Greenstone abandoned by municipality

For over two years, Emerald Estate in Greenstone has pleaded with council officials to address a growing number of issues in the area.

Some of the complaints include road safety and maintenance, illegal signs, illegal dumping and non-maintenance of council owned property.

Last week, Mr Mark Trollope who represents Emerald Estate, approached the NEWS for help.

According to Mr Trollope, after years of raising concerns with council, correspondence and failures on the part of the municipality to address the issues, he had no other option.

“There are several concerns that I think need to be addressed by the municipality as well as by ward 32 councillor, Clr Darren Bergman,” he said.

“We have appealed to roads departments and our ward counsellor to investigate the option of installing traffic lights on the Modderfontein Road and Greenstone Drive intersection. With more than eight estates, well over 3 000 residents make use of Greenstone Drive daily,” said Mr Trollope.

“This is excluding the many trucks, vehicles and courier vans which make use of Greenstone Drive as a shortcut to get to the airport from the highways,” he added.

There have been a number of accidents at the intersection, many of them serious.

“This should have triggered an immediate investigation,” said Mr Trollope.

Another problematic intersection highlighted by Mr Trollope was between Emerald Estate and Bushwillow Park Estate, which remains without any form of traffic control.

“Both Bushwillow Park Estate and Emerald Estate have appealed to the ward counsellor for the installation of a simple stop sign on the double lanes that run north and south between these two estates,” said Mr Trollope.

He added that it was concluded that the amount of traffic does not warrant a stop sign.

“One only needs to try and exit, or even enter, either of these estates during rush hour traffic. Besides dodging the speeding vehicles along Greenstone Drive, residents take a chance every time they have to exit their estates and cross a four-lane intersection,” said Mr Trollope.

Both estates offered to pay for a stop sign to be installed, yet their pleas fall on deaf ears.

“There have been more than 12 vehicle road accidents at this intersection in the last four years. One of these days it is going to be a fatal accident, but perhaps someone will have to lose their life before the authorities decide that a stop sign is warranted,” he said.

Road maintenance issues in the area include a subsistence of the road surface on Blackrock Road, between the Thornvalley Estate Entrance and Emerald Estate Contractor Entrance.

“This has been on-going for the last four years,” said Mr Trollope.

To avoid causing damage to vehicles, motorists using Blackrock Road must slow down to less than 20 kilometers an hour “and even then, the jolt on the car is excessive”.

“On the positive side, at least it is slowing people down, however, this is now turning into a large pothole,” said Mr Trollope.

Another concern raised by Mr Trollope was the state of the entrance to Greenstone from Palliser Road.

“It is absolutely disgusting to look at the amount of signs that have been erected next to Pebble Creek Estate and Aloe Place beneath the power lines,” he said.

Mr Trollope added that the signs were clearly illegal and should be removed and the advertisers heavily fined.

“It is unsightly enough to have hideous light pole signs all over the place and then to have to look at the plethora of signs as one enters the Greenstone area,” he said.

Not only are the signs unsightly, but the area behind Pebble Creek Estate continues to be used by unscrupulous contactors for illegal dumping.

Adding insult to injury, others have now followed suite, dumping anything from garden refuse to ceiling boards.

“Can the authorities not block off this area to stop the dumping” Is this area ever going to be cleaned?” asked Mr Trollope.

Other areas such as the common areas, around Greenstone, are not being maintained at all.

“Every year, Emerald Estate cuts the long grass along Modderfontein Road, at our cost, so that our residents are able to see cars coming up Modderfontein Road, when turning into Greenstone Drive.

Without cutting the grass, it makes the already dangerous intersection, an extremely dangerous one,” said Mr Trollope.

He added that as it is, all the estates maintain their own verges and the centre islands along Greenstone, Blackrock and Stoneridge drives at a cost to all of the residents.

“What contribution is being made by council to maintain the common areas that the estates are not maintaining?” he asked.

He added that the same question could be asked of council with regards to the non-working traffic lights at the intersection of Blackrock Road and Emerald Boulevard, or the Armco barriers which have been lying in the oncoming traffic at the top of Blackrock Road for months.

“Or what about the bins that were installed, then left to fill and overflow,” he said.

He added that council also made no provision for public transport to the area.

“With the growing residential base in Greenstone, many properties make use of domestic workers, gardeners and child minders, who make use of taxis. No provision has been made for a taxi collection area, besides parking across entrances of estates, further adding to the dangerous intersections,” said Mr Trollope.

The NEWS sent an enquiry with a list of concerns, as well as questions to both the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) and the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) for comment by Friday, January 24.

The enquiry was sent on January 21.

At the time of going to print, neither municipality had provided comment.