Dear Betty’s Bay ratepayers and residents.
There have been a few changes to our TEAM since we last communicated. Dorrienne Maes has left us and Wilna Swart has kindly volunteered her time to fulfill the role as secretary from here on in. We also have a new member in Annalies Grimbeek to head the tourism portfolio.
There are, however, three portfolios that need leadership and development.
Emergency services
I see this portfolio developing into a fairly large portfolio with sub committees to accommodate:
Emergency First Aid Response (EFAR) – Subcommittee
Trauma counselling – Subcommittee
Child welfare – Existing organisation (Roster available)
NSRI – Existing Unit (OPS room Kleinmond)
Mountain rescue – Existing Unit
Snake bite team – Subcommittee
Nutrition – Sub committee
Sports and recreation
The Park Run – Existing event
The XXXXX walk – Subcommittee
The XXXXX cycle challenge – Subcommittee
Exercise groups – Subcommittee
One of the things we want to achieve in our turnaround strategy is to have as much of our community dynamics as possible represented in our TEAM portfolios. Keep in mind we are all volunteers and we need you to help us achieve a formidable Association, one with substance and clout. With this, I invite you to link up with any of the portfolio principals to offer your assistance. Let’s make this a Betty’s Bay for all by all.
There are so many things to do and issues to deal with, it is crucial that we as a community work together. As you are aware, our municipality updated and smartened up our street names. It looks good but there are a few mistakes that need to be fixed as soon as possible. With this I have agreed to muster your help in speeding up the process. My request to members is to look at your street name and confirm if it is correct to the best of your knowledge. If not, please contact me on WhatsApp 0829281260 or Email me at wayrayjack@gmail.com and tell me what must change. Let’s agree on the following closing date for inputs: Friday 29 April 2022. We will then send a consolidated list of street names for rectification to our municipality for their action and also to update the Geographic/Global Information System (GIS). The sooner we get these amendments to our municipality, the sooner we can have these anomalies remedied.
During the next month or so we will be discussing a concept to be used for any upgrades or new buildings that are constructed in and around the CBD (central shops area) to give guidelines for future developments. The TEAM will apply their minds on this matter at our next meeting and we will discuss it with you at our next open meeting (May 2022). Keep in mind this is a concept we want to adopt to guide future developers and municipal upgrade-related plans. If we don’t agree on an acceptable concept, one might be imposed on us in the future.
We will also be discussing the special ratings concept (SRA) as a means to be more capable as a community outside of and in conjunction with the municipal services. Richard Gould will be our champion in this regard.
BBNW
Under safety and security, we are exploring a new concept to enhance our crime prevention strategy. This entails the residents in a street pulling together and having two cameras installed, one at the top and one at the bottom of the street. Then that street will be monitored. The principle remains the same as when you report suspicious activity as the camera monitor will trigger a response for us (our security partners and BBNW) to investigate.
This implies that the cost of the cameras, the camera installation, the data and monitoring costs will be divided amongst the members within a street. The more the participants, the less it will cost. BBNW and their security partners will respond to alerts from these cameras similar to a call from one of the neighbourhood watch members.
Here we will require neighbourly cooperation and planning. It must also be understood that this is an attempt to prevent crime now, and especially in the future. If there is a street that would like to be the pioneers in launching this project, please contact me or Andrew Stoy for more information.
Thank you for your ongoing support.