For tree’s sake
PARKVIEW – Environmental management at Zoo Lake has once again come under the spotlight after a concerned resident contacted the Rosebank Killarney Gazette team and stated that the destruction of trees at Zoo Lake continues unabated because of braai fires lit within the park.
The resident claimed that City Parks has not implemented a plan to address the problem as promised earlier this year when this newspaper reported that City Parks will be rolling out new ash bins within the park in March.
Spokesperson for City Parks, Jenny Moodley, has responded on behalf of the entity regarding the matter and has tasked internal teams with putting certain interventions in place.
“It’s about time we confronted this problem,” said Moodley.
These interventions include:
- Placing dedicated bins to dispose of ash
- Demarcating actual areas for braais and not allow for this throughout the park – especially near the children’s play area that is far too busy
- Acquiring additional signage
- Extensive media coverage and education campaigns
- More visible bylaw enforcement.
Ward 117 councillor, Tim Truluck, said that this is not a new issue and is one which residents living around Zoo Lake have been battling for a long time, without accountability from City Parks.
“What is needed, is not more people e-mailing letters for more ineffectual comments from City Parks,” stated Truluck.
“But people willing to actually get involved with the Zoo Lake Users group and taking on [new] projects.”
Chairperson for the Zoo Lake Users Committee, Fran Haslam, agreed with Truluck that it has been a pertinent issue for a considerable length of time.
“I personally met with Sakhile Maphumulo [general manager of Regional Maintenance for City Parks] in the Mayor’s office in June and raised these issues,” said Haslam.
“He promised me, in front of the Mayor, that he would attend to all of my concerns. To date, four months later, not a thing has been done.”
Haslam further stated Maphumulo and other management officials now refuse to take her calls, but she has found a small number of people who work at the entity who are helpful in making sure that maintenance gets done. The fact remains, however, that they can only do so much before they are told off for allocating too much of the entity’s budget on ZooLake, said Haslam.
“As for more people coming on to the committee, that is a great idea and everyone has a lot of energy and are passionate about making a difference,” Haslam concluded.
“But with no money and no assistance from the City, our hands are tied.”
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