.

Mike at CJ's cafe is willing to come on board but is dealing with ASS directly as they obviously need a different level of security. They had an armed robbery last week. They have offered the use of their premises for the guards to use toilets etc. We could have the use of their community board as distribution point for our newsletter etc. There was a suggestion from a community member that we approach Mike as a community to stop the sale of wine as we feel that this encourages loiterers in the park. Please let me know how you all feel. This could be done by sms.

Lastly we believe that although booming off the area will be difficult this is still ultimately our long long term goal. We believe that it may be possible to do certain street closures which would help with security and traffic. Any help and ideas are gladly received.

There has been a slight delay in the registration of the company, which is holding up everything else. We are hoping to have the street patrols up and running by the 15th December, if this is possible from ASS side.

There has also been a slight delay in registering all the cell phone nos. Thomas has been snowed under at work, this is the silly season for all of us but promises to get up to date this week. We will contact everyone next week regarding decisions taken after our meeting with Leon on Monday.

Have a good and secure weekend
Dicky and Nikki

PS. Basie and Tanya Potgieter young adults in Gerhard Potgieters household (Street leader Braude ST.) are willing to do holiday home care services, swimming pool maintenance, grass mowing, animal feeding. Phone Tanya @ 076411260 or Basie @ 0728064245 for their prices.