MISTY CLIFFS VILLAGE ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER - April 2008
Editor: Tim Anderson

AFTER two periods of soaking but mercifully light rain our fire-devastated mountainside is encouragingly peppered with green shoots, desirable bossies resurrecting themselves from the roots up, and the usual abundance of grasses, bulbous plants and the inevitable aliens - maybe also Aliens, perhaps even Tryfids! All these actually thrive after fire has taken away the top hamper that normally smothers them.

Those of us who live in or visit our properties regularly would do well to encourage the fresh greenery by cutting away some of the ugly burnt wood that will otherwise take many years to fall off and rot away. Take a look at the 1954 picture above, sent to us by Jon Kerr (thanks tons, Jon) showing Misty (two houses) and Scarborough (not many more) still in pristine condition; we wish!

Future fires

Your committee has energetically and relentlessly pursued the relevant City and SANParks officials responsible for fire prevention and fighting with the intention of having a better and quicker response to the inevitable future big fires. The officials have been extremely helpful given that their work always has to be done within the confines of bureaucracy.

We are on the point of setting up a permanent standing committee of all affected officials together with representatives from Scarborough, Misty Cliffs and Red Hill communities to develop a formalized Fire Management Plan for the area. The plan might include a service by which all owners are automatically notified by SMS of a fire warning and possibly also the fire status.

All the conventional types of fire-fighting "appliances" (pro term for fire engines) at Fish Hoek and Simon's Town have been tested to prove they can drive up Old Camp Road and turn around at the two ends. We hope that the Lakeside appliances will be similarly tested.

We have arranged to have completed the additional water main connection provided for during the Old Camp Road construction. This relatively small job will be done when next a Council crew is deployed to our area for larger work. This will give us an effective "ring main" and a very much better water flow no longer dependent on the undersized HDPE pipe next to the Old Camp Road first incline and which presently is our only supply line. However, we will remain vulnerable to large volumes of water being drawn from the 225 mm supply main which runs along the M65. This has limited capacity and is not likely to be replaced in the near future. Thus any major fire fighting in, say, Scarborough could leave Misty Cliffs undersupplied.

Baboons

Residents and visitors continue to be pestered, intimidated, robbed and threatened by marauding baboons. Among many animals there are just a handful of alpha males and their families which are bold, assertive and clever at opening doors and windows even if by causing damage. Although no one has yet been directly attacked the experience of a large baboon ignoring all threats and shoving past to get to the open door before anyone can rush to lock it can be acutely frightening, especially for children. If a group of the animals gets into a house tremendous damage can result (plenty of testimonies available!).

Unfortunately there are complications in the funding required for a suitable number of baboon monitors ("chasers"). There are several regular sources of funds which are not only inadequate in total but frustratingly also pose a problem in their administration which results in paralysis so that monitors sometimes don't get paid.

SANParks recently hosted a meeting of experts from various disciplines and representatives from affected communities to consider identifying "problem animals" and either euthanizing or relocating them. Lengthy presentations were made and while the proceedings were of considerable interest our feeling was that no positive action will eventuate from that meeting.

The latest proposal, which may be put for discussion at the AGM, is to combine with other areas adversely affected by baboons and conduct a formal referendum, the outcome of which would be conveyed to appropriate officials with an appeal or demand for action.

Redhill disaster relief

In the fire of 8 February 79 homes were destroyed in the Redhill informal settlement. Owners and residents responded very generously to our appeal for money and blankets for relief. The MCVA as a body donated R5 000 and one of our fired-up residents, Donna Da Silva, managed to collect a further R10 000 for the cause (well done, Donna!). The monies were channelled through the Simon's Town Civic Association.

Our owls

As you can see from this photo of free-to-roam Grace, one of our first released "Spotties", the owl rehabilitation experiment seems to be proving an outstanding success. Four Spotted Eagle Owls and four Barn Owls have been released to date and appear to be no longer dependent on food put out for them. Those few of us who are early risers have regularly seen the birds although it's not certain if all of them are still in the neighbourhood. Barn owls tend to stay around by nature but "Spotties" prefer larger territories and therefore may be seen less often. It is too early to tell how many owls our area can support in terms of territory and food availability.

This experiment has the keen approval of Cape Nature but as a Misty project will be reviewed before the 2009 AGM. It is in keeping with our self-imposed mandate to be a "Conservation Village" to rehabilitate owls back into their natural environment, but on the other hand it seems somewhat outside our remit to manage donated funds and continue indefinitely with the project. Substantial monies were donated and at the end of the review period we will seek owners' views as to whether residual funds should be returned pro rata to donors or retained to continue the project or undertake a similar project.

Property ratings

Many owners, not only in Misty Cliffs, have anomalous and in some cases outrageous ratings on their properties, as is well known. The City reluctantly acknowledges this but tends to drag its feet in responding to individual objections.

The Greater Cape Town Civic Alliance is in the process of taking a formalized comprehensive objection to the Unicity. Inputs from various constituent bodies, including all the ratepayers associations, have contributed to an impressive technically-couched presentation on behalf of all objectors. Ideally a re-evaluation is sought but this is unlikely in the short term. Speculating, it may turn out that the City agrees to review all the grosser miss-valuations. We will keep you posted.

Erf 29

Most owners will know that the procedures towards and the physical nature of certain structures on Erf 29, including the edifice on stilts at the front of the property, and access for parking/garaging at the rear, have for a lengthy period been of great and ongoing concern to your committee as well as to the City. The matter is slowly moving towards a compromise from the MCVA's point of view and we will be relieved when the matter reaches finality.

Landscaping

Previous newsletters have mentioned the class project by horticultural and landscaping students at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to undertake planning, design and greening of the road reserve and certain surrounding areas. The City has agreed to donate 100 small indigenous trees for planting on the road reserve sections. Committee member Greg Shaw has been managing this process and hopes to describe it in greater detail at the AGM.

While thinking of landscaping, we appeal to owners who employ casual or regular gardeners to make sure that dead bushes and other stuff cleared are not dumped on someone else's vacant land or down in the stream bed. This is continually occurring and is exceedingly annoying for owners who do a good job of keeping their land tidy. It is difficult to trace the culprits unless the gardeners are caught in the act.

Crime and security

Crime in Misty Cliffs is not yet a major problem but the number of incidents is steadily increasing. It is unavoidable given the number of casual "gardeners", minor contractors and other hired labour around; they have ample opportunity to eyeball who's coming and going and when. The SAPS have appealed to us (again) to notify them immediately of suspicious people, vehicles and activity. They say they will promptly dispatch a patrol vehicle if necessary. So, take photos of suspicious vehicles (showing the CA number). Note down descriptions of suspicious people before you forget what they look like. If you see unfamiliar contractors at a house, call the owner to confirm that their mission is legitimate; it is not unknown for a smart bakkie to roll up with uniformed labourers and proceed to swiftly strip an unoccupied house of its plumbing, electricals, etc. The SAPS are under-staffed but insist that we notify them of even trivial observations as such information can be accumulated from other inputs to make a pattern and form an important crime prevention strategy. Scarborough Security Services should always be notified at the same time.

A suggestion in committee is for us to consider employing our own guards. Input from owners about this idea would be welcomed. It should be kept in mind that proper employment legalities would be required, probably some training, suitable clothing, relief guards, and so on. It could be an expensive operation.

TV

Recently Misty Cliffs and Scarborough residents lost some of the SABC and M-Net channels relayed from the Crayfish Factory mast. This turned out to be caused by work undertaken by the Council and has now been rectified - we hope permanently. From unrelated causes considerable difficulties have been experienced by participants in the DSTV project, with some unable to have reception for several months. Happily it appears that recently a technical solution has been achieved. All inquiries should be directed to committee member Leon Morris who is managing the project (082-1415-3343 or 021-780-1256). The MCVA is involved only as a convenient repository, in a separate ledger, for the participants' contributions.

Website

Our website has taken off and although managed from London will be locally run by Robin Frew, who was been co-opted onto the committee and will be developing the website and presenting his ideas at the AGM.

Important meeting

The AGM will be held on Sunday morning at 10h00 on 27 April in the Scarborough Community Hall, with refreshments as usual. DON'T MISS IT! This is your opportunity to turf out the committee and try your hand at doing things better.

Present committee:
Doug Tunbridge, chairman
Lyn Mossop, treasurer
Tony Turner, financial officer
Tim Anderson, scribe
Greg Shaw, environment
Kobus Loots, buildings & plans
Leon Morris

Mailing

In response to requests we are sending this newsletter in the body of an ordinary email message rather than as an attachment (this is why the pictures don't fit nicely).
It seems that some folk are jittery about the possibility of spam, viruses, etc in attachments and therefore never open them.

Newsletters going back several years are still on file (I hope) and anyone wanting one or other of them should contact me.

Happy days
Tim

timofpen@mweb.co.za
072-128-2319