Save Our Berea prepares for next monster meeting

IT’S be a long, tedious battle since the Monster Meeting last year when the Save Our Berea Working Committee were giving a mandate from Berea residents to engage with city officials and raise concerns over a myriad of local issues.

The task the dedicated committee set themselves has proved much more difficult than originally anticipated. “At our Monster Meeting in November 2013, the tone was one of wanting to work together with the city and we set out to engage with senior city officials to work out solutions to various issues raised at the meeting by the 400 residents who attended,” said Cheryl Johnson, one of the core members and a driving force behind the Save Our Berea campaign.

“After drafting a letter to the City manager, we struggled to deliver it or to set up a vital meeting with him. In spite of several attempts to get this done expeditiously, we were only able to deliver the letter in January 2014. It was only in February 2014, that we were finally able to set up our meeting which is due to take place on 7 March, 2014,” she said.

Issues tackled to date:

Issues taken up by the Save Our Berea Working Committee to date include the new development at 240 St Thomas Road where building was halted until plans were properly approved;

10 Poynton Place campaign to oppose a rezoning applications. The committee helped in getting 45 objections lodged against the rezoning application.

340 Stephen Dlamini (Essenwood) Road, where deviation to approved plans and other issues are currently under intense investigation by the Save Our Berea Working Committee.

121 Stephen Dlamini (Essenwood) Road, illegal and incomplete application for special consent to convert to offices is currently under investigation.

Degeneration of Tudor Place which has also been taken on by the local ward councillor.

Abandoned building at the Old Observatory site in Currie Road. The Committee is currently waiting on answers to its letter demanding action from the Deputy Minister of Public Works.

Lobbying Musgrave Centre to become more actively involved in uplifting the area.

Pushing the Senior Building Inspector to respond to a petition from Percy Osborne residents regarding illegal activities in their area.

Registering with AMAFA to give its support with polcing and exposing heritage issues.

Naming and shaming city officials who fail to respond, take action or who give residents the runaround.”We also made our business to openly support, highlight and praise residents and city officials alike when they get it right. We are sensitive to us not just becoming another group only citiciiing without acknowledging the good and offering some solutions,” said Johnson.

Johnson said she believed the committee had succeeded in getting its message across loud and clear to city officials. “They are paying attention. We have shown them we mean business. When we want answers, we mean to get them, but we also stress we are not the enemy. We want to find solutions together,” she said.

Of particular concern to Save Our Berea Working Committee is the continuing threat of inappropriate buildings. “Inappropriate in terms of scale, texture and form which are currently being erected on the Berea as well as the over development of townhouses and out-of-scale residential homes. We welcome the development that respects our unique heritage buildings, enhances our neighbourhoods and adds to the vitality of our commercial areas,” she said.

She added that one of the first issues the committee will discuss with the City Manager is the immediate reinstatement of an Elevation Control Committee made up of suitably qualified and registered professionals. “We are extremely concerned about he way city officials respond, or fail to respond to complaints and queries by ratepayers. Only by engaging in a relentless barrage of emails and copying them on the press and other departments within the city structure, do we as Save Our Berea get anywhere This has been time consuming and energy sapping and we are well aware that some officials use this no response strategy to deflect, delay and obfuscate,” she said.

Johnson said a second Monster Meeting would take place towards the end of March after the committee’s meeting with the City Manager. “We will then report back to the residents on what we achieved at our meeting with the City Manager.