Here's OUR Challenge & Why WE Must Speak UP

What is our BIGGEST challenge that we face in this community?

Well, if you had driven up Franshoek Drive on Tuesday morning you would have seen it with your own eyes... spread-eagled at the feet of our local security reaction personnel and police officers.

From what I hear, it seems that THREE opportunists - reportedly from Alexandra - rang the bell of a Franshoek Drive home. When no one answered, they jumped the wall and attempted to force their way into the home.

Fortunately they were seen by construction workers up the road who raised the alarm with Fidelity and, together with some domestic gardeners a miscreant was apprehended... later leading to the arrest of two others.

For me, this shows how all DECENT South Africans, regardless of race, colour or creed, are sick & tired of crime and willingly pitch in together to fight it.

As if to underscore the point I am about to make, on Thursday I received a call from an elderly friend who was in a severe state of shock as his daughter-in-law had just been released after a two-hour ordeal of being accosted and tied up in her Blairgowrie home by THREE black teenagers - youngsters - again reportedly stating that they were from Alexandra.

And now this incident report just arrives in my inbox: 'Robyn street, Jukskei Park - The complainant arrived home at approximately 17h55. As she stopped her vehicle to wait for the garage doors to open, three black males accosted her. They pulled her out of the vehicle and forced her into the house where they threatened to rape her if she didn't show the the safe. The complainant opened a safe. The following property was taken by the suspects : ID books and Passports, house keys [with panic alarm and remotes], credit cards, DSTV; DVD player, cellphone, jewellery. The suspects took the complainant back to the garage where they tied her up with electrical cable. They stole her vehicle, a blue Mini Cooper, registration number *******. This vehicle was later recovered by NETSTAR in Alexandra township.'

Notice any commonalities?

My Point: Our challenge will be to proactively stem the influx of opportunistic criminal elements into our midst and thereby to protect our families peace-of-mind and security.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not bleating about living in South Africa. Having traveled widely, I love this place as one of the best locations in the world. Also, lest anyone interpret what I am about to share incorrectly, I'm not being xenophobic in any way at all. I believe that people should be able to relocate freely to improve their lot. However, I also believe that organised and opportunistic crime is a hugely-increasing social phenomenon almost everywhere in the world.

Here's where our challenge gets bigger. If you think that our community challenge is going to get any easier, you've got another think coming. Take a look at this report on economist Mike Schusler's research: More illegals set to flood SA - 23/11/2006 21:13 - here are the key extracts from the report:

- 'South Africa is home to as many as 10 million illegal immigrants and must brace for a flood of new arrivals'

- 'Yes, some of them are involved in criminal activities.'

- 'Schussler said the positives of having so many illegal immigrants far outweighed the negatives for South Africa.'

WE must speak up for MASSIVE ACTION & PREPAREDNESS in our community. WE must be prepared for BIGGER challenges coming - both positive and negative. WE must stimulate NEW IDEAS & INNOVATIONS. WE must support those who recognise that we cannot afford to sit back and rest on our laurels. We must speak up against any lack-of-interest/enthusiasm and incompetence within our own structures.

I'm a believer that the little things are very important - which is why I fume as this week I again drive past scrappy little posters left on street poles for days, graffiti (it's still there outside of Studio Park and Lonehill Village Estate) and developing potholes appearing once again.

Do our service providers honestly have no understanding of the Broken Windows Syndrome?

Personally, I believe it can only be laziness, lack of interest, or gross incompetence that allows such little things to continue unattended in our community. It seems that our service providers management are not touring Lonehill twice daily to see what I see. Sometimes I get the feeling that they are 'majoring in minor things' in their cushy little office environments. Get out and manage by walking around! Soon the long grass is coming because of the big rains... are we ready for it? The little things do count.

And then, the BIG things are MASSIVELY IMPORTANT in my opinion.

Here are some of the biggies (amongst others):

1. Communication about crime in our community. Hey, we're all adults! I, for one, can handle the reality of what's happening around me. But, I want to KNOW about it so that I can make up my own mind as to what to do. I want to know that these gangs are operating in threes, I want to know that they are youngsters, I want to know that our proactive security guards know this so that they can question/follow loiterers. I want to know what is happening in my community that can potentially compromise my family's safety and security, don't you? Let's get past the old nonsense of restricting information to the few, this ain't the apartheid era... this community needs more open revelation of mature information and instant spreading of crime alerts.

2. Strategy, Communication & Marketing. Please someone, SHOW me consistently that we are treating our initiative seriously as a MULTI-million rand per annum initiative... and GROWING it. Show me how EVERYONE who wants to contribute - the astute minds and leaders in this community (they're here in big numbers) - is/are being encouraged to contribute and being harnessed to achieve these BIG objectives. I've already begun to get the feeling that this may unfold, but I'd like to see quarterly OPEN public meetings and highly visible indications/signs/PR demonstrating this commitment.

3. Show me the money - BIG MONEY thinking. Everything we need for our future community initiative success - security, environment, administation, innovation, progress, social responsibility, charity et al - all requires funding. There is a limit to the funding that will come from our internal database. Show me the BIG innovative ideas & projects designed to attract MASSIVE funding from alternative sources. Show me something out-of-the-box, off-the-wall, totally unique, perhaps a world-class initiative, that says we undestand our MASSIVE future challenge for this community: More illegals set to flood SA.

Don't be silent... SPEAK UP..! It is important that WE all share our opinions - intelligent, real discourse even if confrontational and controversial - so that our community leaders can understand what we want and how we think. After all, this is OUR community initiative, WE launched it, WE fund it, WE drive it. WE want to know what's in it for us (WIIFM - what's in it for me) and we want to SEE the clear benefits from making our personal contributions - whether through time, money and/or effort.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Aaaah... REFRESHING Winds Of Change

Isn't CHANGE great?

I feel as though I again have the rare privilige of experiencing an exciting NEW dynamic unfold in Lonehill.

Having had the pleasure of a visit from new LRA Chair: Rob Gillespie during the week, and taking up the innovative LRA invitation to meet with new LRA directors at the Lonehill Mugg & Bean on Saturday (a great 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. initiative to get to meet the LRA directors), I get the distinct feeling that refreshing winds of change are set to take Lonehill on a POSITIVE new course.

As I looked into the eyes of the NEW directors sitting around the coffee table (and of those directors who popped along to say 'hi'), and listened to their enthusiastic sketching of NEW ideas, new objectives, new perspectives, and different approaches... I saw something that for me has been missing in Lonehill's leadership over the past while - a sparkle in the eye, a new ENTHUSIASM, people on a mission, people with FRESH minds.

For me, one of the essential arts of LEADERSHIP is the ability to listen, and I noted that when a concerned resident was talking, this new team was listening... and the new Chair was taking notes!

I like the way that they are going about their work. They seem decisive, committed, open to input... and most important - cheerful.

To me, to have serious folk willing to step up a gear to take our community to a HIGHER LEVEL conveys the ultimate respect to all those Greater Lonehill residents/stakeholders who launched and contributed to the foundation-building phase of the Lonehill Community Initiative.

I think that these folk on the current LRA are going to do it - they're going to make BIG THINGS HAPPEN! I feel it in my water. I'm EXCITED.

Now, why is this initiative so important that I comment as regularly as I do? Why have I made it my personal mission to ensure that it never collapses through lack of interest?

Well, it is because of the times that we live in, whether we like it or not, wherever one may be in the world, our families peace-of-mind and security is at continual risk almost every day. In South Africa we know that criminal elements are all around us waiting to rip us off. It's just life as we live it today. And, we owe it to our families to make sure that the 'good guys' win for a change.

On Thursday night in Bryanston, my matriculating daughter's school-friends were gathering at a celebration function when accosted by 3 cool-looking, smooth-talking, armed black dudes who proceeded to clean them out of their cell-phones and jewelry and who hijacked three vehicles to cart away the hosts most valuable appliances. The matriculants, of all race groups, including some of their parents were locked into bathrooms and ordered to stay silent to avoid being shot.

This is happening now, today, all around us... and no one is safe from these opportunistic thugs, regardless of race, colour, creed or whatever. I have the distinct feeling that their modus operandi is changing to hit private functions as soft targets over the coming pre-Christmas celebration weeks. But, we can outsmart them!

The Lonehill Community Initiative offers an opportunity to live a relatively 'normal' life if one calls on the LRA security provider to relocate their roving guard in your area just a few hundred metres to keep an eye over any gathering of people and their cars during partying. A simple preparatory call can save lives. Be aware. Build a relationship with YOUR community security initiative.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790
Lonehill Resident

Community Security - Who VISIBLY Dominates Wins!

Taking an early morning walk around Lonehill last Sunday, I was struck by the number of competing security company boards encroaching on walls and fences of properties on critical corners and visible approaches where Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) boards used to be and/or should be.

I was also struck by the high visibility of three competing security company vehicles CRUISING around Lonehill in the hour that I spent around the village - almost in a show of DOMINANCE.

Anyone with the slightest semblance of marketing nous can see what's happening... competing security companies know that 'he/she who visibly dominates a community wins'. It's a game of persistence... and the persistent slowly eat away at the edges until they dominate. Which is where they were in this community before we residents changed the rules of the game back in 2000.

Seems to me that the battle is seriously on to wrest Lonehill's security revenue back from the hands of the LRA - representing contributing residents. And our own internal forces don't seem to see it happening right under their noses.

If they did, they would be making MASSIVELY VISIBLE innovative marketing/promotion 'noises' in the community to stand out above this clear competition... or to at least bring the competition into the community contributing loop.

Oh yes, I'll get the argument: '..but we have our visible street guards posted all around Lonehill.' Again, I say, if one has the slightest semblance of marketing nous one will understand that 'familiarity breeds contempt', and that these guards have been around for so long doing the same old things that they have just faded away into the community backdrop - no one really notices them anymore.

Let me demonstrate how this works: our service providers KNOW that graffiti is an absolute no-no in this community, yet daily they drive by graffiti that has been on their Studio Park electrical box for over 9 months now. Let alone that on the electrical boxes at Lonehill Village Estate. They just don't see it. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Still not being privy to any numbers from the past 18 - 24 months... and still no one from the LRA talking openly with concerned residents in OPEN meetings (a bit disappointing, I must say)... I am guesstimating that we have lost close to 18% of our individual houshold base of contributors due to a combination of the above 'lack of visibility' and poor follow-up support service from our local providers.

I also guesstimate that the LRA actually reaches less than 10% of our total householder base of +- 5000 households (I am told) via the LRA email newsletter. Would love to see physical evidence from simple tests that can be conducted to show the contrary.

I am hoping that the NEW LRA board members are jacking-up where I believe the cause of the poor service lay/lies. I do see encouraging signs of an increase in alertness all around.. ;-)

But here's my advice on the visibility side... make something MASSIVE happen... do something OUTRAGEOUS... capture the hearts and minds of your target market - make your visible points of presence far more PROMINENT... do it REGULARLY... get service providers to show this community how they really CARE for this community's business... outperform the encroaching competition by 1000%..! Until you do this the competition keeps eroding our contributor base away and we all lose.

Unless we all shake and stir, shake and stir, shake and stir (the benefits of which I sense can already be felt stemming from the shaking up of the LRA out of its recent slumber) ...our community initiative goes down the tubes. As it is we've already relinquished our claim to fame as innovators in community security dominating the moral high ground. It's time to make a MASSIVE play to recapture that position... it needs MASSIVE INNOVATION... it needs BIG THINKING... it can be done... by bringing the savvy of quality minds in this community into play.

Regards
Trevor Nel - 705-2790