Jill Humphreys is ready for her next tenure as Ward 20 councillor following her reelection to the position on November 1.
Humphreys secured 83.4% of the votes for Ward 20 and she is blown away by the confidence Bedfordview residents showed in her.
“I am so thankful for the support shown and that Ward 20 residents went out in their droves to vote.”
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She plans to start her new term by cleaning up the area surrounding the Bedfordview Town Hall.
“It’s the municipal heart of Bedfordview, but it’s an eyesore.”
She said that in the past, community clean-up initiatives helped spruce up the area but there was more that needed to be done.
“I would like to see additional parking built on unused road reserves.”
Additionally, Humphreys said she would like to have the stairs leading to the rates hall rebuilt without cutting down the tree.
She also plans to put her focus on the valuations debacle.
“The entire version of the valuations needs to be rescinded. I would like to see it held back for another year and completely redone.
“I want to protect residents from this extortion. There were too many objections to handle and now the disconnection contractors are out in full force while the finance department is understaffed,” Humphreys said.
“The biggest problem is that rates arrears on flagged accounts are not being listed separately. What the city is doing is cruel and unacceptable.”
Another focus for Humphreys will be sewage problems in Bedfordview.
“It takes two weeks in most cases for issues to be sorted out and the bottom line is that our infrastructure simply cannot handle the number of people.
“As excited as I am about investment in the community, I can honestly say we do not have the infrastructure to support massive developments.”
She explained that while the pipelines might be able to handle the volume of more developments, the condition of the pipes was deteriorating quickly.
“The department is under-resourced and underfunded and it has to deal with three major blockages every day.
This is the same depot that has to serve Edenvale and Boksburg North.”
Humphreys said that in the next five years, she also wants to focus her efforts on cleaning the rivers and getting the Bedfordview parks back to an acceptable standard.
“Bedfordview has always been a beautiful garden suburb.”
She said other issues such as homelessness need to be tackled from a national level and worked down towards a municipal level.
“It’s an enormous problem. So many people are displaced and doing whatever they can to survive.”
She said that she looks forward to her next tenure in Ward 20.
Residents may contact Humphreys on 082 450 0128 or at Jill.Humphreys@ekurhuleni.gov.za
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