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BUILDING BETTER COMMUNITIES PDF Print E-mail

from eblockwatch

 

Dear Paula
CHOOSING SAFETY – BUILDING COMMUNITIES In South Africa today as in many countries, fear drives many individual choices.  A long history of exclusion and distrust of “the other”, anyone who looks or sounds different, has made it difficult to build and sustain social cohesion in many neighbourhoods. Instead, as the walls of Apartheid were torn down, so walls in our leafy suburbs flourished, with surveillance cameras sprouting like a national flower. Security companies have been the biggest beneficiaries – we spend more each year on private security than we make from tourism; an unhealthy imbalance! English is one of the few languages that distinguish between “security” and “safety”. Security refers to protection against known or perceived risks or threats, while safety refers to a state in which there is freedom from fear – and less need for security.Despite repeated evidence that walls and electric fences don’t make us safe (or even secure), when our security fails, we demand – and pay for – more of the same. Innovation is firmly in the hands of criminals; years ago they stole from us while we were out, today they know to come armed and in groups, ready to do whatever is necessary to breach our defences. As burglary has declined steadily over the years, armed robbery has increased apace with our attempts to protect ourselves. Interestingly, we are told that the percentage of armed incidents that result in serious injury or death has remained constant over the years. Guns are used to force entry, to intimidate and control but the criminals are still just intent on stealing, not killing.  More often than not, when someone dies it is because something has gone wrong with what was undoubtedly a poor plan. The increase of aggression required to achieve criminal goals has a negative impact on all of us, feeding our fear and increasing the risks of the poor as well as those whose security spend causes the spiral of violence.As we grow from a new and young democracy to greater maturity, we are poised at an important crossroads. Do we continue to dig ourselves into trenches, hidden from one another by increasingly expensive and sophisticated defences, or might we be brave enough to take a step toward one another and build communities that share common goals and work together for places in which we can live and prosper together?We need to ask ourselves some brave questions. We spend over R50 billion a year because we are insecure. If we put that R50 billion onto the table and explore options that will help us achieve our objectives, is our best shot really a wall with a fence on top of it and a man with a gun at the gate? So what does it look like when its safe? In the course of my work over the past decade, I have asked literally thousands of people to imagine and draw their vision of a safe place, a place that they value so much that they would be prepared to invest in it, work for it, protect it at significant personal cost. What they draw is a place where children play safely on the street and neighbours call happily to one another over picket fences. It is a place where women walk freely in the light of the moon and where fathers kick soccer balls with their youngsters in parks, watched idly by elderly people sitting comfortably in the sun. It is also a place where innovation abounds; where young men and women use their talents and skills in a pro-social way, where school is the centre of community and where people share their hope s and dreams in the confidence that they will be understood and supported. It is a place where opportunity abounds and where livelihoods emerge through social entrepreneurship and constructive partnership.  It is a place where people trust one another to know the difference between dreams and reality but where even the poorest are allowed to dream big.  It is a place where diversity is valued and all voices are heard and where the vulnerable are protected and nurtured to become resilient and live their best lives.I’m prepared to invest a lot in such a place and to proudly participate in a community based on these principles of inclusivity and mutual investment. I know we are a long way from achieving it, but I want to point myself in that direction, to know that at least, we are moving towards it. I am not suggesting, much as I would love to, that we should all break down our walls today and build houses with the bricks. I do suggest that if we’d done that 20 years ago, maybe we wouldn’t be having this discussion today.  My fear is that if we don’t at least crack our walls a little, break through our barricades, we’ll never be able to trust one another. We need a social contract about how to behave, not a security contract that entrenches our exclusion fr om one another.Whatever we do next we must do with compassion and understanding. The impact of decades of crime and violence is widespread trauma and justified insecurity. We live in circumstances that embrace risk more readily than relationships and it will take hard work and long and deep personal investment to transform ourselves into self-sustaining, safe communities.  The inspirational Community Building Workshops offered by Symphonia, based on the methodology of Peter Block, author of “Community: The Structure of Belonging,” and facilitated by Dr Louise van Rhyn, offer extraordinary insights into the possibilities inherent in building community.    Anyone with a vested interest in our future should attend and be a leader in changing our world, one community at a time. If you are ready to be challenged, inspired and motivated email Wendy Ward at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . Dr Barbara HoltmannTransforming Fragile Social Systems This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
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CITY POWER BILLING PROBLEMS PDF Print E-mail

City Power's big losers

 

The City of Johannesburg has been estimating the monthly bills of large electricity users since a tender was awarded to a company that lacks the experience and expertise to read their meters, according to experts.

 

City Power has apparently been runn...

Read the rest of this story at

 

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2011-02-25-city-powers-big-losers

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BURGLARY REPORT PDF Print E-mail
Thursday 17/02/2011 OB – 049/02/2011 at 08H27: BURGLARY RESIDENTIAL & VEHICLE THEFT: ELM AVENUE, CRAIGAVON.The resident of unit … phoned in reporting that his vehicle was stolen with CB and CF being dispatched. On arrival contact was made with …. from unit …. On investigation it was discovered that an unknown amount of suspects entered the property through unknown means and stole the residents VW Golf 6 with registration number ZDS…GP. While on the scene the residents of unit …, …. confirmed that 1 x Laptop, and 1 x Playstation was taken from the unit, with the resident of unit … Mr. …. confirming that 1 x Laptop was taken from his unit. The SAPS was contacted by the residents directly with Constable Magoba and Constable Themba from the Douglasdale SAPS driving a marked vehicle with registration number BRZ229B attending to the scene. The Golf 6 was later recovered in Turffontein.
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Latest on billing crisis PDF Print E-mail
Selected customer service centres will be open on Saturdays and Sundays during February and March to resolve billing issues as soon as possible, the City has said.JOBURG has extended opening hours at some of its customer service centres as it works to resolve billing issues.According to statement from the City, the centres will be open on Saturdays and Sundays from 8am to 12pm in February and March, to handle queries from the public.“We understand that some of you are frustrated by current problems with billing and want you to know that we are working around the clock to sort out your queries,” read the statement.This decision comes after residents across the municipality began receiving inflated water and electricity bills, following the introduction of a new billing system.Centres with extended opening hours are:·         Midrand Civic Centre – 300-15th Road, Midrand;·         Sandton Civic Centre – 24 Fredman Drive, Sandton;·         Randburg Rates Hall – corner Braam Fischer Drive and Jan Smuts Avenue, Ferndale;·         Roodepoort Civic Centre – 100 Christiaan de Wet Road, Florida Park Extension 9;·         Thuso House – 61 Jorissen Street, Braamfontein;·         Eureka House – corner Marlborough Street and Rosettenville Road, Wemmerpan;·         Lenasia Civic Centre – corner Rose Avenue and Eland Street, Lenasia Extension 2;·         Ennerdale Extension 9 – corner Katz Road and Smit Street, Ennerdale; and·         Eldorado Customer Service Centre – 4046 Link Crescent Avenue Extension 5, Eldorado Park.For more information, call Joburg Connect, the 24-hour help line, on 011 375 5555
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CEDAR SQUARE CHANGES PDF Print E-mail

For whats coming and part of the proposal take a look at this web site ...........................

 

www.citylifechurch.co.za/

 

 

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